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XPS 8950, best way to uninstall McAfee?
I have a new XPS 8950 arriving next week. I do not want to use McAfee. What is the best way to completely get rid of McAfee? Is Settings > Apps > Installed Apps > Uninstall the best way to do this? I know McAfee has some uninstall tool that can be downloaded from their website, but I'm thinking I may not need that.
I don't need Office, but I think it's easy to uninstall it from the same settings menu as above. I don't want to use OneDrive either, but I know how to disable that.
Thanks for any help.
John
redxps630
7 Technologist
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10.4K Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 18:00
Try the traditional way
Uninstall from Control Panel
In search on the taskbar, enter Control Panel and select it from the results.
Select Programs > Programs and Features.
Press and hold (or right-click) on the program you want to remove and select Uninstall or Uninstall/Change. Then follow the directions on the screen.
Tesla1856
8 Wizard
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17K Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 20:00
I uninstall it from (legacy) Control-Panel / Programs and Features. There might be more than one piece there to uninstall.
Also, check Settings / Apps & Features .
Also check Settings / Startup Apps.
Also check your Browser for a Plugin/Extension/Browser-App
If none of that works, go to McAfee website and get their official Removal Tool. Security and Anti-Virus programs dig-in deep to prevent malware for being able to uninstall them.
Tesla1856
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17K Posts
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December 3rd, 2022 09:00
1. Correct, you do the normal uninstall first.
2. I think it's because it's an OEM version that isn't completely installed yet. Programs need to be completely installed before you can properly uninstall them.
You might have to finish the OEM Installation Wizard, but I don't think you have to setup the associated online McAfee Account. I thought you could just click "Do it Later" or similar option.
It's been a while, but I definitely (easily) uninstall it and use Microsoft Security instead. It works fine and it's free forever.
Kev914z
56 Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 18:00
I did that, but it's not really gone. At least every so often, I get a pop up from McAfee wanting me to install my subscription. And now all of the sudden I get a popup from Dell telling me to install my purchased software. And when I look it is McAfee. They give you options to remind you in an hour or up to a day, I think. But no way to say you don't want it, which I don't. These messages started yesterday.
johnblaustein
61 Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 18:00
Got it! Thanks again for your help.
John
redxps630
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10.4K Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 18:00
These bloatware are obnoxious to say the least. To deep clean pc of all traces of it might need cc cleaner.
RoHe
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43.6K Posts
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December 2nd, 2022 19:00
The right way to remove McAfee is to use McAfee's own MCPR tool. It may be too late to use it now, if you've already deleted it some other way, unless you reinstall McAfee and then use their tool to clean it out.
But even then you may find a few relatively harmless leftovers which will be there until you do a clean Windows install.
johnblaustein
61 Posts
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December 3rd, 2022 08:00
The MCPR Tool page that RoHe linked to says to uninstall via the Control Panel and only use the MCPR Tool if that uninstall fails. I find it interesting that McAfee says to register the software before uninstalling so that you don't lose the license and ability to reinstall in the future. I suppose that makes some sense, but I'm not going to register first because I don't want their marketing emails which I'm sure will come the moment they have my email address.
I agree with the suggestion to use CC Cleaner to find and remove leftovers.
RoHe
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December 3rd, 2022 12:00
In my experience the McAfee tool does a better job than just doing by Add/Remove. And using the tool after Add/Remove didn't do much of anything.
ccleaner may remove leftover registry keys but it probably won't remove leftover files or folders.
Kev914z
56 Posts
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December 3rd, 2022 17:00
I never registered McAfee before I uninstalled it. I knew I didn't want it. Even asked for it not to be on the machine when I bought it.
Funny I didn't get the McAfee pop ups for a while. And never got the ones from Dell until two days ago. And it's been a year since I uninstalled it.
Somebody in support told me I couldn't uninstall it because it was part of my machine profile. They said it would just get added back if I removed it. But it doesn't show in the Apps list. I checked the other places suggested above and I don't see it there either. I even checked the Task scheduler. Didn't see it there either. But there is a boat load of scheduled task so I might have over-looked it. Or they didn't name it some a human could recognize.