antivirus Archives - Page 2 of 7

Q&A: Why can’t I remove the Antivirus app from my computer?

Posted on July 15, 2025

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Question from Dale: Hi, Rick. I have a problem that I hope you can help me with.

Following your recommendation, I recently bought the Premium version of Malwarebytes for our computers. I read your post about only running one antivirus app at a time and I’m trying to uninstall AVG Antivirus before installing Malwarebytes.

I was able to remove AVG from my wife’s computer with no problems at all, but when I try to uninstall it from my laptop it gives me an error and the uninstall fails.

Can you tell me what I need to do to remove AVG from my computer? [Read more…]

How to remove an antivirus app that Windows can’t uninstall

Posted on July 7, 2024

I receive hundreds of tech questions every week, and as you might expect some questions get asked over and over.

One of the questions that gets asked most often is some variation of “How do I remove [McAfee, Norton or whatever] from my computer?”

For various reasons, antivirus apps can sometimes be difficult to remove with Windows’ native uninstaller, and I’ve had my own issues with many of them in the past.

Luckily, there’s a simple way to remove most any antivirus program from your computer: Just download and run that company’s automated removal tool! [Read more…]

Q&A: Why is Microsoft Defender not working?

Posted on May 24, 2024

Question from Ellis: My new computer came with the trial version of McAfee Antivirus preinstalled and I ended up not liking it.

I uninstalled it from my computer last night and now I can’t get Microsoft Defender to start up.

Is there something else I need to do besides just uninstalling the McAfee program? [Read more…]

Q&A: Are free antivirus apps just as good as paid ones?

Posted on May 1, 2024

Question from Hailley: Hi, Rick. I’ve been reading your blog for a good while now and I love your tips!

I’ve noticed that you often recommend using free antivirus software instead of one of the expensive paid programs.

I really like the idea of using free software whenever possible, but I want to make sure my laptop is protected from all the nasty viruses that are out there these days.

My question: Are the free antivirus programs really just as good as the ones you pay for? [Read more…]

How to manually run a full virus scan with Microsoft Defender

Posted on February 22, 2024

As I explained in this post, both Windows 10 and Windows 11 have a built-in antivirus engine called Microsoft Defender.

And truth be told, it actually does a pretty good job at keeping your PC virus-free.

But like all other antivirus apps, Microsoft Defender isn’t perfect. It’s always possible that a digital nasty will slip through and infect your system. [Read more…]