Can't load anti virus software

We recently had a virus infection that we were able to resolve with What the Tech assistance. As part of the process of eliminating the malicious spyware that had infected our desktop computer, we had to disable all existing anti virus software. We actually uninstalled AVG Free Edition 9.0 that we have regularly used with success. We have tried to reinstall AVG but have had no luck at all. We get a message that reads: "local machine installation failed. Error action failed for registry key HKLM\SOFTWARE\MICROSOFT\WINDOWSSNT\CURRENTVERSION\. Access is denied." Any ideas?

Hi, When you uninstalled AVG it looks as though some parts of it were left behind in the uninstall routine…
Did you run the AVG uninstall tool?
If not go here:
http://www.avg.com/us-en/download-tools
download it make sure all windows are closed and no applications running then run the uninstall tool.
When its all done don't forget to close down your machine, wait 30 seconds with a blank black screen before restarting it. It must be a complete shutdown (not a hibernate/sleep/standby etc.)
Now you can reinstall AVG or your other anti virus of choice.
Regards
paws

Ron, if that doesn't work this could be a registry permission problem. See these two threads:

http://www.copyrunstart.net/quick-fix-avg-…r-registry-key/
http://forums.avg.com/za-en/avg-free-forum…ow&id=54159

Both indicate the fix is as follows:

Open Registry Editor (Start / Run type regedit and press Enter).

Navigate to 'HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Windows" key and right click on Windows in the left pane to check the permissions.

Ensure your Administrators account has Full Control checked. More than likely if you're receiving this AVG install error it does not and you will need to add your administrator user.