MS Antispyware not listed in Add/Remove Programs

[Guest]

After reading the recent reports floating around that MS Antispyware was
hosing Norton Antivirus, we decided to remove the installations of
Antispyware. Of the 16 installations I found, only 2 were able to uninstall.
The problem is Antispyware is not listed in add/remove programs, or the
start menu. I have no way of uninstalling the software, short of deleting
the program folder. In some cases it still appears in the sys tray, in some
cases it does not. In all cases, it is still working, as it shows program
change notices. But where it is not in the system tray, there is no way to
enter the program, instead, a message stating the build has expired. Again,
it is still showing program change notices, despite this. I've checked for
references to Giant, I've checked in Windows Components, I've looked in the
program folder for an uninstall option.... The only way I've been able to
successfuly remove, is to upgrade to Defender first. But here's the thing:
Most pc's still only have sp1, and Defender requires sp2. So, upgrading
first is not an option for most of these pc's. Any ideas? Thanks so much!

 

[Bill Sanderson]

Those reports related to a very specific, rather narrow, incident. A set of
definition, available for about 12 hours, had a false positive for corporate
versions of Symantec Antivirus--I'm unclear whether there's also a Norton
branded corporate (centrally managed) version.

So--unless you have that bad set of definitions in place, which were
replaced at about 3 PM on Friday the 10th of February--you should be fine.
Good are 5807 or later.
Some web reports are innacurate, and also fnger the 5807 definitions. In
general those reports are because of the update issues the beta1 product
had.

Now--about your more basic issue. I think the Windows Installer cleanup
tool is what I'd try next.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;290301

Install this, and see whether Microsoft Antispyware--or anything with Giant
as part of the name--are in the list, and remove those.

If you want to be shut of all Microsoft Antispyware solutions, and
clean--I'm not sure what the best recommendation is--I tend to recommend
reinstalling a given product with this kind of issue and then
uninstalling--to get a better chance of a full uninstall.

Perhaps in this case, running the Windows Defender install and then
uninstalling that might be better.

FWIW--no Windows Defender build or definition set had this same false
positive, according to Microsoft's press statement at the time.

 

[Guest]

I've already used the cleanup tool. And most of these pc's will not run
Defender, as they are SP1. However, I'm less worried about them having
Antispyware at this point. Thanks for helping point me in a different
direction.