Windows XP says I have McAfee Firewall, but it's uninstalled.
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Thread: Windows XP says I have McAfee Firewall, but it's uninstalled.

  1. #1
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    [SOLVED]Windows XP says I have McAfee Firewall, but it's uninstalled.

    Hello.

    When I bought my computer, I uninstalled McAfee rightaway because I do not like it. I installed AVG instead. But even after uninstalling McAfee, when I go to the control panel, then to security, Windows XP tells me that McAfee firewall is on. I tried disabling Windows XP's firewall, but it still says McAfee Firewall is on. I want to disable this because it makes my unable to hosts on games like Warcraft III. I have service pack 2.
    Last edited by Drawinger; January 23rd, 2006 at 11:12 PM.

  2. #2
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    Hi and Welcome to Virtual Dr.

    Here are the long winded instructions for complete removal:

    Summary: This document explains how to manually remove Firewall from Windows XP.

    Attempt an Automatic Uninstall
    Click on the Start button.
    Click on Control Panel.
    Double-click on the Add/Remove Programs icon. The Add/Remove Programs Properties dialog box will then appear.
    Locate McAfee Firewall on the list of installed programs and single-click on it so it is highlighted.
    Click the Add/Remove button.
    Note: If at any time you are prompted to remove shared files, answer Yes To All.
    Windows will then attempt to remove McAfee Firewall from your computer. If the operation is successful, you will need to restart your computer. If McAfee Firewall is successfully uninstalled, you do not need to complete the remaining steps in this document. If you receive error messages or find that McAfee Firewall was not completely removed, then follow the steps below to manually remove the program.


    Note: 2000 and XP Users should log in as the Administrator before continuing.

    Stop McAfee Firewall Service
    Click Start.
    Click Run.
    Enter the following text: (Include the quotes)
    "C:\Program Files\McAfee\McAfee Firewall\CPD.EXE"/uninstall
    The McAfee Firewall Service will be stopped
    Download MFW3-4.zip: http://download.mcafee.com/products/...hes/mfw3-4.zip Unzip it to your desktop and double-click on the file MFW3-4.reg to delete the Firewall registry entries.

    Restart your computer and continue with the instructions below

    Remove the McAfee Firewall Shortcuts
    Windows 98 / Me
    Click on the Start button.
    Highlight Settings then click on Taskbar & Start Menu. The Taskbar Properties dialog box will then appear.
    Click on the Start Menu Programs tab ("Advanced" tab in Windows Me).
    Click on the Remove button. A list of folders will then appear.
    Double-click on the McAfee folder
    Single-click on McAfee Firewall and click the Remove button
    Double-click on the McAfee Shared Features folder
    Single-click on McAfee Guardian and click the Remove button
    Single-click on Visual Trace and click the Remove button
    Click the Close button followed by the OK button.
    Windows 2000 / XP
    Click on the Start button.
    Click on Programs ("All Programs" in Windows XP).
    Click on McAfee
    Right-click on McAfee Firewall and choose Delete
    Click on McAfee Shared Features
    Right-click on McAfee Guardian and choose Delete
    Right-click on Visual Trace and choose Delete
    Close the Start Menu

    Delete the McAfee Firewall Files
    Double-click on the My Computer icon on the desktop.
    Double-click on the C: drive.
    Double-click on the Program Files folder.
    Double-click on the McAfee folder.
    Single-click on the McAfee Firewall folder.
    Press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete this folder. Answer Yes to any prompts about deleting files or programs.
    Double-click on the McAfee Shared Components folder.
    Single-click on the VisualTrace folder.
    Press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete this folder. Answer Yes to any prompts about deleting files or programs.
    Single-click on the Guardian folder.
    Press the Delete key on the keyboard to delete this folder. Answer Yes to any prompts about deleting files or programs.
    Close all open windows until you are back on the desktop.

    Delete the Firewall Drivers
    Click on the Start button.
    Highlight Find then click on Files or Folders. The Find Files dialog box will then appear.
    In the Named field type in fw20.vxd then click the Find Now button.
    The computer will then search for the file. When the file is found it will be displayed at the bottom of the dialog box.
    Once the file is found, right-click on the small icon to the left of the file's name. A pop-up menu will appear.
    Left-click on Delete to delete the file. Answer Yes to any prompts about deleting the file.
    Repeat steps 3 - 6 for the following files: CsLsp.dll, sporder.dll, fw220.sys

    Reboot the computer. McAfee Firewall is now removed from your computer.


    Hope that helps.

    Liam
    Desktop:I5 2500K|Asus P8Z68-V|8GB Corsair Vengeance|1280MB Nvidia 560 TI PE|1TB Seagate/60GB OCZ SSD|LG Blu-ray Writer|Corsair 750W
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  3. #3
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    Sorry, it doesn't help, because McAfee is already removed from my computer, so I can't do most of the steps that you have provided me with. The folder doesn't exist anymore. But the Windows XP security box still says McAfee Firewall is still on.

