Hello
I have an anti-virus program (Panda) that has expired and I have tried to remove the program.
Having done so via the normal Windows 'uninstall' procedure I was unable to access the internet and had to do a system restore to put things back as they were.
It seems that this program is holding up the start-up time for my PC as it fairly whizzed along after I had removed it, but as I say, unable to connect via IE at all once I had done so.
Sorry is this is a basic question but am I missing something? I would prefer to remove the program, but not at the expense of Internet connectivity, of course.
Any pointers, folks?
Merry Christmas one and all!
Nelclaret
By the way, now that I have done a system restore I now get an error message on start up "This application failed to start because VCL50BPL was not found. Re-installing the application may fix this problem"
I have to click on "OK" about 6 times to clear this message which then shows up when i connect to the Internet (another six clicks to clear). How can i get rid of this? I've tried removing exe files from the panda software without success.
Oh, and I can't remove the Panda program in the windows remove programs either as it gives an error message…
What HAVE I done?
Seasons Greetings!
Hi Sorry to hear of the problems with your Panda software.
Rather than try and give you detailed instructions here, (it is Christmas morning, after all!) if you follow the link that appears next, you should be able to sort the problem out easily.
Hello
Thank you for your reply and merry Christmas to you.
The thread you kindly gave the link for is a bit mind-blowing for me. If you have the opportunity perhaps you could enlighten me on a couple of points (it is best to assume I am a moron):
1 After I removed Panda using the 'remove program' function I had no Internet access, no matter how much I changed the settings. Why is this and can this be fixed?
2 After doing a system resore following 1) above I kept getting the error message referred to. I cannot remove Panda in the restored state using the normal remove program function. In desperation I went into the Panda folder in the PC system files and tried to delete it but it wouldn't let me. So I cut several of the files from the folder and pasted them into a temporary folder. I guess I must have struck lucky as the error message no longer shows when I start up. I therefore have Panda still on the system but it seems I have somehow deactivated it completely (?) so the error message does not now show.
So my current state is that although Panda is stuck on my system is appears to be wholly dormant and I can access the internet OK and I have other anti-virus software available.
Frankly, I am happy at the moment (it is Christmas night after all!) to have Internet access and no irritating error message, although I would prefer to remove Panda altogether now (but I am worried about the Internet access). I would be grateful if you could advise me:
1) will the manual removal procedure referred to in the thread still give me Internet access and
2) what did I do to remove the irritating error message? (my assumption is that one of the files I removed from the Panda folder is the one that triggers the program, so it no longer looks for the missing file - but there again, I am a moron!)
All the best.
Nelclaret
Hi,
Oh dear! its very difficult to make a recommendation in this situation!
You currently have Internet access and no trouble-some error messages and that is good!
Presumably you do not have an effective antivirus programme running and this is bad! (however you probably have some elements of Panda running but it is doubtful if it is giving you full protection as you have uninstalled it using the uninstaller (which is good and by deleting files and folders (which is bad!) Most antivirus applications integrate tightly with Windows and run through "Services" as well as "Aploications"
To compound the situation you should not run your system without a 2 way firewall (software) and up to date Antivirus (and of course a fully updated Windows operating system) You should not run two anti virus programmes at the same time as they can conflict and give very unwelcome results (however it is Ok to do online scans or use "stand alone scanners" such as Stinger)
Conventional wisdom would say that the best thing to do would be to :
"Reinstall Panda, run it, then reboot and then uninstall it again then reboot, Next install your Anti virus of choice and update it and keep it updated……However you could end up again with no Internet connection and an absence of Pandas! So as always it's your call…Make sure you have a recent System Restore Point you have a disc Image that you can restore Windows and all your files settings drivers and data from and that you have your Windows XP installation disc and product key handy, just in case!
Regards
paws
Many thanks.
I'm tempted to let it ride at present. The Windows firewall is shown as on. I have AVG anti-virus for regular scans.
I bought the PC second hand and Panda was installed for (IIRC) 12 months. I am not sure I can reinstall it (I think I have the install disk somewhere but no account password etc).
Why should Panda be so difficult to remove anyway?
Fingers crossed.
Thanks again.
Nelclaret
