Cant uninstall McAffee Security scan plus from Windows 10. Inside the Uninstall App page, buttons greyed out

Anonymous
2022-09-17T15:10:45+00:00

I needed to install Adobe Viewer fast. Afterwards find it installed McAffee. popups, new network detected? no, it hasnt changed for years. McAfee is trash and is now locked on my PC like some parasite. its installed and will not be removed. There were 2, the other one "uninstalled", this one has grayed out keys.

Search online? they want you to run McAfees own removal tool? Sure, so that tool does what exactly? installs malware that stays silent. keyboard listener, etc

Search Microsoft only? volunteer moderators saying use McAfee tool, maybe they work for McAfee

Is there any real actual way to literally remove this malware? calling itself McAfee security scan?

Or then after saying all that I want to fully reinstall windows, because its unlikely anyone will know the answer, so in this modern Windows 10 world is there a fast way to remove windows, 0 the drive, new partition, new windows?

anyone know the answer to this?

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Install and upgrade

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

0 comments
Answer accepted by question author
Anonymous
2022-12-05T16:46:31+00:00

There's an executable uninstaller in the McAfee folder at (Programs(X86)/McAfee. That worked for me when the Windows Control panel wouldn't allow it. Use admin privileges. Where does it ever end with the marketers making it easy to get into trials and as difficult as possible to get out of them?

Was this answer helpful?

100+ people found this answer helpful.
0 comments

49 additional answers

Sort by: Most helpful
Most helpful Newest Oldest
  1. Anonymous
    2023-01-03T14:33:24+00:00

    It's not pre-installed, it's deal McAfee has with Adobe to install their stuff by default when you download Acrobat Reader.

    I call it malware because people don't know they're installing McAfee. They think they're installing Acrobat Reader. They're doing so because they just want to open and read a PDF file and they suddenly have a new anti-virus program they didn't intend on having on their machine.

    Sad as it is, most people don't know how to navigate to a directory to find an uninstaller, but they can find "add/remove programs". McAfee made the deliberate decision to "trick" people into installing it (most people don't take their time to read stuff on the screen when they install things, they're so used to clicking "I agree" without reading or thought) and ALSO to make it so people would have difficulty uninstalling it. It's deceptive, and that's what makes it malware.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  2. Anonymous
    2022-12-07T13:48:20+00:00

    An employee of mine accidently installed the McAfee malware when installing Adobe Acrobat Reader. And as others have noted, they made it gray out the uninstall option in add/remove programs.

    Having found your reply I tried the MCPR tool twice, rebooting in between each run, and although it spent several minutes claiming it was deleting stuff (and even though I'm obv logged in as an admin) it DID NOT delete the "McAfee Security Scan" malware. I'm not saying that never works, but in my case it did not uninstall it.

    However another response below mentioning that there's an uninstaller in the McAfee directory that DID work for me.

    Thankfully McAfee's malware is now gone.

    Was this answer helpful?

    10+ people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  3. Anonymous
    2023-01-03T01:01:17+00:00

    Thank you for this !your answer was the only one that worked ,thank you. Alot of people are getting confused between what they have on there computer some are malware an some are just preinstalls that are hard to get off .So determine what you have before you decide what way to proceed! Hope this helps .if you run a malwarebytes scan an it doesnt show up as malware then its a preinstall .Then you can use what the person recommended here by going to program files x86 an finding the mcaffee an then use the uninstall there ..✌🏼

    Was this answer helpful?

    6 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments
  4. Anonymous
    2023-01-11T21:44:52+00:00

    I followed these steps and it didn't work. However, I downloaded freeware called Wise Program Uninstaller (3.1.2), and it was able to uninstall Mcafee completely. No sign of it in programs or as a running process in Task Manager.

    Was this answer helpful?

    5 people found this answer helpful.
    0 comments