McAfee Firewall Uninstall Causes Loss of Network Connectivity

Question

When I uninstall McAfee Firewall and reboot etc. properly my network connections exhibit the following symptoms resulting in Explorer and Outlook not being able to communicate via internet and no application being able to print to my printer via LAN:

(1) My SBC DSL connection software _does_ link PPPoE to DSL modem;

(2) Network Connections shows my pc is connected to DSL;

(3) Network diagnosis tools fail when pinging my POP e-mails, the other tests pass; and

(4) All traces of McAfee products are removed successfully, at least according to McAfee's own instructions.

Accordingly I system restore to a time prior to the uninstall and everything works and tests 100%.

However, McAfee Firewall is still on my system and I want this software menace GONE from my life.

I've attempted all the standard tricks one can read on the internet, e.g., winsock restoration etc., to no avail.

McAfee customer service is non-existent -- they are clearly ignoring me.

Please help me.

tusler · Answer

hi,
I feel your pain! Zone alarm will do the same thing to you. Try this reinstall the firewall software, reboot, go into the software and make all the ports wide open- effectively turning off the firewall. Reboot. Go Run, and type "msconfig", under the startup tab take all the checkmarks out of anything that resembles MCafee stuff. reboot, go to control panel and uninstall the software. Your system should be open and working. What happens is when the firewall is uninstalled the settings in the registry remain how they were set when the firewall was working. You need to make sure it is completely turned off and all settings -firewall wise- are open and then uninstall the software.Be warned when you uninstall that firewall make sure you go to view connections and right click on your LAN connection then go to properties & left click, then choose advanced tab and turn on protect my computer (this is win xp built in firewall) If you fail to do this before you connect to the internet -you will get a Trojan or a Worm faster than you can unplug your network cable. This is only a problem with Win XP at this time.
Hope this helps and if I have misled in any way,sorry, that is not my intention.

EauDeToilet · Answer

I've attempted nearly everything including what you suggest.

Here's what McAfee 'tech support' offers:

Dear Customer,

Here are the steps on how to remove the LSP layer of McAfee Programs :

Uninstalling Firewall's LSP Layer

Copying the attached files to Disk

1. Right click on the attached files, and select save as.

2. Make sure that you have a floppy disk in the A: drive to save the

file on.

3. In the save box that appears, select your A: drive to save the file

to.

4. Click on the save button, and it will save the file to your floppy

drive.

Saving the files to the affected machine

1. Place the Floppy, with the files you've copied, in the computer that

is having the problem.

2. Double click on the My Computer icon, and then on the A:\ Drive.

3. Right click on the file MCLSP.DLL, and select copy.

4. Next close out of the window, and then double click on the My

Computer icon again.

5. Double click C:

6. Double click Windows (you might need to click show files.)

7. Double click System (you might need to click on show files again.)

8. Now you are in the system folder. Right-click on the white area

inside the system folder and choose paste.

9. Answer yes to any questions to overwrite the existing file.

10. Repeat steps 3-9 for the INSTLSP.EXE file.

Now you will be able to go into MS dos and uninstall the LSP layer.

Removing the LSP

1. Click on the Start button.

2. Highlight Run.

3. Type in COMMAND and hit the OK button. A window will then appear

with a black background. The last line of text in the window will look

something like C:\Windows> (followed by a blinking cursor).

4. From the C:\windows directory type in CD SYSTEM

5. Now from the C:\windows\system directory type in REGSVR32 /U

MCLSP.DLL

6. You will now get the message that the process succeeded.

7. Reboot and you should be able to connect to the internet.

Uninstalling the LSP layer 2nd level

Only do this if removal of LSP failed.

Using the Instlsp.exe file

1. Click on the Start button.

2. Highlight Run.

3. Type in COMMAND and hit the OK button. A window will then appear

with a black background. The last line of text in the window will look

something like C:\Windows> (followed by a blinking cursor).

4. Navigate to the system directory by typing CD SYSTEM and enter.

5. From the c:windows\sytem prompt, type in INSTLSP -D (this translates

out to be INSTLSP then a space -d)

6. Reboot the system and you should now be able to access the internet.

Regards

McAfee Technical Support

Unfortunately, McAfee didn't bother to e-mail the reference utilities!!!!

EauDeToilet · Answer

I h/n tried ispfix yet -- thank you for the suggestion.  I will see whether this works later today or tomorrow and report back here.  Thanks again

jwatt · Answer

EauDeToilet,

I wonder whether one of the freeware LSP (Layered Service Provider) cleanup tools like lspfix or WinsockXPFix.exe could remove the McAfee vestiges. McAfee's reply suggests that the uninstall problem is a failure to clean out the Layered Service Provider Winsock2 entries they created.

Jim

beezoar · Answer

This thread helped me tons. I have also had trouble with a mcafee uninstall on both of my machines. My laptop had the biggest problem (the one with the LSP bug). I just wanted to say that ispfix worked perfectly. my problem is solfved and my frustration level just went into the basement.

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McAfee Firewall Uninstall Causes Loss of Network Connectivity

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