How to detect antivirus software on a system

[chaitu]

I am preparing an installer. Pre-requisite for this installer is to
check if any anti-virus software is installed on the machine. If so
then show a message to the user saying - Detected anti-virus software
in the system. please stop the anti-virus software services and then
proceed with the installation.

Does any one know if there is any Windows API or some registry from
which i can know that some anti-virus software is installed on the
system?

The installer i am preparing will be installed on Win2K3 and Win XP
machine.

Thanks...

 

[Malke]

chaitu wrote:
> I am preparing an installer. Pre-requisite for this installer is to
> check if any anti-virus software is installed on the machine. If so
> then show a message to the user saying - Detected anti-virus software
> in the system. please stop the anti-virus software services and then
> proceed with the installation.
>
> Does any one know if there is any Windows API or some registry from
> which i can know that some anti-virus software is installed on the
> system?
>
> The installer i am preparing will be installed on Win2K3 and Win XP
> machine.

Are you nuts?!! You want us to *help* you write this?!! I don't think
so. We have enough malware out there already.


Malke
--
Elephant Boy Computers
www.elephantboycomputers.com
"Don't Panic!"
MS-MVP Windows - Shell/User

 

[jwgoerlich@gmail.com]

> Does any one know if there is any Windows API or some registry from
> which i can know that some anti-virus software is installed on the
> system?

Use the Windows Installer API to enumerate installed products. Compare
that with a source list of known anti-virus products. If a match is
found, then display back to the user. If a match is not found, there
still may be an anti-virus installed that you did not have in the
source list, so display a message letting the user decide if they
should stop services or continue.

Hope that helps,

J Wolfgang Goerlich


Windows Installer Examples: List Products, Properties, Features, and
Components
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa369767(VS.85).aspx


On Dec 20, 4:34 am, chaitu <chaitanya...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I am preparing an installer. Pre-requisite for this installer is to
> check if any anti-virus software is installed on the machine. If so
> then show a message to the user saying - Detected anti-virus software
> in the system. please stop the anti-virus software services and then
> proceed with the installation.
>
> Does any one know if there is any Windows API or some registry from
> which i can know that some anti-virus software is installed on the
> system?
>
> The installer i am preparing will be installed on Win2K3 and Win XP
> machine.
>
> Thanks...

 

[Volodymyr Shcherbyna]

There is no general solution for this. Typically, developers know the names
of antiviruses they are conflicting. So most of the solutions are based on:

1. Identifiying the AV by product name (you can get the list of installed
software via Win32_Product or as it was suggested, by installer api)

2. Identifiying the AV by service names

3. Just telling user that he has to uninstall any antivirus because two AV
can make conflicting situation on computer

--
Volodymyr

"chaitu" <chaitanyagsk@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:174fda4c-e1af-42ca-9ff5-2c2c6c2d635f@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.com...
>I am preparing an installer. Pre-requisite for this installer is to
> check if any anti-virus software is installed on the machine. If so
> then show a message to the user saying - Detected anti-virus software
> in the system. please stop the anti-virus software services and then
> proceed with the installation.
>
> Does any one know if there is any Windows API or some registry from
> which i can know that some anti-virus software is installed on the
> system?
>
> The installer i am preparing will be installed on Win2K3 and Win XP
> machine.
>
> Thanks...