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Old 12-03-2007, 02:26 PM   #1356
llama64
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MoneyGuy View Post
I'm trying to remove McAfee Security Centre from my PC, which I no longer need. When I try to delete it, I get a message that "legacy program must be removed first." What does this mean and how do I do this?
Programs like Norton and McAfee are notorious for being impossible to remove. This is the primary reason I tell people to avoid these two products (and the one from Telus... ick).

You can remove McAfee manually, but it's a little messy:
  1. Run "msconfig"
  2. In the Startup and Service tabs, un-check any entries dealing with McAfee. Don't reboot yet.
  3. Delete any entries from your startup folder (in Programs on the Start Bar)
  4. Reboot. McAfee should not be running at this point.
  5. Delete the McAfee application directory on your computer. I don't know the exact path but it's likely it's in C:\Program Files\...
  6. Run the Uninstall from the Add/Remove Programs portion of Control Panel. It should error out, but allow you to remove the link.
That *should* clean it off the system, but I know it will leave some stuff behind in the windows directory.

Keep in mind though that I advise this for older (> 2 years) versions of McAfee/Norton. I don't have much experience with the newer ones which may do some more advanced stuff involving root kits and driver installations.
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