How to delete "AVAST Software" key from Windows 7 Ultimate registry?

[JDD]

Hi,

I cannot get rid of the "AVAST Software" key from my Windows 7 Ultimate registry:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\AVAST Software

When I click that key, I get this popup:

Error Opening Key
AVAST Software cannot be opened.
An error is preventing this key from being opened.
Details: The system cannot find the file specified.
[OK]

When I try to delete this key I get:

Error Opening Key
Cannot delete AVAST Software: Error while opening key.
[OK]

When I right-click and try to get to Permissions I get a popup:

Permissions for AVAST Software
Security
The requested security information is either unavailable or can't be displayed.

To date I've tried these methods without success to delete this key:
* taking ownership
* granting permission
* renaming the key in the hope that I could then delete it: cannot rename it.
* psexec -i -d -s c:\windows\regedit.exe
* runassystem.exe
* RegistrarHomeV8.exe
* RegDelNull64.exe
* procexp.exe
* PCHunter64.exe

I followed this:

WhatSoftware Blog

WhatSoftware, a daily updated Tech Blog with basic and advanced, unbiased software reviews, computer tips news and more!

www.raymond.cc

All to no avail.

Anyone got an idea of how to get rid of the 'AVAST Software' key sitting in my registry?

Many thanks!

 

[Delving]

I stopped using Avast a number of years ago due to issues I had with some policy changes they made back a bit, but I seem to recall that they provided their own cleaning kit, so to speak, that scrubbed up all sorts of stuff and then you were able to go into the registry to clean out what they didn't want to remove themselves.

My reference to not using them for a bit means I may not be aware that they stopped making that "cleaning kit" available. Is that the case?

 

[Delving]

Okay, I went on over to my old-old stomping grounds and it seems they still have the Uninstall Utility, which seems logical.

Using the Uninstall Utility for Avast Antivirus | Official Avast Support

Using the Avast Uninstall Utility is the most reliable uninstallation method as it completely removes all Avast Antivirus files from your PC while Windows runs in Safe Mode. Alternatively, if you prefer to uninstall Avast Antivirus using the Avast Setup wizard, refer to the following article: Uni...

support.avast.com

That Raymond blog thingy you gave us a link to is interesting and very likely useful, but I think the first thing is to try that Avast tool first.

But if you have damaged the Avast files you may have trouble with that Uninstall Utility, as I recall having that sort of trouble with another anti-virus program and I had to clean it up myself. The thing is/was, there are pieces of the program in places you might not expect to find them and so a complete list of ALL pieces is important, if the standard Uninstall Utility does not work. And the order in which the uninstalling needs to be done is important, if you have to do it yourself.

I hope something I have posted thus far will be of some help to you.