Help completely removing all traces of McAfee including subscription information

patwa_2

Hello,

I purchased McAfee Internet Security 2007 from eBuyer which arrived on (I think) sometime around 01 May (or maybe a few days before).

I installed it on 05 May and things were fine. Now at this point I should add that I had previously had the old version of McAfee, and I tried McAfee Total Protection 2007 for a while before uninstalling and claiming under the 30-day guarantee. I had purchased Total Protection from McAfee, but purchased the Internet Security from eBuyer as it was cheaper, and I was having some problems with Total Protection - i.e too many features and it integrating into my browser, etc.

Now today I got a message saying that my subscription had expired. On finally being able to log into my account on McAfee.com, I found that I not only have a number of active subscriptions there (one of which expired today), but also some that expire in June and some of which are already expired.

I don't know what's going on here. I suspect somehow during the number of installs and re-installs of software I've done over the last months (before and after computer went in for repair), upgrading to the new version, etc, these subscriptions have been logged.

I was told by a local computer shop that I could re-install the version which i bought from the CD but use a different e-mail address to register, and this would solve the problem as it'd be a new account. However, he warned me that this would only work if I could remove every trace of McAfee (more than just the standard Add/Remove programs) from my computer. He said that because old subscription information was on the computer when I upgraded, it automatically logged the new install onto my account, pulling an existing subscription and using that rather than registering a new one. And indeed, i got no option to register during the install process.

I have found the McAfee removal tool on their website, but my concern is that this will not fix the problem. After all, it's in McAfee's interests not to remove the subscription information, for reasons of software piracy prevention, which I fully understand. but this doesn't help me with my legally purchased version and trying to get the full 12 months subscription.

Anyone got any ideas? I could try to return to eBuyer, but you can't return opened software I don't think.

H.

zzzLazyDaisy

Have you tried just going through the install process again with your disc? A similar thing happened to me, but when I put the disc in again, it rectified itself.

Good luck trying to remove McAfee.... it is nigh on impossible!

Alternatively, try a system restore to the date before you installed the current one (although you may lose other stuff too), then insert the disc and do an uninstall, and then install it again.

Please note: I am not a techie - this is just from my own experience with McAfee. Hopefully someone more techie will be along soon...

Good luck!

patwa_2

Thanks. Well I did an add/remove, then used McAfee's own removal tool, then did a Spybot check, then a registry search for Mcafee, but I think there are some bits still there as I saw a key named 'virusscan' that was not a sub-key of anything else. Oh well,

I'll try install again and see what happens. System restore is a no go as it'll just mess up far too many things.

H.

zzzLazyDaisy

If you put the disc in, there is an option to uninstall. Try going through that process first, and then using the disc, go through the install process again

patwa_2

Thanks I'll try that. Most if not all traces of McAfee should be out now, like i said only those few registry entries left which I'm hesitant to delete in case they're something else.

Will try the install and post back.

H.

patwa_2

Hi, forgive the delay, I finally got it sussed.

I uninstalled McAfee, then deleted all folders and files with McAfee in them, deleted all keys with McAfee in the name from the registry, ran a registry clean, removed all temp files, and then tried the install. It worked perfectly and did not detect any previous registrations.

So all's well that ends well, and hopefully this will help others in a similar situation. I know it's a security measure that companies leave old registration info on the computer, but it's also an equal pain for the genuine users that need to re-install for whatever reason. Oh well, it's working now, and doing a scan to see what state the system's in after over a month without cover.

H.

superscaper

May be better next time going for a much better AV program. Either NOD32 or Kaspersky or if you want to save money then use one of the free alternatives such as AVG or Avast which are just as good or in some cases better than McAfee. I personally use NOD32 but I can from personal experience say the free AVG is far better than McAfee.