AV has left files in Cortana's Icon cache after uninstall

I have always found that Windows uninstaller will tend towards he "safe" more conservative option when deciding to remove an item. This initially stems from the modular nature of Windows and the applications used on it . Quite often the system will see a DLL or other support file that is not annotated in the correct way to suggest it may be removed without causing harm, so the file is ignored.

This way of working has led to the development of specialist uninstal software such as Revo Uninstaller which has access to lists of the safe files to uninstall from many applications, the Pro version has an option to be run before installing an application and it then monitors all changes to the system completely, and allows you to totally clean the system after testing software for suitability.

AV systems are notorious for "digging into" an Operating system at a low level, this is a requirement to work efficiently and many supply a specialist removal tool on their site for full cleaning. Although the remnants left, from a standard uninstall, are not normally harmful they may cause issues with other AV products so are best removed fully. You may have to re-install and then uninstall again using the specialist software to be totally sure it's gone

https://support.kaspersky.com/us/com...ll/1464#block3

did you run Disk cleanup > System Files?

Win20Win said:

I saw this Kavremover but it got me to thinking: If I don't trust Kaspersky, why would I trust their removal tool?

In addition to the infromation already posted consider:

Slartybart said:

The nature of Anti-virus (AV) programs is to protect your system from unauthorized changes.
This often interferes with a clean uninstall of the program.
To resolve this, many AV vendors provide a stand alone removal tool for their product.
The best way to uninstall an AV product from your machine:

1. Use Programs and Features to uninstall the base product
   
   1. Read any Processing notes below for the product you are trying to uninstall
   2. Restart your machine after removing the product from Programs and Features
   3. Check Action Center to make sure Windows Defender is running - start it if it is not
   
   
2. Run the removal utility in Command Prompt (Admin) for the AV product you removed above
   Read the instructions and ask any questions before running the utility.
   Most are straight-forward, but some do have precautions.
   
   1. Restart your machine after running the stand alone removal tool
   2. Check Action Center to make sure Windows Defender is running - start it if it is not
   
   
3. Launch Command Prompt (Admin)
   Enter the following command in the Command Prompt window
   
   SFC /scannow

Anti Virus (AV) stand alone removal tools

System restore is primarily designed to correct errors with Windows files, so, although it will make restore points regularly and automatically [these will be triggered by Windows events], to use a system restore to remove a single application is not ideal. The system works by rolling back everything to the time of a specific Restore points, Data files are not affected but assuming you specifically created a restore point before you installed you AV and after a while decided you did not want to use the AV any more - you would start a system restore and point it to the restore point prior to installing your AV - this would then remove the AV installation PLUS All subsequent installs, driver updates and other system changes which is unlikely to be what is best