Hi folks, got a new Dell Inspiron 1300 laptop there, the cheap enough one. and I have Mcaffe Security Centre on it. I would like to remove it as cleanly as possible as I have heard it AV's can be very difficult to remove sometimes. I hope to put AVG AV and ZA FW on it as I have been happy with these on my previous PC.

It's McAffee Security Centre 90 day trial that came with it. And Straight away it wants me to register it. I don't even want to do THIS, I just want to remove it straight away. In the Add/Remove programs there is a McAffee uninstall program, and 2 other symantec programs for removal(a live update one and something else). Didn't think McAffee and Sysnatec were the same company??!!

Should I just remove all these?
Will it be that easy?
Has Anyone done this before, and would like to advise?

Thanks

Mod Edit: Moved topic to more appropriate forum. ~ Animal

I have done it on a couple of Dell computers. Too bad that when you buy a new computer it is loaded with a bunch of junk. Anyways, using the Add/Remove programs for McAfee should work. If it doesn't, post back again for more help. Symantec has other products besides an antivirus program. What is the exact entry names in the Add/remove program list. What Symantec programs are listed under the START menu?

Link for technical support to remove Mcafee
http://www.mcafeehelp.com/selectSupportTyp...lution=1024x768

In add/remove programs there is

LiveReg (Symantec Corporation)
Live Update 2.6 (Symantec Corporation)
McAfee Uninstaller

I also have Norton Ghost 10.0 in the Add/Remove Programs list. So this answers the Symantec Question.

I will probs just remove all these using the Add/Remove Programs.

How would I wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS? Not too confident of doing this. Is it straight forward?

I went here

http://www.mcafeehelp.com/selectSupportTyp...lution=1024x768

but it says



The fact that I have not done the McAfee Product setup, then maybe this dosen't apply yet?

If I go to Program files/McAfee there is only a SpamKiller Folder, no uninstall file in here.

In Program Files there is also a McAfee.com folder with an Agent, Personal Firewall, Shared and VSO Folder. In the Agent Folder there seems to be an uninstall Folder (Uninst) and this has a uninst.ico file. Maybe this corresponds to the McAfee Uninstaller in the Add/Remove Programs list. Is that how that works?

There is also a Symantec Folder with a Live Update Folder, no uninstall file in here.
There is also a Norton Ghost Folder with an Agent, Browser, Console, Shared, Utility folder and some other files, no uninstall file in here.

Any thoughts.

Thanks

It's only the third or fourth time of me turning on my laptop and I get Symantec Ghost automatically playing a video of how great Ghost it is. Dell really should allow us not to have these on them. Another subject I know.

Norton Ghost is a good product if they gave you the full version -not the demo.

You should be able to remove all of them by using Add/Remove programs.
It should be as easy as that. If not, you can start looking through the link Enthusiast provided, and there are always other methods of forcing it out if the add/remove fails..but, you are not there yet.

Did they give you a XP CD? If you do not feel comfortable with the reinstallation, just remove all of the unnecessary programs through add/remove programs. It's the easiest thing to do right now instead of getting into a reinstall of XP.

went into safe mode and removed McAfee uninstaller Add/remove. Select everything i.e. FW, etc. what ever is there.

Tried to remove Norton Ghost 10.0 but could not do this from safe mode so I had to to this from my account. This also removed LiveReg (Symantec Corporation)

So I only had to remove Live Update 2.6 (Symantec Corporation), which I done in safe mode.

Will install AVG and ZA FW next and see how it goes.

But I am just after noticing that my Hard drive seems to be split. So in My Computer I have a Shared Documents Folder, a My Account Documents, A Local Disk (C:) and a Backup(D:) one plus my DVD-RW Drive (E:).

But I presume this Backup(D:) is something to do with the AV that was on it. In this D drive there is a RECYCLER folder and a System Volume Information.

Any Ideas on this?
Is this just a waste of space? I am sure I will still be able to store stuff on it but just a bit annoyed with it.

Maybe I should just reinstall the OS??!!

The Backup partition could have been used by Dell to restore your computer back to its original shipped state. That would explain why you had a Symantec product on your computer. Although, normally the partition is hidden....