Anybody know DOS ?

[CanadianJohn]

I have an older desktop computer, which runs on Windows 7 ... not enough RAM to run new versions. I use the computer mostly for Youtube.

Recently, in a fit of madness, I bought and downloaded Avast Home Premium virus protection. The program would not install. It also won't uninstall, either from the Avast uninstall utility, or from the control panel, the message is something like "this program is already being uninstalled" So, I thought, I'll delete it... but from the control panel, I get a message "access denied."

Okay, I thought, I'll brush off my DOS skills, such as they are, but even the DOS del command gives me "access denied", even though I am logged in as administrator.

Can anyone see a way round this. My computer is running very slow, I think because the Avast uninstall utility has stuck, is is hogging resources. Avast online support has been very pleasant, but can't fix the problem.

Good thing I have a laptop as well as the desktop, eh?

When you are going out to the command prompt through Windows, are you selecting "Run as Administrator"?

Trying to think back to Win 7. You should be able to select:

Start -> All Programs -> Accessories

Right click command prompt and select Run as Administrator.

Thanks for your reply. I solved the problem - at least the worst one - in a related way. I rebooted, interrupted the boot by pressing F8. and then finished the boot in "safe mode". This starts only the processes the computer needs, and I was able to use DOS to delete the Avast program files, which were hogging the resources by trying to install/unistall themselves.

I've still got a virus, but at least the computer is useable.

Ah, safe mode was definitely an option.

But OP why are you running a PC with Windows 7 connected to the internet? Isn't that just asking for trouble? It's an unsupported OS; no more security patches since 2020. You can't just rely on antivirus.