    Here's a picture from imageshack.

    http://img368.imageshack.us/my.php?image=mcafee8vw.jpg

  4. #4
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    I know you did the un-install process, but did you do any of the other steps above, such as manually deleting the driver files, and firewall files? did you download and run the .reg file to remove every trace of the firewall from the registry?


    Liam
    Desktop:I5 2500K|Asus P8Z68-V|8GB Corsair Vengeance|1280MB Nvidia 560 TI PE|1TB Seagate/60GB OCZ SSD|LG Blu-ray Writer|Corsair 750W
    27" iMac:I5 2500S|12GB Crucial DDR3|ATI 1GB 6970|1TB|Superdrive|Mighty Mouse

  5. #5
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    If none of that helps try turning Security center off then on again. It may have to redetect whatever firewall is or isn't in use.

    You may also need to configure the Windows firewall to allow the game ports to be opened.

    Some more info on configuring the firewall for gaming..

    http://www.mvps.org/nibblesnbits/PortRoute.html

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  6. #6
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    I tried to do that, but the files don't exist. And I downloaded the zip file to remove the registry, but when I launched it, it asked if I wanted to add the registry. I clicked yes but nothing happened.

    How can I turn off security center?

    And I have opened the ports for the games. But I'm trying to figure out why Windows XP says McAfee Personal Firewall is on, when it's uninstalled.

  7. #7
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    Disable then reenable the Security center service. See the pic attached. Double click "security center"

    It's in control panel>admin tools.

    It's worth noting that this firewall alert segment of security center is not a part of the functioning firewall (or a/v). It's obviously an error but that's only because it doesn't yet know any better. It could be edited to say attack chickens are guarding the computer but the Windows firewall would still be running

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  8. #8
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    I just turned off Windows Security Center, then back on. It still says McAfee Person Firewall is currently ON.



    I have posted this on the official McAfee forum to see if they can help me.
    Last edited by Drawinger; January 23rd, 2006 at 06:30 PM.

  9. #9
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    you could also try a manual registry edit if you're comfortable doing that...

    This key..

    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\FirewallDisableNotify!=dword:0

    Where 0 (zero) is no and 1 is yes.

    Change it to yes, reboot then change it back to no and reboot again.

    Always back up the registry key before editing.

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  10. #10
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    There's no FirewallDisableNotify!=dword:0 under Security Center. There's only Monitoring. And under monitoring is: AhnlabAntiVirus, ComputerAssociateAntiVirus, KasperskyAntiVirus, McAfeeAntiVirus, McAfeeFirewall, PandaAntiVirus, PandaFirewall, SophosAntiVirus, SymantecAntivirus, SymantecFirewall, TinyFirewall, TrendAntivirus, TrendFirewall, ZoneLabsFirewall.

    Do you know why all these programs are here? I never uesed them before. Also, I deleted the McAfee Antivirus, and McafeeFirewall folder under "Monitoring", but they keep coming back.

    I found a topic at the McAfee forum that was similar to mine:

    http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=54654

    It told me to find all the McAfee registry keys and delete them. I did this, but it still did nto fix it.
    Last edited by Drawinger; January 23rd, 2006 at 07:17 PM.

  11. #11
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    They're there because they're the firewalls that Windows is programmed to recognize. If you use an unknown firewall that's not listed you get a message that it doesn't recognize if there's a firewall running and you have to manually tell it that you do have a firewall.

    There's obviously still some well conceled Mcafee entry in the registry that the firewall is seeing. Unfortunately Mcafee entries don't always have the word Mcafee in them. Sometimes it just an executable file name or an abbreviation.

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  12. #12
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    I know for sure that it's not a misread, because when I turn Windows Firewall on, the security center says "At least one of the firewalls installed is currently ON." But when I turn off Windows Firewall, it says "McAfee Personal Firewall is currently ON."

  13. #13
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    If you've uninstalled Mcafee then it can't be on and it has to be reading the Mcafee info from a tag that hasn't yet been found. It's not a misread, it's just reading something that hasn't been deleted. What that is, unfortunately, I don't know.

    If you're sure you've deleted all the Mcafee folders (have you looked in "documents and settings/application data" for all users of the PC (including "all users")? and in program files/common files?

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  14. #14
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    Okay, I fixed it.

    I downloaded the free McAfee Personal Firewall trial from www.downloads.com, installed it, then uninstaleld it. Now my firewall is back to normal and windows is using the Windows XP firewall!

  15. #15
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    Glad to hear it. It's not at all uncommon for Mcafee (and Norton) to miss files/entries during an uninstall... second time got it.

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