Can't delete two Avira folders

[bonkers72]

Had Avira. Uninstalled it using Revo. It left behind two folders that I can't delete. Tried HJT.....won't do it. Tried to manually do it and it says "you need permission to perform this action. You require permission from administrators to make changes to this folder. Tried to go into safe mode and delete them, nope. Tried to change permissions to allow full control but didn't seem to work either. Any other ideas? Thanks for the help.

 

[A Guy]

You can try Unlocker, or Lock Hunter, or IObit Unlocker. I prefer them in the order listed. Have you tried to take ownership?

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/1911-take-ownership-shortcut.html

A Guy

 

[bonkers72]

Tried Unlocker, Lock Hunter, and IObit Unlocker. No go. I'm at the next one to try. Take ownership. Had a question on it before I start "clicking and merging" It says in step 2,

"2. Open the downloaded zip file, extract (drag and drop) the .reg files to your desktop, then right click on the extracted .reg file you want to use and click on Merge." There's two files to choose from : Remove take ownership and Add take ownership. Which one should I right click on and merge? Thanks for the help.

 

[Jacee]

Use the "clean-up" tool to totally uninstall Avira:
http://www.avira.com/en/support-download-avira-registrycleaner
http://dlpro.antivir.com/package/regcleaner/win32/en/avira_registry_cleaner_en.exe

 

[A Guy]

Tried Unlocker, Lock Hunter, and IObit Unlocker. No go. I'm at the next one to try. Take ownership. Had a question on it before I start "clicking and merging" It says in step 2,

"2. Open the downloaded zip file, extract (drag and drop) the .reg files to your desktop, then right click on the extracted .reg file you want to use and click on Merge." There's two files to choose from : Remove take ownership and Add take ownership. Which one should I right click on and merge? Thanks for the help.

You want to Add. This will give you a right click option to click on the folders. The remove would be if you want to undo the change, and take off the new choice. Hopefully Jacee's advice will work for you. A Guy

 

[bonkers72]

Well I scanned the system with the clenup tool and it found 559 registry items to delete. Kinda nervous about hitting the "delete all" button. One key I seen showed part of my current Antivirus program Avast! Is this tool pretty la-git? Don't need a crash right now.

 

[A Guy]

That tool is Avira's own removal tool. I would trust it. If any issues with Avast (I doubt it), you can always use Avast's own removal tool and reinstall. It was good Jacee posted that, as the Avira leftovers could have caused you problems down the line. Personally, I would hit that Delete All button

A Guy

 

[bonkers72]

Ok.....I finally got up enough courage to hit the delete all button. Deleted 542 out of 559. 17 keys a error came up failed to delete one or many keys. This is unbelievable. Still cannot delete the two folders either via delete or HJT.

 

[A Guy]

See if this will work

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/55721-folder-delete-command-prompt.html

A Guy

 

[bonkers72]

Eve, "A Guy"
Tried it. Came up "Access Denied". Didn't touch it. Thanks for the continued help. B-72

 

[A Guy]

I take it you cannot rename the folders as well? Or copy and paste them, or move them?

You might try this small program. I had to remember it's name. Has worked for some before.

MoveOnBoot Free - Rename/Move/Delete Locked Files on Reboot

A Guy

 

[Jacee]

I would like to see what may be blocking you from uninstalling/deleting the two left-over folders ...

Download DDS from one of these links:
DDS.com
DDS.pif

• Disable any script blocking protection
• Double click the dds icon to run the tool.
• When done, DDS will open two (2) logs:
  1. DDS.txt
  2. Attach.txt <--- will be minimized in the task tray
• Save both reports to your desktop.

Include the contents of both logs in your next post.
The scan will instruct you to post Attach.txt as an attachment.

 

[bonkers72]

See attachments, Thanks for the help Jacee. A Guy thanks for your idea as well. Haven't tried it yet. Want to see the results of this first. Thanks.

 

[A Guy]

I'll let Jacee do her thing, but you still have Avira, and active processes from it :shock:

============== Running Processes ===============
C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\sched.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avguard.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Avira\AntiVir Desktop\avshadow.exe

A Guy

 

[Jacee]

Is your Windows 7 an update from Vista or XP?

Go into Services by typing services.msc in the start search box, click on the gear icon, then set everything associated with Avira to 'disable' ... make sure you've stopped the service too.

