Unable to cleanly uninstall norton antivirus that comes pre-installed :(

kartz · August 22

Norton bloatware in the name of anti-virus that comes pre-installed with your laptop is one unwarranted pain. Norton is a notorious rogue software that fails to get uninstalled cleanly. Even Norton's own software (RnR.exe) meant to cleanse the system post its un-installation, fails to do what it supposed to do. I hate it when a laptop comes with a bloatware that I can't uninstall.

I appreciate your inputs on how to get rid of this bloatware so that I can install my choice of anti-virus.

egydiocoelho · August 22

Press windows + r and type msconfig. Go to services, hide microsoft services and check if there are any norton services disabled. If it is disabled, activate it and then restart windows. Then uninstall norton antivirus.

Also check if there are any norton services here:

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/6029997/uploads/editor/53/dz4cvdbylart.png

kartz · August 22

egydiocoelho Thanks for your inputs. Those areas look clean on my laptop.

kartz · August 22

@egydiocoelho I do see "C:\Program Files\Common Files\AV\Norton Security Ultra\" directory having "Upgrade.exe". When I try to delete this folder, I get an error mesage saying that it is used by another program.

egydiocoelho · August 22

Does the norton icon appear here?

If it appears, click on exit or disable norton.

xapim · August 22

kartz forget norton antivirus its complete bloatware/rubbish as you say and very very well if youre just a normal user defender and common sense its enough but if you need more try nod32+superantispyware thats the best combo i have been using for so many years and to completely uninstall any software properly use youruninstaller or similar to completely remove everything even unused reg keys windows uninstaller leaves traces and leftovers of everything and may cause serious registry issues in the future also search for the upgrade.exe on the task manager details tab and kill the process good luck