Yes, of course, many users will agree that the software products of Eset in the form of antiviruses used in Windows or in mobile systems are very reliable and have proven themselves in ensuring the safety of any devices. Everything would be fine, but often enough, when a user tries to uninstall the antivirus, for example, to switch to using another protection tool, "NOD 32" is not deleted. How to remove this antivirus and all similar applications like Smart Security or Internet Security, read on.
The instructions given below must be followed very clearly, otherwise during the uninstallation process you will receive all kinds of errors and crashes, or after the deletion is completed, a huge amount of computer debris will remain in the system, because of which another antivirus might fail to install (it will determine that the system already has another software product of this class). Along the way, it is worth noting that the solutions below are equally well suited for all ESET antiviruses.
How to remove "NOD 32" by standard means of the system?
As the first and one of the simplest solutions, we consider the use of the built-in tools of the Windows systems themselves, regardless of which modification is installed on the user computer terminal or laptop.
You can use for removal the standard section of programs and components located in the Control Panel. In order not to look for it for a long time or not to perform a lot of unnecessary actions, you can quickly call the Run console and quickly write the appwiz.cpl command in it using the Win + R combination . Now you need to find the antivirus itself in the list of installed applications (Eset NOD32 or any other installed product) and click on the program uninstall / change item, which is located above the list.
After that, your own antivirus uninstaller will start. If this does not happen, one of the two tools built into the OS itself will be activated instead.
However, do not flatter yourself, as in some cases it will not be possible to completely remove “GCD 32”. The reason is only that at the end of the deletion followed by a restart (or so far without it) you will have to get rid of the entries in the system registry and the residual files yourself. If there shouldn’t be any special problems with the registry keys, then it is often impossible to find and delete files and directories of the antivirus, because they are blocked. If this is your situation, proceed with the following steps.
How to remove the antivirus "NOD 32" with the built-in uninstaller?
As you know, for almost all applications during installation, installers usually create their own sections and links in the Start menu. The described antivirus is no exception. Do not be too lazy to expand the main menu, find the antivirus folder there, open its contents and launch your own removal tool. If the uninstaller is present there, and the program was originally installed correctly, the uninstallation will be performed without problems.
However, here some difficulties may lie in wait for you, as the uninstallation tool may not appear in the indicated section. In this case, you need to call Explorer or any of the existing file managers, go to the directory with the antivirus installed, taking into account its bit capacity (Program Files or the x86 folder of the same name), and run the uninstaller from there. But here it may not be! How to remove "NOD 32" in this situation? In this case, you can use an additional tool called ESET Uninstaller.
Using an optional official tool
You can download this small utility directly from the official website of the developer.
After downloading on all systems of the seventh version and higher, it should be launched as administrator, after which the uninstallation will be activated using the command line, in which you will have to twice agree to the removal of the used software product by pressing the confirmation key “Y”.
What to do if removal is not possible: preliminary steps
However, even when using all kinds of official means, as it turns out, problems can often be avoided. The main reason for this phenomenon, most experts call only that the uninstallation of any antivirus software (with rare exceptions) is strongly recommended to be performed only when the system starts in safe mode. In versions of Windows 7 and earlier versions, to select a safe start, you must use the menu that is called up at startup by pressing the F8 key, and in the eighth and tenth versions you need to use special boot options, but the easiest way is to perform a standard reboot with the Shift key pressed.
Note: in order to return the classic menu using F8, first in the command console, launched exclusively on behalf of the administrator, you must register the combination bcdedit / set {current} bootmenupolicy legacy.
After starting in the above mode, first call the “Task Manager” and see if there are any active Eset NOD32 antivirus processes there. If there are any, complete them all either by clicking the button in the lower right, or using the RMB menu on the selected process.
Now in versions 7 and below, call into the configuration (msconfig), and in the eighth and tenth remain in the “Task Manager”, go to the startup tab and disable all protection components. In the case of the described product, these are Nod32kui.exe or Nod32krn.exe processes.
Antivirus removal process
Now uninstall using one of the above methods, however, it is better to give preference to either your own uninstaller or an additional tool previously downloaded from the developer's site. But how to remove "NOD 32" if you forget the password, which at the start of uninstallation can sometimes be requested?
