Uninstall the Panda Antivirus Program

The Panda Antivirus and Panda Internet Security applications are popular antivirus software products that many people use to protect their computers from adware, spyware, viruses and other malicious applications. If you purchase Panda Antivirus 2009 and try to install the program, you may receive an error message stating that: "traces of previous installations have been detected." This is usually caused if you Panda Antivirus 2008 version or earlier previously installed on your computer.

Attempting to remove these earlier Panda Antivirus programs using the Add/Remove Programs utility usually will not completely remove the antivirus program. This is because a windows service called the Panda Process Protection Service as well as a system driver called Panda Process Protection Driver will still remain on your computer, even after the program itself has been removed.

You will need to use a utility called the Panda Security Utility to carry out a complete uninstall of the Panda program and all of its associated services and drivers. This tutorial will show you how to use the Panda Security Utility to un-install earlier versions of Panda Antivirus from your computer, in order to upgrade to the latest 2009 version.

1. Download the Panda Security Utility from the program's website and save the utility to your desktop.
2. Double-click on the icon to launch and run the program. If you are using Windows Vista, you will need to right-click the file and then click Run as Administrator. This will give the utility the correct permissions to un-install Panda Antivirus.
3. Allow the Panda Antivirus utility to complete the process of removing the Panda Antivirus.
4. Click on the Start button once the process is complete. Click Search in the Start menu. Now, type: C:\Windows\RAVTC.tmp into the Search text box.
5. Windows will now locate this file, and then delete it.
6. Next, you need to reset the Winsock catalog. To do this, follow these steps:
   *Click the Start button located at the bottom-left corner of the screen and select Run.
   *Type cmd once the Run window opens. Hit the Enter key on your keyboard. This should open the Command Prompt.
   *Type in the following command and hit Enter: netsh winsock reset catalog
   *Now, type in Exit and then hit the Enter key to close the Command Prompt.
7. After resetting Winsock, you will need to reboot your computer so as to apply the changes. Once complete, you will be able to install Panda Antivirus 2009.