McAfee VirusScan – hiding in plain sight.

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Just ran Belarc Advisor and discovered that McAfee VirusScan was on one of our computers and that its virus definitions were up to date and its real time file scanning was on.

I thought we had uninstalled McAfee VirusScan from the computer a longtime ago. It does not show up under Apps & Features but, when we search the C drive for the term McAfee using File Explorer, it shows up.

Then we ran Revo Uninstaller and it did not show up.  So Revo could not be used to uninstall it.

We then ran the McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool and rebooted the PC.

No luck, it showed up in the results of another Belarc scan.

So how do you get rid of McAfee VirusScan? Find the files in File Explorer and simply remove them. Tried that – need “administrator rights”.

So where do we go from here?

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TechTango

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Search the Registry. There are probably remnants left there. McAfee is a bear to get rid of.

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Myst, Kathy Stevens

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McAfee is a bear to get rid of.

Agree!  I ran a Belarc scan just to be sure.  🙂

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Kathy Stevens

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Have you tried using the command prompt (CMD) with administrator privileges, navigating to the location of the files you wish to delete (you can locate them by using the DIR command followed by /ah if necessary and wildcard characters surrounding the word McAfee – as in *McAfee*.* ), and then simply deleting them using the DEL command? The response of the CMD prompt will confirm the deletion or say why they weren’t deleted.

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Kathy Stevens

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Hi Kathy Stevens:

Try using TreeSize Free to view files in the hidden, protected C:\Program Files\WindowsApps folder and see if any McAfee remnants are located there. Be sure to click the Run as Administrator button on the interface before you browse to this protected folder.  I prefer using the portable (.zip) version of TreeSize Free available <here> and run it from a removable USB stick so that I don’t have to install the program on my hard drive.

My Dell Inspiron 5584 shipped with a 1-year trial of McAfee LiveSafe antivirus suite and, even after I uninstalled and wiped with the McAfee Consumer Product Removal (MCPR) tool, TreeSize found remnants in that folder that were apparently detected by Belarc Advisor. Here’s a screenshot I captured in March 2022:

According to my notes I removed the last remnants of McAfee Personal Security in those C:\Program Files\WindowsApps folders (e.g., C:\Program Files\WindowsApps\5A894077.McAfeeSecurity_2.1.68.0_neutral_~_wafk5atnkzcwy) with the Dism++ utility (just unzip and run) suggested by geekdom in post # 2554921 of my April 2023 thread Can’t Remove Remnants of Some Old UWP (Microsoft Store) Apps.  If I recall correctly Dism++ managed to remove whatever McAfee remnants Belarc Advisor was still detecting on my system. If you try Dism++ just note that there are two tabs – User Appx and Provisioned Appx as shown below – and I believe my McAfee remnants were on the Provisioned Apps tab.

—————–
Dell Inspiron 5584 * 64-bit Win 10 Pro v22H2 build 19045.3208 * Firefox v116.0.0 * Microsoft Defender v4.18.23050.9-1.1.23060.1005 * Malwarebytes Premium v4.5.33.272-1.0.2069 * Macrium Reflect Free v8.0.7279 * TreeSize Free Portable v4.6.3.520 * Dism++ v10.1.1002.1 * Belarc Advisor 12.0.0

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Kathy Stevens

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I would reinstall it and then use McAfee uninstaller to remove it.

cheers, Paul

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I second Paul’s recommendation.  On more than one occasion over the years, I was able to remove some old and difficult-to-delete program by updating to the most current trial version of that product (thus overwriting some of the older files) and then trying to uninstall it.  Afterwards, one can manually delete any leftover directories.

As an aside, here is a freeware program https://geekuninstaller.com which has worked well for me.

 

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In my case my system was a mcafee virgin and yet it made its appearance one fine day. And it refuses to let go of course. No way I am installing a version of it after they came in uninvited in the first place. Didn’t McAfree die in that mexican jail a few years back? Is his soul back, trying to really earn that jail penalty?

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