mcAfee stick-up

[omachine]

okay, here's my story. i had mcAfee installed via aol a few years ago. well i uninstalled aol back in january but forgot about mcAfee which, had expired the first of the year. i purchased trend anti-virus software but was unable to install it because i could not uninstall all of mcAfee. I removed every component I could find but the workstation refused to be uninstalled because it kept stating that mcAfee features were still on my laptop. i searched hi and low for these other features but haven't been able to locate them on my computer. meanwhile, i have not been online with my laptop since the first of the year and my roommate has made it clear that she will be giving me the boot regarding her desktop once her classes begin in the fall.

one of my friends suggested that i should save what i can to a flash drive and then wipe my computer completely clean, there by getting rid of mcAfee at last. i would then have to re-boot windows xp and load all my info from my flashdrive back onto my laptop. is this the best solution? i feel like mcafee has been holding my computer hostage all of these months. thanks for listening!

[TsPoet]

A) did you go into add/remove software? That should get it all.

B) try out Avast - the free version has worked for me for years. My only objection to it is the male voice that says "virus database has been updated" at oddly random times, scaring the heck out of me thinking there is a strange man in my house every time.

Good Luck.

[ny biker]

I had a similar problem. I had something called PC-illin (or something like that) from my brief attempt to get earthlink dsl to work, and I was not able to uninstall it no matter what I tried. But it was preventing me from installing McAfee, which comes free with my cable internet access. Finally I went to the website for the company that makes PC-illin and after poking around a bit I found a link to click to uninstall the software. They had different links depending on what version you were trying to uninstall, and I found one for mine even though it was several years old.

So go to the McAfee site and see if they have any uninstall help there. Also you can try calling their tech support - they might be reluctant to help since you're not a current customer, but maybe they could at least point you to the place on their website where you can get what you need.

Good luck!

[GLC1968]

My H works for McAfee and though he supports larger applications/corporate customers, I asked his advice anyway.

He suggested a visit to http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/

[TsPoet]

I got this from a friend who had the same trouble last year. Unfortunately he's a computer programmer, which means he doesn't speak English. but, maybe this will help.


I would suggest booting into safe mode, then removing it. Also I would run a utility called msconfig, by going to start->run and typing msconfig then enter. I would locate the mcAfee and uncheck it to run as a service and startup program, that usually does the trick.

[roadie gal]

There's a program called "CCleaner" that you can download for free. Mostly it's for getting rid of spyware and other stuff like that, but it has a great uninstall feature that gets rid of stuff that your control panel install/uninstall can't.

I'm so happy that I recently switched to Mac and don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

[tulip]

I just uninstalled McAfee (on the day it expired) last week and installed AVG. I had no trouble. I just went to he start button>Control Panel>Add or Remove Programs.

[omachine]

Tulip I did try the add/remove months ago. It stated that I couldn't remove the workstation until all components were removed. Ts Poet I tried the misconfig and unfortunately it did not work. I will definitely try the other options and see which one pans out for me. Thanks for all the feedback, you folks are super amazing!!

[omachine]

Thanks Roadie Gal, your suggestion worked, I am mcafee free! I was so ready to throw in the towel and wipe my entire computer clean. Seriously, thanks to everyone else for all the incredible feedback. I feel like I just won a MTV music award except Kanye hasn't made it up the steps yet. Truly, thank you, thank you, thank you!!


O.

[tctrek]

There's a program called "CCleaner" that you can download for free. Mostly it's for getting rid of spyware and other stuff like that, but it has a great uninstall feature that gets rid of stuff that your control panel install/uninstall can't.

I'm so happy that I recently switched to Mac and don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

+1 on switching to MAC - we don't need no stinkin' virus protection :D.

[Cataboo]

+1 on switching to MAC - we don't need no stinkin' virus protection :D.

I am so going to laugh when the mac market share gets large enough that people start writing viruses for mac's... and everyone that thought they were safe and didn't take any precautions because they have a mac get viruses.

But I'm mean that way.

[tzvia]

There aren't many (compared to PC) viruses for the MAC, but they are out there, from OSX/Leap-A to Newton and iBotnet and maybe 60(??) others, but you only need to get one to have a bad hair day. And from what I hear, the MAC ones are nasty.

I would only run a computer (any kind) without AV software if 3 things can be 100% assured.
1. No new software is to be installed or data copied from floppy/cd/external drive/memory card and no provision for such access is installed.
2. No internet connection and no provision for one (no RJ45, USB slot, 1394, wireless or RJ11).
3. Computer is physically secured. No unauthorized users.

I clean viruses (among other things) for a living in aerospace so I am not without experience here and my take is, if it can receive data from another computer, in any form, it needs AV software.

For the PC, I agree with TsPoet; Avast is quite impressive for 'Free for home use' software, and I wish we used it at work. I was not impressed with AVG when I tried it years ago, and Mcafee is a bit of a resource hog and is hard to remove.

[VeloVT]

Anybody have recommendations for a good AV program for mac? I've been running mine for a few years without, but I realize that, as Tzvia points out, it's taking a risk. There aren't as many AV programs out there for mac and no one seems to take many of the ones that are available very seriously.

[GLC1968]

liza - my husband (in the business) has heard that iantivirus is supposed to be good but apparently it only works on an Intel based Mac. Not sure if that helps you at all, but I figured I'd throw it out there.

[SadieKate]

I'm so happy that I recently switched to Mac and don't have to worry about that stuff anymore.

Yup, you just go on thinking that. :) You ever heard of the Elk Cloner? First ever virus infected Apples. It seems there's sort of a Garden of Eden analogy there, doesn't it?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elk_Cloner

[witeowl]

I am so going to laugh when the mac market share gets large enough that people start writing viruses for mac's... and everyone that thought they were safe and didn't take any precautions because they have a mac get viruses.

But I'm mean that way.

But I'm soooo with you! But only for the smug mac owners. There are mac owners who realize that it's only because they're not common enough to be the target audience (yet). It's not that macs are any more secure than pc; they're just not being targeted by the virus creators.

So I'm with you, but only for the people that don't get it. ;)