I'm trying to help my dad with his old laptop that came with McAfee preinstalled. I've spent hours trying to uninstall it but can't get rid of it. I've attempted the normal uninstallation process, but it didn't work. I even tried to manually remove the files, but I can't because I need admin rights, even though I'm the admin and it works fine with everything else. I read online that the MCPR tool is supposed to be effective, but it just shows an incomplete uninstallation message after a few minutes. McAfee doesn't even appear in the Apps & Features section anymore, but there are still several McAfee processes running in the task manager, and I see hidden instances as well. I tried using Revo Uninstaller, but that failed too. I'm considering reinstalling Windows completely, which I really want to avoid. Any suggestions?
5 Answers
Make sure you're checking through the Control Panel's uninstall feature. Sometimes it doesn't show up right away, but if you dig around a bit, you might find it. Just press your Windows key and type 'uninstall'; look for McAfee and it should be there.
If the automatic uninstall tools like Revo or BC aren't working, consider using Autoruns from the Microsoft Sysinternals Suite. It's not a perfect solution, but it can help you stop McAfee from running entirely.
You might want to try BC Uninstaller; it's worked for a lot of users dealing with stubborn programs. You can find it on their official site. It could help you get rid of McAfee for good!
To completely remove McAfee, you could also try running the McAfee removal tool directly from their support site. It’s designed specifically for situations like this!
Did Revo give you any error messages when you tried to use it? If the standard uninstall didn’t work, you might need to select the option to scan for leftover files, which can help force the uninstallation.
Thanks, I'll give Autoruns a shot. I really need to stop those processes from starting!