Java wanted to update. I let it update. It had McAfee attached, and I didn’t pay attention enough to uncheck the box. One McAfee popped up its own dialogue an hour later, I uninstalled it. Am I OK, or this going to be lurking in my system?
If you go to programs and features to do an un-installation you should be fine.
That almost happened to me but I unchecked the box in time. If I had missed it I’d be infuriated… how dare they try to sneak their shit on my computer. Especially that intrusive pos Mcafee.
it’s like fresh chewing gum on your shoe. make sure to get it all.
Uh, I meant to say, “Accidentally installed McAfee,” in the title. I intentionally uninstalled it. Boy that title looks weird.
Yeah, I was going to say, “Uninstalled? Easily? Patent your process”.
**Accidentally installed McAfee. How much trouble am I in?
**None whatsoever - merely uninstall it.
Just be glad it wasn’t Norton (Symantec). Once you get that on your machine, you’ll never get it off.
What’s up with Norton these days?
Way,way back in the days of DOS, Norton was the ultimate answer to everything. There was Norton anti-virus, Norton disc doctor, etc. Peter Norton was featured on magazine covers as a hero.
But for the last 15 years, I haven’t heard the name so much.
Yeah, Norton Utilities was da bomb, but Norton’s security software has a terrible reputation. I’d never install anything of theirs after being forced to use it on my last work PC. It’s like they were infiltrated by EA employees or something.
Collusion with McAfee? Isn’t this just another reason to uninstall Java?
Since Peter Norton sold the Norton Utilities its gone downhill. Way downhill.
I think it would be very bad for either McAfee or Norton to get a reputation that it is difficult to remove from your computer. There selling points are that they protect your computer from unwanted software. They would be going against their own business model if they made it a PITA to uninstall their own software like it was spyware.
These days “protecting your computer from unwanted software” is a trivial task accomplished by dozens of free, less obtrusive software.
The Norton and McAfee business model takes that trivial task and preys upon ignorant new users through bundling agreements and scary subscribe-or-else warnings. Once upon a time they provided a valuable service, but competition heated up and they realized they could only stay afloat by suckering in people who didn’t know that better free options were available.
Norton especially has gained exactly that reputation of being difficult to remove (alongside being a resource hog, etc.), which is why you’ll see them being criticized here and in pretty much any knowledgeable computer forum.
Unfortunately, these anti-virus programs have to work at such a low-level interface with Windows, they have to hook in so tight, they can be hard to uninstall. Add to that sloppy programming, people who need virus protection and don’t care how they get it, and the problem just doesn’t get fixed. And I don’t doubt that the marketing dept really does like that the software is hard to uninstall, especially if all you have to do is buy another years worth of updates and then you’ll never see the annoying popup again.
But yeh, it certainly is ironic how the antivirus program is almost as bad as some of the gentlest viruses. But of course, not worse than the worst virus or trojan – an important distinction.
What are people’s thoughts about Revo Uninstaller? I’ve been using it forever, and it seems to do a fine job of getting rid of crap. It’s been a long, long time since I’ve searched the registry manually, though.
Can someone explain to me how having McAffee (or Symantec or whatever) would actually screw someone’s computer up?
I’m being absolutely serious. What’s the issue?
Completely screwing up a computer is rare, as far as I know. It’s more that they gained a reputation for being:
- Overpriced once free alternatives came on the market
- Annoying nagware or automatic rebill-ware (in the case of Norton)
- Resource hogs (especially Norton)
- Difficult to remove (Norton)
Have they gotten better? Do the most recent versions still deserve those criticisms? No idea, but no one cares anymore because Microsoft Security Essentials, Avast, AVG, etc. are good enough and free.
In 2010, McAfee update 5958 caused “millions” of enterprise PCs to be unbootable.
That, and my experience of McAfee producing more pop-ups of its own than it blocks, led me to decide to never use McAfee.
Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes.
Or, always look a gift horse in the mouth. Practically all the essential updates for free software these days come with extra junk which will install by default. Be sure to step carefully through the installation process and untick the option that will dump the unwanted stuff on you.