The information in this article refers to a previous version of ESET. It is recommended that you run the most current version of ESET. Please see our tech article How to update your ESET Program to the Latest Version for assistance with updating your program. The information in the article below is provided as a convenience to those who may still have questions about the older version of the program.

Description: A common error message in ESET, Error 2878, is due to conflicting anti-virus programs on the computer. Most new computers come with "trial versions" of an antivirus program such as Norton Internet Security for example. Follow these steps to completely remove Norton from the machine and successfully install ESET.

1. Go to the Start Menu » Control Panel. Once in control panel, click Uninstall a program (or if view is set to Small Icons, click Programs and Features).


2. Locate Norton in this list. Double click on it to remove it.

3. Follow through the Norton uninstall process. Once completed, click Restart Now to restart the computer.


4. Once the computer boots back up, go to the Start Menu again and type Create a restore point and hit enter. In the window that appears, click the Create button. Give the restore point a name, then click Create. This will allow System Restore to revert to this point if any errors occur.



5. Now, go to the Start Menu one more time and type regedit and hit enter. Click Yes to the administrator prompt that appears. This will bring up the registry.

6. Within the registry, type CTRL-F which will bring up the Find menu. In this menu, type Norton and hit Enter.

7. While searching, a box labeled Searching the registry...Please wait will appear. When it finds a key, this box will disappear. When this happens, press DEL on the keyboard. Choose Yes in the confirmation window to completely remove the key.

8. Press the F3 function key to allow the search function to continue. Again, when the search box disappears, press the DEL key. Repeat this process until a box labeled Finished searching the registry appears.

9. Restart the computer one more time. When it boots back up, install ESET as normal.

NOTE: The example used in this article cites Norton Internet Security. A similar process could be used for other products, substituting that product's name for Norton in the above instructions.