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General discussion

Huge problem uninstalling Panda 2005 Internet Security

May 9, 2005 4:17AM PDT

Get comfortable...this may take a while.

I have been running McAfee InternetSecurity for several years, but was disappointed with the high resource usage. I heard about Panda Platinum 2005 Internet Security from a news article, stating it was low on system resources and had a new AI that could detect new viruses automatically at around 98% accuracy without downloading new definitions. Now I know it was too good to be true!

Note: I am running an HP Pavilion a810n with Windows XP Home SP2 on an AMD Athlon64 3300+ processor, 160GB HD, 1GB PC3200 DDR400 DIMM. No other security software is installed.

I completely uninstalled McAfee and installed Panda. Everything ran well until midnight after I installed at. At 12:00:01, I received notification that the trial had expired, and was given only two choices...activate or purchase. The main user interface has apparently locked itself down...I cannot access the program at all.

I closed Panda from the taskbar icon, and tried using the built-in uninstaller, launched from the Windows Add/remove control panel, to remove it. The uninstaller ran its course, and stated that the software had been uninstalled. However, the software reappeared in the add/remove dialog box a few seconds later, and the program launched itself again! Even a restart immediately after the uninstall didn't work (was never prompted to do so). 3rd party uninstallers also fail. Finally, I am receiving access violations when I attempt to delete the software manually using Windows Explorer.

The software has repeatedly disabled Windows Firewall, and will not let me install any competing products to protect my computer.

I attempted to obtain tech support from the manufacturer, but they will only help if I can provide proof I have purchased the product...apparently no support for those on a trial-basis.

I would like to know if anyone else has experienced these problems, and knows how to remove the software from my HD once and for all. Granted, reinstalling the OS will correct the problem, but am open to any possibilities before it comes to that.

Thank you for your support,
John

Discussion is locked

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Read this
May 9, 2005 6:48PM PDT
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No dice...
May 10, 2005 8:28AM PDT

Unfortunately, the bach file did no good. Looks like I'll just have to reinstall Windows.

Thanks for the help Pudgy,
John

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Re: No dice...
May 10, 2005 9:35AM PDT
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Solved the hard way
May 11, 2005 1:52PM PDT

I tried running in safe mode, but the same thing happened. The uninstaller launched, I clicked continue, then it immediately flashed to "software has now been uninstalled," even though the process of uninstalling never took place.

I ended up reinstalling the OS because of this, as well as another strange problem. Apparently my system kept performing physical memory dumps due to a corrupted Nvidia video card driver which could not be found or removed. Strange part is, I have an ATI video card...Nvidia products and software never touched my computer.

I don't know what caused these strange occurances (my antivirus and spyware scanners always came up clean), but nothing can withstand a complete hard drive wipe. Wink

Thanks for your assistance, though.
John

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Theres a free program...
May 12, 2005 9:19PM PDT

Called "Move On Boot", I was having trouble getting rid of a persistent program, it's really easy to use and it did the trick. Just a thought.