Purchased a Dell computer which came pre-loaded with McAfee Security Center. After 6 months or so, had to do a system restore because of an operating problem. When the system was restored, all of the components of McAfee were not restored. Now, when I boot, I get two error messages indicating that McAfee is not working because some McAfee files are missing.
Tried to remove McAfee by using add/remove and cannot remove it because files are missing. Tried to download Security Center from McAfee website and that service is no longer availabe to me, since I have owned the computer too long. Purchased a new Security Center, hoping to load in all the files, thereby getting the missing files. Cannot load in new Security Center because there is an old security center already in the computer. I am told to remove the old one, using add/remove, which I cannot do, because of missing files.
Hi aob, well your biggest mistake was
not to remove that McAfee crud as soon as you got the pc. Most likely your system restore got corrupted somehow. A couple of things you can do is just not use McAfee, "there are plenty of freeware programs out there that do a much better job," or you can try another restore & hope it takes care of the problem. BJ
Edit, you can probably get rid of those annoying boot up messages by going to start>run> type in msconfig, click ok & in the next window click on startup tab, go down the list & uncheck anything that has to do with McAfee, click apply & reboot.
Is your computer ill? Does it need the special care of top notch computer Doctors? The VirtualDoctor is in the house.
BJ:
I am reluctant to do another restore, as that is likely to bring back the operating problem, which necessitated the first system restore. What I want to do is get rid of McAfee.
I know it is drastic, but why can I not do a search and delete, thereby deleting McAfee everywhere it exists? Obviously, the response cannot be that it is preferable to do an add/remove, since that does not work.
"Searching the Registry for McAfee VirusScan Files".
To quote their instructions:
"IMPORTANT: These instructions assume you have already removed all McAfee programs other than VirusScan from your computer. The instructions will tell you how to remove any file remnants."
It goes on to offer more cautions, but it does have a really complete list of things to hunt for in the registry that get or might get left over when uninstalling Virus Scan.
Note: Manual registry entries are now removed with the Clean-up Tool as noted above.
A good place to get help from other McAfee users:
McAfee Support Message Boards http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/index.php?c=2
Select Virus Scan. You must sign up by creating an account
and a user name and password in order to access the message boards.
BJ:
I am reluctant to do another restore, as that is likely to bring back the operating problem, which necessitated the first system restore. What I want to do is get rid of McAfee.
I doubt that would happen.
I know it is drastic, but why can I not do a search and delete, thereby deleting McAfee everywhere it exists? Obviously, the response cannot be that it is preferable to do an add/remove, since that does not work.
You can do that, by going to start, search, type in McAffee. It will leave remnants in your registry so after you delete everything you can find, I recomend using the program below to clean up the registry. This was a promotion going in the last couple of weeks & you could get the program for free, hopefully it's still available. BJ
That looks like it might help. Looks like I will have to try to remove each component, individually, until I am just left with Security center and then follow the instructions for getting rid of Security Center.
Thanks. It is going to take some time to go through the entire process. Will post back, when I am finally done.
I am going to try to follow McAfee's recommendations, as suggested by Train. If that works, then fine. If not, will search and delete, then do a registry clean-up, as you recommend. I have bookmarked your page to come back to it.
Hi aob,
yep, McAfee is tricky to get rid of, and as Train said, "it will take a long while". I did it a few years ago with Win 98 and even that was painstaking. You have to get rid of registry files, system files, and program files; for your registry, look at
JV16PowerTools http://www.oldversion.com/program.php?n=jv16
(freeware) Save records, some files will be rewritten when you reboot, and we go from there.
Chas
P.s. (the edit) I thought, afterwards, that your easiest coure of action is to telephone McAffee, and explain that you need to redownload the software. Once installed, it can be uninstalled, but you probably will need JV16PowerTools to clean out the dregs; I highly recommend JV16. (and when you are reinstalling and uninstalling McAfee (you can also uninstall with JV16) , use an install Manager/Recorder like InCtrl;it tells you what was done, or not
Chas
Last edited by chaszal; October 23rd, 2006 at 09:51 PM.
I cannot believe that the dern thing actually worked. I downloaded the removal tool. Clicked a couple of times. Sat back and watched it clean what seemed liked hundreds of files. Now, there is no more McAfee and no more error reports.
I highly recommend this removal tool to anyone else with McAfee removal problems. I am now one happy camper.
[RESOLVED] Add/Remove software problems; cannot remove McAfee
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Originally Posted by aob
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