In this situation, you can act in the most rude way, using the registry editor (regedit), where through a search you will need to find and delete all the keys of the antivirus, setting the name of the program (Eset) as the search criteria. The method, I must say, is far from the best and safest. We will dwell on more preferred options a little later, but for now let's see what we will need to get rid of if the deletion nevertheless took place.
Removing antivirus residues
First of all, after deleting the keys, you will need to check the directories of the program files and completely get rid of the contents of the ESET directory, deleting it after cleaning the files that are probably there.
The directories of the same name must be found in the Local and Roaming directories, which are located in the hidden AppData folder in the main user directory, which is located on drive "C" in the general section of all users (Users). At the end of the action, the system will need to be rebooted normally.
Note: if files and folders for some reason even after deleting registry entries turn out to be locked and cannot be deleted, use the Unlocker unlocker by calling its command after installation in the "Explorer" from the PCM menu. If necessary, right in the utility, expand the list of processes blocking the selected file and “kill” them all, then repeat the deletion.
Removing antivirus in CCleaner optimizer
Now let's see how it is possible to remove "NOD 32" from the computer completely, using third-party software for this. CCleaner, I think, needs no introduction! This powerful program can remove any application from the system.
To get started, use its service section, where in startup and on the “Planner” tab, turn off everything related to the antivirus, then go to the program removal section, check the antivirus and click the uninstall button. In theory, even if a password was used for the antivirus, this application will simply ignore it, and the removal will be performed in full even without the need to use the safe start mode. For complete certainty, go to the registry key, analyze it, and then apply the automatic fix.
Using uninstallers to remove
It is possible to completely remove “NOD 32” by the method described above using narrowly targeted uninstallers.
In particular, iObit Uninstaller in this regard seems to be the most relevant tool, since you just need to mark the antivirus in the list of installed applications, click the uninstall button, and then activate the item for automatic cleaning of residues, which will include both registry keys and files. In some cases, it may be reported that cleaning will be performed the next time the system starts. Reboot and look at the result.
Using the iObit Uninstaller Uninstaller to find and clean up leftovers
In order to remove the remnants of “NOD 32” during the incorrect removal of the main application or due to their blocking, you can use the same uninstaller.
Only in this case you need to call the automatic search and delete tool. If the files are still not deleted, activate the file shredder, drag and drop undeletable objects from the anti-virus folder in the "Explorer" into the tool window, and confirm the deletion.
Note: even if using “standard uninstallation” to remove “NOD 32” completely in none of the situations and none of the proposed tools succeeds, start the forced uninstallation process in iObit Uninstaller, which almost always gives a one hundred percent positive result. To do this, you will need to specify the path to the antivirus executable file in the above program directories Program Files in the object field using the browse button.
Resolving a filter mechanism error
Finally, if the “GCD 32” cannot be completely removed, but an error of the basic filtering service is thrown, use the services section (services.msc).
Find the specified service there, double-click to edit the options, press the start button, in the start type set to “Automatic”, save the changes and try to uninstall again.
2350 Crash Fix
In the end, let's see how to remove “NOD 32” from “Windows 10” if the error code 2350 is displayed in the error message. The proposed solution is also suitable for situations where you do not remember or lost the password, but restore it by contacting support do not want or just do not have time.
Run the command console on behalf of the administrator, and then sequentially execute the MSIExec / unregister and MSIExec / regserver commands in it. Try to remove the antivirus.
If this does not help, in the advanced system settings, go to the environment variable settings and change the values of the TEMP and TMP variables, indicating the combination of % USERPROFILE% for local folders at the beginning of the location path , and after saving the options, repeat the deletion.
Note: as an additional measure, you can use the search for temporary file directories (all TEMP and TMP objects) in Explorer, completely clear everything that is in them, and only then proceed to re-uninstall any of the available Eset protection packages.
Last tip
It remains to say that you should never, under any circumstances, engage in manual deletion of folders and files of protective packages without first activating the uninstallation process of the main components of antiviruses, since such rash actions can lead to completely unpredictable consequences, which can extremely negatively affect the functioning of the entire operating system .