Cannot Remove Comodo

My friend had Comodo installed on his laptop, however wanted to change to Kaspersky. We ran a gsi report and his system is full of Comodo left-overs. We ran the removal tool etc., did the usual uninstall from control pannel, why is it not removing it???

Malwaretips Super Moderator littlebits stated that once Comodo is installed you cannot get rid of it, is this true?

Did you run the Geekbuddy removal tool in Safe Mode?

With Windows 7 or younger you may have left overs of CIS drivers in Legacy Keys. To remove the socalled Legacy Keys, which are otherwise hard to remove, open Device Manager from the command prompt using the following two commands:
set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1
start devmgmt.msc

Set Device Manager to show hidden devices under menu option View. Then see if there are Comodo Internet Security related drivers left in non Plug and Play drivers. If so select the driver → click right → uninstall. Do this for all present CIS drivers. Do a reboot when it has been requested. Legacy entries that are ghosted are empty; they are not starting a driver. A none ghosted will start a driver.

Other than that you can use Eusing Free Registry Cleaner and Auslogics Free Registry Cleaner to remove possible other left overs.

Let us know how registry keys GSI report reports after the above.

No ran the tool in normal mode as it’s Windows 8.1 - I was told once by Microsoft that registry cleaners are very dangerous and that the registry can cope with registry orphans and still functions, however remove even one wrong key can render the PC inoperable???

GSI shows up Comodo as incompatable software so we are lost…

Try running the Geek Buddy took in Safe Mode.

The registry cleaners I am suggesting are safe to use. I have been using them both for several years on various versions of Windows; XP to 8.1. In my experience they are they are safe to use.

When fiddling in the registry without guidance things can go wrong but using cleaners with a good track record there is very very very little that can go wrong.

I do hope that comodo will release an uninstaller that actually uninstalls their own product properly.

There is going to be one isn’t there Eric?

The tool from Comodo Geekbuddy is as official as it gets. The Geekbuddy tool usually does a good job but with a problematic uninstall we advice to run it in Safe Mode.

I hope tsgc84 followed my advice to run it in Safe Mode.

Nope, has not removed anything here. I think the easiest way is to reinstall windows, it should drastic, but Comodo will not uninstall.

Hi tsgc84,
Is it not removing CIS at all and is it still active, or has it just left some remains?

Thanks.

Hi Captinsticks! Hope all is well :smiley: :smiley:

It has partially removed it, cannot delete some files in program folders etc., so Kaspersky will not install as it flashes up with a warning that Comodo is already installed :cry:

I think my mate is going to reinstall Windows 8.1

All is good thank you and I hope the same for you. :slight_smile:

Creating a system image is always a good idea when the system is running fine.
Use System Image Backup-winsupersite

A system refresh maybe a quicker alternative to re-installing the operating system.
Everything You Need to Know About Refreshing and Resetting Your Windows 8 PC-howtogeek

I am still not sure why the GB tool has failed to help in Windows safe mode.

Kind regards.

Can you elaborate on what files in what folders cannot be removed? What are the messages saying that you are getting? Are they about file being in use or about not having sufficient rights etc?