Type the letter corresponding to your main drive (likely the letter C) and press ↵ Enter while on the Start screen. Doing this should link you to your hard drive in the search results. Click this to open your main drive, and then use the aforementioned file pathways to find and delete remaining Ad-Aware content.
For Windows 10 Press your ⊞ Win key and go into your file explorer, then in the file directory panel to the left, scroll down until you find "This PC." Clicking this will open a list of drives under the heading "Devices and Drives." Click your main drive, likely labeled "C," and then use the aforementioned pathways to find and delete the remaining Ad-Aware content.
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Delete the remaining Ad-Aware files on your hard drive. Now that you've opened your main drive, you can navigate to the following locations using the listed file extensions and manually delete the content there:
C:Documents and Settings → Administrator → Local Settings → Temp → AAWInstallerTemp → v9.5.0
C:Documents and Settings → Administrator → Local Settings → Temp → VMwareDnD → 871fa77c)
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Search and delete remaining Ad-Aware content in your registry. Press the ⊞ Win+R to open the Run window. Now you can type "regedit" and hit ↵ Enter to access your Registry Editor. On the top options bar of your Registry Editor window, you should click "Edit" and select "Find" from the following choices.[11]XResearch source Type the name "Ad-Aware" into your Find Window and then delete the subsequent files from your registry.
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Restart your computer. For the changes you have made to take full effect, you'll have to either turn your computer off and then on again, or you can simply restart your computer.
Part 3 of 3:
Troubleshooting
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Be sure all features of Ad-Aware are completely turned off. If any component of Ad-Aware is left running during the uninstallation process, this could interfere with uninstallation.[12]XResearch source
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Select the correct drive. When searching manually through your file directory for any leftover folders pertaining to Ad-Aware, you will have to search in the drive Ad-Aware was installed to. If you are searching in the wrong drive, like an external drive (often labeled "E") or a partition (sometimes labeled "D"), you will not be able to find the Ad-Aware folders even with the correct file extensions.[13]XResearch source
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Delete your Ad-Aware component files completely. When manually deleting, right clicking Ad-Aware files and selecting "Delete" from the right-click menu or simply pressing backspace will not completely delete the file but will send it to your Recycle Bin.
To completely delete the files sent to your Recycle Bin, open it and right click white space in the bottom right corner of the bin, and then select "Empty Recycle Bin."
Holding ⇧ Shift and pressing Del will also permanently delete the file.[14]XResearch source
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Be vigilant of other warning signs. While removing Ad-Aware files from your PC, in particular the executable file "ad-aware free internet security #.#.exe", where #.# represents your version of Ad-Aware, you could find indications of a virus on your computer and a larger problem. The following file locations have been flagged as suspicious:
C:Windows"ad-aware free internet security #.#.exe
C:Program Filesad-aware free internet security #.#.exe
C:Program FilesCommon Filesad-aware free internet security #.#.exe[15]XResearch source