Recovering from a very bad antivirus

Question

Someone tried a new antivirus program which proceeded to block Paratext. He had uninstalled this antivirus but still couldn’t run Paratext after reinstalling it. Windows reported that “C:\Program Files (x86)\Paratext 8\Paratext.exe” could not be found. But the Paratext.exe file was there.

I looked on his machine, found a few more traces of this antivirus still loaded, but after removing those and reinstalling Paratext, it still wouldn’t work. Finally I found an online article that says malware can write in the registry a link to block a program from opening. Found that was the key.
The article:

superuser.com

Windows cannot find '?.exe' - some apps only

windows-7, windows-explorer

asked by Mike Rockétt on 05:34AM - 29 Apr 13 UTC

The antivirus in question is called “Net Protector 2017” and from this experience (and other reports online) it is definitely to be avoided.