There are a few reasons why you may wish to uninstall antivirus programs from your Microsoft Windows based operating system, and you may be a little surprised to see just how hard it can be in some cases.

Antivirus software is often designed to be hard to remove from a system. This is partly because the software is intended to be foolproof from deletion by an unsuspected (and presumably untrained) computer user. And also because it has to be able to withstand the attack of malicious third party viruses, some of which have been known to try and render an anti-virus product completely immobile in a bid to take control of the system. So why would you want to uninstall antivirus software?

The main reason is to replace an existing antivirus suite with another. It’s a simple fact that trying to run two separate antivirus programs will result in horrible collisions and the increased likelihood that in their joint bid to stabilise a system, neither will work and viruses will in fact have an easier task infiltrating the vulnerable PC. To uninstall antivirus software and replace it with a new version, you have to be absolutely sure that you follow the uninstall process fully.

The other reason why you may wish to uninstall antivirus software is to install other software and devices that may need to be run with full access to the system and no Windows firewall in place. Now remember, whenever an installation package requests that you turn off your antivirus software, your alarm bells should immediately be ringing. Is this a good idea? To turn off the one layer of security that prevents your computer from being taken over by any technological Joe?

No reasonable hardware device should request that you remove your antivirus software entirely. Most will work if you simply switch the anti-virus protection layer off while the process completes. This should be enough, but some hardware devices have been known to have problems, even with the anti-virus software switched off. In this instance, running a complete uninstall may work. But it’s far from desirable as a solution.

Every antivirus software package is different when it comes to uninstalling them from the system. Much of the process depends on what parts of the tool you have installed. Some come with extra firewalls which will require manual deletion one by one. Follow the specific instructions for your own antivirus software.

Whenever you are going through the uninstall antivirus software process, you should close down all other programs and terminate unnecessary processes in the Windows task manager. This is to give the removal tool a clear run on the machine. You will have better luck uninstalling antivirus suites if they’re not being called upon at the time of deletion.

Terminate unnecessary processes and then run the removal tool. It will take a little while to uninstall the antivirus software completely. Lots of references will need to be cleared from the registry. Depending on your needs, you should run a full scan of the Windows registry after deletion to ensure that the uninstall antivirus process ran according to plan and didn’t leave any harmful references in the Windows registry. These could potentially affect any additional antivirus software that you decide to install later.

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The problem of the Bad Pool Caller - which occurs during the upgrading of the Microsoft operating system from Windows 2000 to Windows XP - causes the installation process to stop by the display of an error message on the blue screen. This blue screen has been spoken of many times and you’re probably aware of it by now. It’s called the blue screen of death for good reason! If you’re seeing it, something serious has happened to Windows.

In the event of the Bad Pool Cooler error, expect to see a message that reads along the lines of this:

“A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer”.

The BAD_POOL_CALLER problem which is displayed as “stop: 0×000000c2″ and other similar varieties essentially happens because of certain issues in managing the memory of the computer.

Now if the error message conveying the problem displays the same set of alphanumeric code every time the system reboots itself, the problem can actually be tackled without going for professional technical help. To begin with, the user must verify the RAM and the hardware of the computer and reboot the operating system once more with the help of a setup disk or maybe by using a boot setup having a GUI similar to that of BartPE.

Try booting in to Safe mode using F8 at the relevant screen. This will try to load Windows using the absolute most basic of files. If you still can’t access the Operating System, you’re going to need the setup disk.

If you’ve bothered to make copies of the key Windows files on a floppy disk, they’re about to become extremely useful and you can use these to regain entry to the core Windows system by replacing just these. You will need to set your BIOS to give preference to the floppy disk drive when booting the system.
Once you regain access to Windows, this is to be followed by running a memory test using a RunScanner and subsequently selecting one single account. In case all the accounts open up, the problem should lie in the system registry hive which is to be renamed and not deleted. From the available backup, another hive is to be created and harvesting of any replacement hive must be avoided in any case.

Apart from this relatively lengthy and somewhat complicated method, there are a couple of quite gimmick like tricks which sometimes solve this problem. One of them is to have the operating system installed once again. This will of course reset Windows to its factory set state, saving a large amount of trouble. But it comes at the price of all your saved files that will not be recovered in the reinstallation. Think long and hard before agreeing to reinstall Windows, it should be the last resort.

Another such trick is to switch off the computer for an extended period of time and then switch it back on once more. It sounds like a ridiculous solution but there are many unexplainable scenarios where such an action can have a good effect.

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Viruses are something that any computer user has a fear of and if he doesn’t, he either has no idea what harm a virus can do to his computer or he may just be equipped with one of the most trusted anti virus softwares. Now if you’re after those high end maintenance anti virus softwares, they’re sure to cost you those extra bucks which you don’t want to shell out, do you? The users have to be careful because viruses can actually redirect your browsing activities to a third party allowing him to hack into your system without breaking a sweat.

Deciding to purchase an anti virus software is a good option but then why buy them when you can get them free. That’s right, you can get rid of the viruses from your computer free for cost. This is possible because there are many websites that offer users free anti virus and anti spyware downloads. No user in his right senses would like a virus to be lurking around in his computer and do nothing about it. This is where he has to turn to some kind of anti virus program, which offers his computer the necessary protection from viruses and other malwares.

It is easy to remove viruses provided that you know which anti viruses are out there that you can download for free. Now when you think of free anti virus removal softwares, the first name that comes to mind is AVG anti virus. This is one of those fantastic softwares that come free and at the same time does what it promises and that is get rid of any viruses and other possible malwares off your computer. Then of course there is the avast free edition which is one of the best virus protection tools available on the Internet and that too for free. If you’re still not happy with the results that they are offering you, you can simply download an anti virus software like Kaspersky or BitDefender and protect your computer. However, you should remember that these softwares aren’t free and you can use them only until the trial period after which you will be charged for use.