We attended a trouble call where a customer could not uninstall the McAfee Security Scan Plus software from their laptop.
Unfortunately this software is bundled with the free Adobe Acrobat Reader programme. Unless you untick the box to not install this McAfee Security Scan Plus programme, then it gets a free ride into your computer.
What happens is when you click the “Uninstall” button, you are given the normal permission window to uninstall the programme, to wish you click Yes, but then nothing happens. The application remains.
McAfee produce a free uninstall programme called “MCPR” to help uninstall their programmes but this didn’t work either.
I noticed on the customer’s computer, they had a third-party registry cleaner installed. I suspect this was the culprit that inadvertently removed some of the registry items for this programme. This is another reason that I tell my customer NOT to use any registry cleaner on their computer. Windows 10 and Windows 11 does a great job keeping the registry clean on their own. By using third-party maintenance programmes you can creat this type of monster which will come back to bite you somewhere down the track.
The way to uninstall this pesky application, is to download it again from McAfee and then reinstall it onto your computer. If you are asked if you want to repair the programme, then choose YES. Otherwise, install the application as usual. Finally click the uninstall button and this will remove it once and for all.
