I Hate McAfee
August 22, 2010 3:14 PM Subscribe
I mistakenly installed some version of a McAfee update on my relatively new Dell. The McAfee subscription was included. I did not choose this thing. Any way, McAfee has taken over my Windows firewall settings and I can not edit them. At all. I tried to do it through McAfee to no avail. So I tried calling McAfee, but they wanted me to pay for support. So I deleted McAfee. Unfortunately that did not remove the hold over windows firewall.
How can I get back control of windows firewall and use the browser of my choice. I have tried to make changes in the windows firewall controls but it has not worked. I can't even turn off the firewall.
The kicker here is that it's blocking me from using Chrome or any browser other than IE. This is like nasty spy ware that tries to blackmail you into paying them to get back control of your computer.
I've running Windows 7 Home Edition on a Dell Studio laptop.
How can I get back control of windows firewall and use the browser of my choice. I have tried to make changes in the windows firewall controls but it has not worked. I can't even turn off the firewall.
The kicker here is that it's blocking me from using Chrome or any browser other than IE. This is like nasty spy ware that tries to blackmail you into paying them to get back control of your computer.
I've running Windows 7 Home Edition on a Dell Studio laptop.
Oops, wrong link. Try here. Even if you didn't set a restore point, W7 is supposed to create one every week or more automatically.
posted by K.P. at 3:23 PM on August 22, 2010
posted by K.P. at 3:23 PM on August 22, 2010
Best answer: Use the McAfee Removal Tool
posted by deezil at 3:25 PM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
posted by deezil at 3:25 PM on August 22, 2010 [2 favorites]
Seconding deezil. I've used the MCPR tool on several systems and it has worked every time.
posted by gimli at 3:35 PM on August 22, 2010
posted by gimli at 3:35 PM on August 22, 2010
At least you can use IE. The restore point is the first thing to try.
If that fails, google 'mcafee removal'. There is a mcafee removal tool. Likely it will fail too, but give it a shot.
Then you can try the safe mode, modify the registry by hand approach. If you are not comfortable doing this, try to find someone who is. The worst that can happen is that you lose the installation and have to reinstall windows and lose all your data. But it is pretty easy for the worst to happen.
This site, which I just got off google and cannot vouch for, lays out the do-it-by-hand approach. If you go this route, you should find another similar site and print out all the directions on paper because, when you need them, you likely will not be able to access the internet. Also read through it ALL to get familiar with the steps.
Good luck. I did this with Symantec. It only took all day.
posted by hexatron at 3:37 PM on August 22, 2010
If that fails, google 'mcafee removal'. There is a mcafee removal tool. Likely it will fail too, but give it a shot.
Then you can try the safe mode, modify the registry by hand approach. If you are not comfortable doing this, try to find someone who is. The worst that can happen is that you lose the installation and have to reinstall windows and lose all your data. But it is pretty easy for the worst to happen.
This site, which I just got off google and cannot vouch for, lays out the do-it-by-hand approach. If you go this route, you should find another similar site and print out all the directions on paper because, when you need them, you likely will not be able to access the internet. Also read through it ALL to get familiar with the steps.
Good luck. I did this with Symantec. It only took all day.
posted by hexatron at 3:37 PM on August 22, 2010
I came in to recommend the McAfee Consumer Products Removal tool too. They don't make it easy to find on their website, so here's the direct download link. You can also get it from sites like majorgeeks.
posted by Balonious Assault at 3:46 PM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by Balonious Assault at 3:46 PM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: thank you all.
I went brute force and found the McAfee Personal Firewall .exe file. I couldn't delete it because it was getting activated at start up, but then I thought - rename the little bugger. And I that's what I did and then restarted. It did not start up when Win 7 started up and I was able to delete the whole thing. And now I can use Chrome again. I reset my Windows firewall to be active, since that worked for me before just fine.
I am however going to have a look at the removal tool just to be sure I got rid of the WHOLE thing.
posted by Red58 at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2010
I went brute force and found the McAfee Personal Firewall .exe file. I couldn't delete it because it was getting activated at start up, but then I thought - rename the little bugger. And I that's what I did and then restarted. It did not start up when Win 7 started up and I was able to delete the whole thing. And now I can use Chrome again. I reset my Windows firewall to be active, since that worked for me before just fine.
I am however going to have a look at the removal tool just to be sure I got rid of the WHOLE thing.
posted by Red58 at 7:27 PM on August 22, 2010
Best answer: Yeah, you really don't want to just willy-nilly delete EXE files. McAfee and other anti-viral/security tools tie themselves very closely to the lower levels of the OS and it's very possible to make your Windows installation unstable or even unusable if you don't clear it out of the registry properly.
posted by dhartung at 8:11 PM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
posted by dhartung at 8:11 PM on August 22, 2010 [1 favorite]
What Balonious said. My sister had a problem with McAfee that was half uninstalled. The removal took care of the problem and she could finally connect to the net with something other than IE.
posted by rmmcclay at 4:52 AM on August 23, 2010
posted by rmmcclay at 4:52 AM on August 23, 2010
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by K.P. at 3:21 PM on August 22, 2010