asked on

Remove ALL McAfee & install NSW

I want all McAfee gone!
Dell E310, WinXP, McAfee installed by Dell and includes the following:
McAfee Security Ctr (6.0.22)
Spamkiller 7.0.23
Privacy Srv 8.1.0.136
Personal Firewall 7.1.113
VirusScan 10.0.27
MS Config - all McAfee items are checked
"M" in sys tray is black (disabled virusscan, spamkiller, priv srv, & firewall)
I ran the McAfee tech which shows all products not running (duh factor)

Under add/remove, the only McAfee listed is "McAfee Uninstaller" (which I researched and found that is a discontinued product). VirusScan, Spamkiller, etc is not listed under add/remove, or another other McAfee product.
I have "chatted" with Dell Support 5-6 times - they insist I can remove VirusScan via add/remove - ignoring the fact that VirusScan is NOT listed. They did send a link to manually remove VirusScan - 7 full pages of instructions (http://stuff.mit.edu/people.bbrids/virus.html).
I've read numerous websites on how to remove/uninstall McAfee - what concerns me are the multitude of problems this can create from not being to log on again (TCP/IP problem), to not being able to install Norton Systemworks.

My question
1) Are all McAfee items checked or unchecked at msconfig startup
2) All items disabled or abled in sys tray
3) Which item should I uninstall/remove first (ie virusscan, spamkiller, security center, etc) and in what order
4) When I should I remove 'mcafee uninstaller" (before or after removing VirusScan, etc) using add/remove in control panel
5) If I can successfully remove/uninstall McAfee, will that cure my "won't save my password in Outlook Express" problem?
6) How can I make absolutely sure I'm logged in as Administrator before I attempt any of this? I've been using WinXP for about 3 months (after being a Win98 fan for many years!).
500 points for detailed info/solution on this problem - thanks in advance for your help!

Tolomir

How about uninstalling/starting McAfee Uninstaller, it could include all these programs, but should tell you of cause.

ASKER CERTIFIED SOLUTION

adm_adamlee

membership

This solution is only available to members.

To access this solution, you must be a member of Experts Exchange.

Start Free Trial

pammo

ASKER

adm adamlee

Sorry it took me so long to respond. I used the add/remove (mcafee uninstaller). That, as you said, did not completely remove McAfee. Then I went to the registry to find all instances of mcafee and under my computer (program files). Under “HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\controlset001, there are probably 250+ subfolders (starting with .NET CLR Data and ending with .xml prov and everything in between) - I did not delete that – nor for controlset003, since that one too had 250+ subfolders. Don’t have a controlset002 – I’m assuming when I went through the registry and deleted all entries of Mcafee, Network, etc. that took care of that). I removed all dialup connections, then created a new one adding my 8 character password. When the dialup logon box is displayed, the password box shows 16-20 asterisks. I clicked on 'connect' and it connected (even though I didn't remove the 16 asteriks and add my 8-character password). I’ve connected several times without changing the password and it connects every time. I found a website that stated "XP uses this to confuse unauthorized users" or something like that. After gathering up the nerve to click on “uninstall’, editing and removing entries in the registry, and installing and configuring NortonSystemWorks, everything seems to be working just like I wanted. Thank you again for your detailed explanation. 500 points to you. Again, sorry for the delay.

adm_adamlee

You are welcome!

Remove ALL McAfee &amp; install NSW

Remove ALL McAfee & install NSW