For various reasons, it happens that there is a need for a complete, 100% removal of all traces of McAfee antivirus installed on the computer. Either his trial period ended, or we just didn’t like him, or they found better and cheaper - it doesn’t matter. When installing another protection, the latter detects traces that seem to be deleted, perceives them as full-fledged software, stops installation and requires the removal of a competitor. How do I completely remove McAfee and all its components?
First, let's look at the basic standard way in which we will try to get rid of McAfee. We will perform the removal using the Windows tools on a computer with the 7th version of the operating system. Through the
"Start" button, go to the "Control Panel". Left-clicking on the item “Programs”, we get to the section “Programs and components”. We find our antivirus in the list, select it and click "Delete / Change", after which we confirm our command by clicking the "Yes" button.
It often happens that the removal of McAfee by the standard method failed. In this case, we need a special McAfee removal utility, which is called the "McAfee Removal Tool". Download it (preferably from the official site of the antivirus developer), save it on your computer and launch as administrator. We calmly wait until it completes its work and offers to restart the device. Be sure to fulfill this request without delaying it at a later time. After that, make sure that the anti-virus folder is deleted. Some of the operations described above may require administrator action. So, we go under the corresponding account.
In general, you need to know that in the usual way running programs are not deleted, and when the computer starts, all the elements are automatically launched by the antivirus. Therefore, if you stop the program, and through the autoload terminate the scanner and other parts, then it may well result in a normal deletion using the standard method. It remains only to manually clean any reminder about it in the registry.
Also, in order to perform a quality McAfee removal, you can use the cool Uninstall Tool utility. First, it simply completely removes the program, and then scans the system for the presence of remaining elements, roots, including in the registry. After your confirmation, it also deletes them.
In conclusion, consider another option with which you can do the removal of McAfee. Let's try to carry out this procedure in safe mode. Indeed, in this mode, a minimum of components and drivers is launched, which will quickly eliminate all detected errors. We go into the
"System Configuration" and turn off the antivirus. After that, we remove it from startup and disable the automatic start of all McAfee services. We restart the computer and start
safe mode again
. Delete all
program folders
: X: \ Program Files and X: \ ProgramData. Next, using the search, we find its traces in the registry and clean them. All!
I think that of all the above methods, you will find one that suits you personally, and successfully use it.