Panda AV Free mysteriously uninstalled; can't reinstall

You may wish to run the Panda uninstall tool & then reinstall again after it has cleared out all the remnants of the old installation. Then go from there & see if you have any more problems. If so, please post back .

How to uninstall Panda from the computer - Technical Support - Panda Security

Only if this process is not completed correctly, it is advisable to completely remove files and registry entries of your antivirus. To do this, follow the instructions below:

1. Download and run the Panda Generic Uninstaller file to the Windows Desktop, for example.

Once you've removed it you may wish to d/l & run Malwarebytes (free version) & Adwcleaner to see if they find anything.

Then go from there & see if you have any more problems with re-installation of Panda.

ricecrispies said:

Thanks for the suggestion. I tried running the Panda uninstaller and it hung.

One additional piece of information I had forgotten about is that Windows Update is broken on this computer too, and mmc.exe will only run if I launch it from an admin console because of broken permissions. I don't know whether any of this is connected to the problem with Panda. I'm wondering whether it's time to give up trying to get it all to work and to do a clean install of Windows instead.

Have you tried running an SFC to see if the problem can be fixed through that? Option 3 is the recommended one.

Run SFC Command in Windows 10 Windows 10 Performance Maintenance Tutorials

   Note

If SFC could not fix something, then run the command again to see if it may be able to the next time. Sometimes it may take running the sfc /scannow command up to 3 times with Fast Startup turned off and restarting the computer after each time to completely fix everything that it's able to.

If not, then run the Dism /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth command to repair any component store corruption, restart the PC afterwards, and try the sfc /scannow command again.

Depending on how broken the OS is, it might be a good idea to reinstall. You can also try a refresh, reset or try a repair install first to see if this will fix the problem. There are some good tutorials here explaining the options.

Repair Install Windows 10 with an In-place Upgrade Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Refresh Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Reset Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

Clean Install Windows 10 Windows 10 Installation Upgrade Tutorials

ricecrispies said:

Thanks for the suggestions. I'd tried fixing the msc problem before with a refresh, so I decided to do a reinstall and everything seems to be working now.

Glad you got it sorted. :) Sometimes starting over is just the best option.

This may help you down the road, you can make a system image so that if something like this happens again you can restore to the time that you made it.

Keep the system image on a external HDD and don't have it hooked up all the time, preferably only when you make system images. Keep 4 or 5 older versions & rotate them out, so that if you inadvertently make one with a virus/malware, you have another one to fall back on.

Create System Image in Windows 10 Windows 10 Backup Restore Tutorials

A system image is an exact copy of all system disks which can be used to restore your PC to the state it was in at the time the image was made. By default, a system image only includes the drives that Windows requires to run, including Windows 10 itself, your system settings, programs, and files. You may also include any other drive in the image if you wish. When you restore your computer from a system image it is a complete restoration, you cannot choose individual items to restore and all of your current programs, system settings, and files are replaced with the contents of the system image.