How to remove McAfee from your computer
There may be a reason why you decide to uninstall your McAfee antivirus software. So if you already have to do the removal work, do it in a proper way. Considering that you need to know the correct procedure, I have brought you a free McAfee antivirus support guide. This guide will walk you through the removal procedure step by step and help you to remove McAfee program easily. Just make sure you follow the procedure correctly to avoid facing Problems with McAfee antivirus.
Procedure:
Click on the Start menu and go to Control Panel. When in the Control Panel window, find Add or Remove Programs and double-click to open it. When you are in Add or Remove Programs, look for the McAfee Security Center program. Click to select it and then press the Change/Delete button on the site to the right. If prompted, confirm the action. Remember that you must be logged in as an administrator on the computer to perform the uninstall.
Otherwise, it will not allow you to remove it from your computer. When the McAfee SecurityCenter window appears, make sure that all the components viz. VirusScan, Personal Firewall, SiteAdvisor, etc. are checked. Click the Delete button to start the process. Click Remove again when you see the McAfee warning message. Wait for the process to complete. It may take some time, so be patient. When you’re done and prompted, restart your computer.
If you are a Windows 7/Vista user, go to Control Panel from the Start menu and click the Uninstall a program link under Programs. You will be in the Programs and Features window. Alternatively, you can type ‘programs and features’ (without quotes) in the Start Search bar to access this window. Find McAfee Security Center (or something similar like McAfee VirusScan Enterprise depending on which version of McAfee you’re using), select it, and then click the Uninstall/Change button.
If prompted, confirm the action. Verify that all McAfee components are checked. Press the Remove button. Click Delete again when the warning message appears. Wait for all the components to be completely removed. In the meantime, do not close or stop the process, as it may cause other McAfee antivirus issues. Restart your computer when prompted. The McAfee program must be uninstalled from your computer. In case you see a message that McAfee did not remove successfully, download and install the McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool (MCPR.exe).
Open your web browser, type ‘download MCPR.exe’ (without quotes) in the search bar of your search engine (Google or Bing, etc.) and press the Enter key on your keyboard. You will see a number of sites offering to download MCPR.exe in the search results. You can download it from any reliable website like Softpedia or CNET. Click the Save File button to save the downloaded file. If prompted, choose a place where you want to save it. When you’re done, browse to the file and double-click to open it.
Click the Run button when prompted. Wait while the program finds and extracts all the McAfee files. Press the Next button on the McAfee Software Removal window. Click to check the I Agree button to accept the End User License Agreement and press the Next button. If prompted, type the security authentication code, and then press the Next button. Remember, the code is case sensitive. So write the uppercase and lowercase letters as is. Press the Next button to continue.
The McAfee software removal procedure will begin. It may take some time, so do not close or end the procedure. When it is removed successfully, you will see a McAfee cleanup success message. Otherwise, you will see an Uninstall Incomplete or Error message. Click the View Logs button to check the details of the leftover files. These files will open in a Windows Notepad. Press Ctrl + S keys together to save this file. Give it a name like MCPR.exe or whatever you like. Contact a McAfee technical support service and present this file to the McAfee agent. Let McAfee technical support do the cleanup.
Additional tips:
If you want to manually remove McAfee files from your computer, here is the procedure. Before proceeding, make sure you follow the procedure carefully to remove the files. Click the Start button and go to My Computer. Windows 7/Vista users should go to Computer. Double-click to open the local C: drive. Go to Program Files in the C directory and look for McAfee files and/or folders.
Use the Windows search tool to find those files. Press the Ctrl and F keys together to bring up the search box. Type McAfee in the search box and press Enter. Select the files and/or folders and press the Delete key on the keyboard. When you’re done with Program Files, look in drive C and D etc. Delete all the McAfee files. Get out of all windows.
Open Registry Editor. Click on the Start menu and go to Run. Type ‘regedit’ (without quotes) in the Open box and press Enter. Here I am sharing an easy method to search Registry Editor for not only McAfee entries but any other program entries. Use the Ctrl + F key combination to open the Find utility. Type ‘McAfee’ (without quotes) in the Search box and press Enter. The Find tool will search the registry branches and display the McAfee entries. Select each entry and press the Delete button. Repeat this search and delete procedure until the Search tool exhausts all registry branches. When finished, exit Registry Editor and restart your computer. In case of problem, contact a McAfee Product Support service.