Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is causing computers to hang!

Kaspersky Internet Security 2010 is causing computers to hang, sometimes for ½ an hour, and sometimes FOREVER! The symptoms are that the icons in the lower right corner of the task bar never come up and when your mouse crosses the taskbar it turns into an hourglass. The three finger salute (Alternate Control Delete) does not work. You have to hold your power button in for 10 seconds or unplug the computer! I can’t get any help from Kaspersky except for a program that you can download to remove Kaspersky, but of course if the computer is hung you cannot run the program. Duh?

The solution is to start the computer is safe mode via pressing F8 during boot up. Then you cannot remove Kaspersky because the removal tool does not work in safe mode! Go to ‘Start’, ‘Run’, and type ‘MSConfig’. In the 'startup' tab uncheck ‘AVP’ (That’s Kaspersky). In the 'services' tab uncheck ‘Kaspersky’. While you are in there you might want to uncheck other programs that you installed years ago but never use….

Restart you computer and go to ‘control panel’ and ‘add/remove programs'. Select 'Kaspersky' and remove all of it except for the license registration (top check box). Then download the latest version of Kaspersky 2010 and reinstall it. So far this has worked almost every time. If it does not work, reinstall windows, you likely have a virus that is preventing Kaspersky from working properly.

Don’t hold your breath waiting for a fix or an apology from Kaspersky……

I just checked the Microsoft and Kaspersky blogs this morning and they are reporting problems with Kaspersky 2010 on new computers with a fresh install of Windows.  That eliminates the possibility of the the problems coming from an undetected virus.  So far I have had 3 computers that after uninstalling Kaspersky 2009 and then installing 2010, as much as a month later, the system either stops working with the symptoms listed above, or even worse the mouse stops working claiming that there is a registry problem.  I have tabbed my way there and tried a different mouse driver to no avail. 

The solution remains to reinstall Windows.  Then fight with Microsoft over licensing issues for Windows and Office.  Then we have to call ACT and get additional licenses to get that to work too....  What a pain.....