Uninstalling Panda 2005 IS

[NatCatGeek]

Hi, does anyone know how to remove this stubborn product from Windows XP? The usual route of add/remove prgrammes/ remove/restart does not work & neither does contacting Panda tech - I've sent four messages & had no reply. Really grateful if you can help since Panda 2005 has installed itself with errors, I have no firewall/known & unknown threat/fraud protection. I have also tried to re-install with no success. Many many thanks in advance for your help.

 

[B00kWyrm]

Doing some research, I have found many others with similar issues with Panda.

Some were successful using a regedit process.
I do not recommend this, because you can "brick" your system (or nearly so; "bork" at least!).

Others were sucessful by booting into "Safe Mode" and then removing.
For safe mode... On power up, pres f8. this will give you a screen where you can choose "Safe Mode", "Safe Mode with Networking" etc. Choose "Safe Mode".

If neither of these methods are comfortable for you, (and I do not recommend the regedit process, even though Panda support has walked some people through this process), then I would suggest you pose your question in the Virus and Malware forum, and see if our malware experts are up-to-date on an easy way to do it. Broni, or Bobbye, (or ???) may have a quick solution for you. There is normally a backlog and it may take a while for them to get to your request.

I have a thought on how we might proceed but I strongly suspect a regedit may still be required, and I would rather put you in the hands of folks that regularly write scripts for regedits, instead of risking your making a mistake. regedits require great care!

 

[bobcat]

A tool that sometimes works with stubborn apps which cannot be uninstalled because they are corrupted, is the Windows Installer Cleanup Utility by MS.

According to its description, this utility was designed to solve uninstallation problems of programs that use the Windows Installer technology. It looks up registry references and files related to Windows Installer that were installed by various programs, and forcibly wipes invalid entries out. It works in all 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Microsoft Windows. After you’ve cleared your computer of troublesome leftovers that also hamper re-installation, you can then carry out a proper installation followed by uninstallation.

You can get the utility from Microsoft or here:

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Securit...-Utility.shtml

 

[NatCatGeek]

Thank you Bookwyrm & Bobcat - both very helpful but as luck (or bloodymindedness on my part) would have it, Panda tech support got back to me - 5th time lucky - after I claimed to work for Time magazine & threatened to warn the nation of the perils of Panda IS - haha! I'm gonna post their instructions here for others who have suffered at the hands of the tenacious bear.

Edit: Sorry, not thinking straight - their instructions won't work without the zip file they sent me which obviously can't be copy-pasted here. All I can say is: steer clear of Panda IS.