Free McAfee subscription coming to an end.

I bought a Dell laptop a year ago and it had McAfee installed with a free subscription. They want to charge me £40/€50 for another years worth in 2 weeks time. To be honest I'm not a complete noob and am not sure I really need AV, Firewall etc. However for safety's sake I was going to shell out for it. Is it worth paying out? I ran a search here and it was recommended to uninstall McAfee and try MS Essentials. I'm wary about trying to uninstall software that was pre-installed. I think I had trouble with a laptop years ago when trying to get rid of stuff that was already on it. Any advice welcome!

chin_grin

Deleted User wrote: »

I'm wary about trying to uninstall software that was pre-installed.

Nah you shouldn't be worried at all. It's the same as removing any program that has been installed on it. (Control Panel - Remove Programs).

But as far as I know there's a poll over in the malware\virus forum and MS Essentials is winning by a fair amount. But it's all personal experience with anti-virus. Like I used to use the free version of AVG and now use MSE and have had no problems since (just because I was having trouble with AVG at the time).

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056122397

bette

Deleted User wrote: »

I bought a Dell laptop a year ago and it had McAfee installed with a free subscription. They want to charge me £40/€50 for another years worth in 2 weeks time. To be honest I'm not a complete noob and am not sure I really need AV, Firewall etc. However for safety's sake I was going to shell out for it. Is it worth paying out? I ran a search here and it was recommended to uninstall McAfee and try MS Essentials. I'm wary about trying to uninstall software that was pre-installed. I think I had trouble with a laptop years ago when trying to get rid of stuff that was already on it. Any advice welcome!

MS Essentials works nicely on W7. You also have a choice of AVG, Avast and others for free!

It's OK to disinstall Macafee. It's wise to have an anti virus!

MASTER...of the bra

This thread Post 4,
This thread Post 8.

Pre-installed software is installed after the operating system the same way you install stuff, the computer maker gets a few quid for installing it. Delete away.

johnnybmac

After removing McAffee, you should also google search for the mcaffee removal tool and run that, this will get rid of any lingering bits of the program that are usually left behind...

johnnybmac

johnnybmac wrote: »

After removing McAffee, you should also google search for the mcaffee removal tool and run that, this will get rid of any lingering bits of the program that are usually left behind...

I've noticed there's a "deactivate" option in the McAfee menu....would this do instead of uninstalling it?

PogMoThoin

Sometimes McAfee is a bugger to remove, it digs its heels in so deeply, use the removal tool:
http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

Your pc will get a whole new lease of life, McAfee is a complete hog. MSE is much lighter, more effective and free

chin_grin

Deleted User wrote: »

I've noticed there's a "deactivate" option in the McAfee menu....would this do instead of uninstalling it?

No. You're going to have to completely remove all application files\folders to get rid of it completely. Some anti-virus' cannot and will not install if it finds another installed on the machine.

As mentioned here's a link on how to uninstall McAfee.

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

Chaos Marine

I'd really recommend getting rid of McAfee as soon as possible. You'd be safer just handing your computer to a random stranger than using that. Norton too. Try Avast or Panda or Kapaskery. Try to avoid AVG as well, they've gone a bit sour over the last few years.

I uninstalled McAfee and also used the McAfee removal tool. I installed Security Essentials and Malwarebytes. Everything is grand except Windows seems to be downloading a crazy amount of updates all of a sudden. All I'm doing is installing them. There's too many to be normal. It's really starting to get on my tits. As I write this it's already downloaded Windows Live Essentials without asking me and now wants to install it! I don't need crap like that. :mad:

cookie1977

Windows live essentials has nothing to do with microsoft security essentials. You may have windows auto update on (which is good). If you dont use windows live essentials you can remove it.