Let's get rid of some of the junk that's on this computer...
Download AdWareCleaner AdwCleaner Download to your desktop
1.Right-click on adwcleaner.exe and select Run As Administrator to launch the application.
2.Click on Delete button.
3.Confirm each time with OK.
4.Your computer will be rebooted automatically. A text file will open after the restart. Please post the content of that logfile in your reply.
Note: You can find the logfile at C:\AdwCleaner[Sn].txt as well - n is the order number.

Next, download TFC by Old Timer TFC - Temp File Cleaner by OldTimer - Geeks to Go Forums and save it to your desktop.
Save any unsaved work. TFC will close ALL open programs including your browser!
Double-click on TFC.exe to run it. If you are using Vista/Windows 7 right-click on the file and choose Run As Administrator.
Click the Start button to begin the cleaning process and let it run uninterrupted to completion.
Important! If TFC prompts you to reboot, please do so immediately. If not prompted, manually reboot the machine anyway to ensure a complete clean.

Now, update Java! ...

• Download the latest version of Java Runtime Environment (JRE) 7u10.
  Java SE Downloads
• Scroll over to the right (JRE)
• Click the "Download" button to the right.
• Check the box that says: "Accept License Agreement".
• The page will refresh.
• Click on the link to download Windows Offline Installation with or without Multi-language and save to your desktop.
• Close any programs you may have running - especially your web browser.
• Go to Start > Control Panel double-click on Add/Remove programs and remove all older versions of Java.
  [*]Check any item with Java Runtime Environment (JRE or J2SE) in the name.
  [*]Click the Remove or Change/Remove button.
  [*]Repeat as many times as necessary to remove each Java versions.
• Reboot your computer once all Java components are removed.
• Then from your desktop double-click on jre-7u10-windows-i586-p.exe to install the newest version.

After doing all of the above, flush the DNS cache and restore MS's Hosts file:

Copy and paste these lines in Note pad.

@Echo on
pushd\windows\system32\drivers\etc
attrib -h -s -r hosts
echo 127.0.0.1 localhost>HOSTS
attrib +r +h +s hosts
popd
ipconfig /release
ipconfig /renew
ipconfig /flushdns
netsh winsock reset all
netsh int ip reset all
shutdown -r -t 1
del %0

Save as flush.bat to your desktop.
Double click on the flush.bat file to run it.Vista and Windows 7... right click the .bat file and choose to run as Administrator. Your computer will reboot itself.

Now see if you can run Avira's removal tool to remove all left-overs. If it still doesn't work, uninstall Spybot s&d. How to uninstall? | Spybot © Then try again.

Let us know how you did

 

[bonkers72]

Thanks for the help Jacee. My Windows 7 version was a OEM clean install, not a update version. Next, I tried to stop the service for Avira but the stop service button is NOT active to use. Tried to disable Avira but access denied came up. Thought I'd stop there before I do any of the other stuff.

 

[bonkers72]

I take it you cannot rename the folders as well? Or copy and paste them, or move them?

Actually it looks like I am able to drag the folder completely to the desktop. When I try to delete it, it says : "The action can't be completed because the folder or file in it is open in another program" I get a different warning this time compared to the usual access denied.

 

[bonkers72]

Well this is where we are with this. Was able to delete the two folders. How? Not sure how I was able to do it. But after all the stuff Jacee had me try I ran the Avira registry cleaner and it still won't delete 17 keys. We'll just call it good. Just see my ADWCleaner report Jacee. Thanks for everyones help.

 

[A Guy]

Try running the CCleaner registry scan as well, worth a shot. As long as you don't have running Avira processes, a few leftover keys shouldn't be a huge issue. Confirm the Avira services are either gone, or set to disabled as well.



You can also d/l Belarc Advisor and see if it detects Avira as a AV installed.

Belarc Advisor

Nice you got rid of Babylon and MyWeb Search as well. Your current AV didn't balk at installing because it detected another (Avira) , which is also a good sign. We'll see what Jacee has to say

A Guy

 

[bonkers72]

Yea I tried CCleaner......won't delete them. Only two keys show up on CCleaner. As far as Avira processes, they're stopped. Can't set to disable. Won't let me. Thanks for the help and input A Guy, B-72