Windows Defender vs. AVG?

Ghot said:

To uninstall an antivirus you will most likely need their removal tool.

Over the years, I have had to uninstall AVG many times and never needed a removal tool to do so. It just uninstalls as any other app withoiut issue. I generally perform registry maintenance afterwards to clean up broken entries, as with uninstalling anything. But that's all.

The AVG Clear software page linked to states:

AVG Clear deletes all files associated with your AVG product, including registry items, installation files, and user files. Only use this if your AVG uninstall or repair has failed repeatedly.

Ghot said:

Over the years, I've uninstalled numerous different antiviruses... they all have removal tools.
AV programs have kernel drivers that Windows installer can't get to.

NOT using the removal tools, causes problems more times than not.


In fact we just had someone uninstalling AVG 1-2 weeks ago... he used the tool. All was fine.

Thanks for the advice. All I'm saying is that, specifically in relation to AVG, which I have used for well over twenty years on many machines and even more machines if you include all of the other installations I've assisted with friends and family, I have 100% positive experiences 100% of the time.

Not ever using the AVG Clear removal tool has never caused any kind of problem any of the time. And that's a clear cut fact, I assure you.

AVG has its own uninstaller separate from Windows, and it has always been highly effective, leaving nothing behind whatsoever. I cannot vouch the same for other AV products.

I am sure that using the AVG Clear tool works out fine. However, so does their uninstaller software. I'll vouch for that without reservation.

DWFII said:

I am not familiar with Git Hub. When I follow the link I see a list of files that are presumably integral to configure defender. Mus t I download then one at a time or is there a link that give me the whole package at once.
Once I am ready, is there a fairly straight-forward procedure to disable AVG (uninstall it?) and activate Defender?

You can get the simple download at majorgeeks:

Download ConfigureDefender - MajorGeeks

Also here at softpedia:

Download ConfigureDefender 3.0.1.0

Just be sure to run the exe in admin and restart or it won't take effect.

If the windows control panel does not completely remove AVG there is also a dedicated removal tool for AVG here:

Install AVG on your PC, Mac | AVG installation files

It runs in safe mode, it will restart the computer and usually cleans up leftover AVG files. Even with that it is still a good idea to search your registry and C drive for any leftover AVG files. On my system I used the free Hibit Uninstaller to remove the registry leftovers and junk files. Hibit is a very good removal tool and has some other utilities with it too, including a great free file shredder. You can get HiBit here:

HiBit Uninstaller

That is another problem I had with third party AV's, they always left behind a few or sometimes a folder full of junk files that were hard to get rid of. With Bitdefender and Kaspersky the junk files were impossible to remove and kept WD from turning back on. To fix it I had to reset the computer and reinstall Windows.

As long as you get rid of all of the AVG remnants WD should turn back on by itself when you restart or the removal tool restarts back out of safe mode. It is also a good idea to open WD and be sure the Virus and Threat Protection module is enabled. I don't know about AVG but the last time I removed Avast it took out the WD virus module with it. I tried a bunch of registry and group policy edits to bring it back but nothing worked. That was when I wiped my drive and re-installed Windows again. Plus you can set up any preferences for WD, such as turning off CFA while you are there and run a scan to be sure everything is OK.

I also use the free Malwarebytes Browser Guard extension to help with phishing and bad web sites. As good as WD is, Windows itself uses Windows Smart Screen for browser and phishing scanning and it is not as good on a non-MS browser. I use Chrome as my primary browser but I use the Malwarebytes and Ublock Origin Adblock extensions in both Chrome and Edge. They all work great together. Those are all I use though, I do not believe in over-armoring my browser.

The only verification I have for smart screen is the test from the AMTSO phishing test page, located at Feature Settings Check - Phishing Page Test - AMTSO

Smart Screen is said to work well however when I ran that test Smart Screen failed in both Edge and Chrome so I use the Malwarebytes extension.

Jimmy

Jimmy9190 said:

You can get the simple download at majorgeeks:

...
Jimmy

Thank you for taking the time. I appreciate it.