One reason you may want to remove Norton AntiVirus is because the program may have come preinstalled in your computer. It usually comes in the form of a trial version that encourages you to sign up for the full-featured version. If you’re not really impressed with what Norton has to offer, you may want to uninstall it. Also, you may want to install a `better’ anti-virus program. The new program may require you to uninstall Norton AntiVirus first before you could proceed with its installation. Another aspect you would want to consider is there are some viruses created to attack Norton and disable it, so that these viruses can freely attack your system and wreak havoc on it.
If you’ve been using Norton AntiVirus for quite a while and regularly updating it, you would have noticed that it has the tendency to slow down your system. It could also be that Norton wrongly cuts off Internet access to protect your system.
In such cases uninstalling Norton AntiVirus and replacing it with a freeware antivirus program like AVG is a wise option. Let’s look at how we can go about uninstalling Norton AntiVirus.
Using Add/Remove Program Feature
By clicking on Start – Control Panel – Add/Remove Program, you can remove Norton AntiVirus. Select the Norton program and click on Remove. A Norton setup window will appear and you’ll have to click on Remove All to start the uninstallation. This doesn’t remove Norton from your system yet. You would have to restart your computer for that to happen.
Automatic Norton Removal Tool
If for some reason you can’t remove Norton using Windows Add/Remove Program, you should try using the freeware Norton Removal Tool, the latest version of which could be downloaded from trusted download sites like softpedia.com or download.cnet.com. Although the tool promises convenience, it has a major drawback. Apart from removing Norton AntiVirus, it would also remove other Norton programs like:
- Norton Password Manager
- Norton Personal Firewall
- Norton SystemWorks
- Norton Confidential Online
- Norton Internet Security Add-On Pack
- Norton Save and Restore
- Norton 360
- Norton AntiSpam
- Norton Ghost
- Norton Goback
- Norton Internet Security
You should check with the Removal Tool which versions of the above programs it will remove. Also ensure you have backup copies of the above programs before putting the Norton Removal Tool to work.
After Norton Removal Tool finishes its task, you should restart your computer to have Norton AntiVirus completely removed.
Manual Deletion
To make sure Norton AntiVirus has been completely removed from your computer, you would want to take an extra step in the form of manual deletion.
- Double click on My Computer on your desktop screen.
- Chose Drive C.
- Search for the Program Files folder.
- Within the folder, look for the Norton folder.
Since you want Norton AntiVirus to be permanently removed, right click on it and choose Delete. This will clean your system of Norton AntiVirus.
