Solved Unable to join HomeGroup

[chev65]

Thanks for the advice. I'll uninstall my Total Defence AV software and try a free antivirus along with Windows Defender. I've used MalwareBytes Anti-Malware in the past when I got a virus and it neatly did the trick. It's my understanding that I need another AV program as well as the free version of MalwareBytes does not detect malware but is a cleaner to be used after the fact.

You said I should use the special tool for the job to remove the AV software. Are you referring to something other than Windows Uninstall feature? I've never heard of the CCleaner tool you mentioned but I'll probably run it on all three computers as it seems highly recommended as a registry cleanup tool. Thanks again for your help to date.

Yes most every A/V has a unique uninstall tool designed to remove remnants of the old software that may still be blocking things. I'm not familiar with your particular A/V software so not sure about where the tool might be.

CCleaner highly recommended, everyone here uses it without problems.

 

[Sam3]

When I searched for the uninstall process for my AV software, it first recommended that I use Windows Uninstall, but also had links to an uninstaller should the client run into problems. I assume you are suggesting that I simply download and run the uninstaller from the internet rather than using Windows and then run CCleaner. Thanks again for the advice.

 

[Sam3]

I followed your advice and uninstalled my Total Defence AV Software, then ran CCleaner (Registry) on both machines. I was certainly holding my breath as I allowed CCleaner to delete 217 entries on one machine and 222 on the second. With very little tweaking after that, I was able to join the second desktop to the HomeGroup created by the first.

Thank you chev65 for all your time and detailed help.

 

[chev65]

I followed your advice and uninstalled my Total Defence AV Software, then ran CCleaner (Registry) on both machines. I was certainly holding my breath as I allowed CCleaner to delete 217 entries on one machine and 222 on the second. With very little tweaking after that, I was able to join the second desktop to the HomeGroup created by the first.

Thank you chev65 for all your time and detailed help.

Glad to hear of your success Sam, Thanks for reporting back in.