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.

No Comments »

Software installation and uninstallation is a complex process and even a single corrupted file such as .exe or .dll can make the whole process redundant. If something like that happens, the only things that you are most likely to come across will be alien-looking error messages, popping up on your screen. One of the most common error messages that you might come across is the “cannot open install log file” error, which pops up on your screen when you are uninstalling some software program on your computer. This error is displayed when the installation wizard fails to find the requisite registry information related to the software uninstall. This in turn happens either due to a corrupted installation or the accidental deletion of critical program files, necessary for carrying out the uninstall process.

Error messages such as “cannot open install log file” can be quite irritating and since they can easily affect your computer’s overall performance, you need to get rid of them as soon as possible. The easiest way of doing this is to reinstall the software that might be giving out the error message. If you do this, chances are high that the missing uninstall information will become available in the registry, allowing the completion of the uninstall process.

The above method does the job most of the times, but if you are still getting the same “cannot open install log file” error message even after reinstalling the software, then you might have to start looking for other available solutions. I would recommend that you check the software’s compatibility with your operating system and other installed programs. You might also have to scan your computer for malicious software codes such as viruses and worms, some of which can easily corrupt critical uninstallation files. Implement the above suggested methods in the same order and soon you will be able to eliminate “cannot open install log file” type of error messages.

Get a Free Online Diagnostic Scan with RegCure PC Optimizer (Download Takes 2 Mins)

1 Comment »

Norton free antivirus is certainly quite effective when it comes to detecting viruses, worms, Trojans and other malicious software codes, but just like any other high-quality product, it too has certain shortcomings. The most common complaint is that Norton slows down the system, so much so that it becomes quite difficult to carry out even the simplest of tasks on your computer. This problem however can be ignored because more often than not the problem is due to the system configuration and not necessarily due to Norton.

In case, you are not too sure as to what exactly is making your system slow down, I would recommend that you delete Norton and see if it makes any difference. If deleting Norton does make a difference to your computer’s speed, then you can keep it that way, but in case you don’t see any significant improvements, I would suggest that you reinstall Norton and keep using it.

The other most common complaint is that Norton disrupts the ‘Automatic Update’ function in Windows based PCs. There is still no reliable evidence that can comprehensively prove this, but since there are just too many people claiming this, you can bet that there is certainly something wrong somewhere. To check for yourself, you just have to delete Norton, restart your computer and see if you are able to get the Automatic Updates. It’s always better to perform your own checks rather than blindly follow what others might be saying or recommending.

To completely delete Norton from your system, you just have to click on Start > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs > Norton and press on the Change/Remove button. After restarting your computer, you then just have to check whether the targeted problem got resolved on not. If not, then there is no reason as to why you should not reinstall Norton and keep using it for protecting your computer.

No Comments »

“Error 1612. The installation source for this product is not available”

This is an error which you may receive when you try to install duplicate copies of standalone Microsoft products. The main affected applications are as follows:

• Microsoft Access
• Microsoft FrontPage
• Microsoft Publisher

The error usually occurs, but isn’t restricted to - the 2002 versions of the products. You will typically receive the error when trying to install SP1 of Microsoft Office XP. It stems from having more than one copy of the designated programs installed on the system. This sounds like a silly thing to be suffering from, but when you consider how Microsoft loves to sell its programs in bundles, it isn’t such a rare issue after all.

Thankfully, Microsoft has released a fix which deals with the clash and cleans up your system files. The fix is known as the Microsoft Windows Installer CleanUp Utility.

To download this small utility, you will need to go to the Microsoft website. There’s plenty of information and support to get you up and running, and the application is easy to use.

Once you’ve installed the utility, go to Start. Click across to Programs and locate Windows Install Clean Up.

You will see a list of all the Microsoft programs that you have installed on the operating system. Click on each of the programs, check the box and click Remove.

Each program comes with a slightly different removal procedure, but none of them should be too complicated to follow. Pay attention to the instructions and complete the uninstall process. Finally press exit to close the utility.

Assuming that you received the error while attempting to install Microsoft Office XP SP1, you should now be able to complete that particular setup. Once Office has been updated, you can safely track back and reinstall the standalone applications which were causing the 1612 error.

There are some instances where you may be receiving the 1612 error WITHOUT the mentioned programs being installed on the system. While they might not be present in the operational sense, some uninstalled software can leave behind files and registry entries which later cause problems.

This is a natural problem for PCs which have been used for months on end without a regular system clean-up. Have you noticed how the performance begins to drop, even after you’ve uninstalled all of the extra programs to leave yourself with the default configuration?

This is because most uninstall procedures leave behind traces of files, and unnecessary entries to the Windows registry. While they might not cause too many noticeable errors, it’s possible that such traces could lead to a 1612 error when you don’t actually have the Microsoft programs installed at the current time.

To get around this issue, we would suggest that you run two cleaning utilities. The first being a standard Windows cleaner, to get rid of loose odds and ends. The second being a more detailed Windows registry utility. Ridding the registry of redundant files will clear up a lot of errors and performance related issues, including, you guessed it, the 1612 error.

Get a Free Online Diagnostic Scan with RegCure PC Optimizer (Download Takes 2 Mins)

No Comments »