Paid Mcafee Or Free Bitdefender? (desktop, Windows 11 Home)

I would agree with uninstalling McAfee and sticking with Windows Defender. However, if you intend on doing that I would suggest thoroughly uninstalling McAfee and I can assist you in doing that. The normal uninstall attempts leave a lot of remnants behind.

Let me know.

 

Very good.

Before removing McAfee it would helpful for me if I reviewed a snapshot of your system. That way we are not manipulating things blindly.

Please do this.

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Farbar Recovery Scan Tool (FRST)

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• Download FRST64 and save the file on your Desktop
• If your computer language is other than English right click on the FRST64 icon and rename it to FRST64english
• Right click on the icon and select Run as administrator
• Note: If you receive any warning about the download it is a false positive and you can ignore it. Click on More info to get the Run anyway option
• Click Yes to the disclaimer
• Click Scan and allow the program to run
• When completed, FRST.txt and Addition.txt reports will be saved on the Desktop
• Please attach the reports to your reply

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Things I would like to see in your next reply.

• Attached reports

 

Sorry about that. The instructions I provided will produce the information I need to review. When completed it will produce a "snap shot."

 

Yes you can. You may have to post each report in separate replies.

 

No need to be sorry, these things happen.

• Take note of where the FRST.txt and Addition.txt reports are located, i.e Desktop or Downloads folder
• In the Post Reply window click on Upload a File and a File Upload window should open
• Navigate to where the FRST.txt and Addition.txt reports are located
• Double click on the FRST.txt file and it should appear near the bottom of the reply window
• Repeat the same step for the Addition.txt report
• In the typing area of the reply simply type Attached
• Click Post Reply and hopefully that will work

 

Excellent, thank you. This stuff is a bit complicated so don't hesitate to ask for clarification if necessary.

This is next.

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Uninstalling Programs Using Revo Uninstaller Free Portable

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• Download Revo Uninstaller Free Portable and save it to your Desktop
• Right click on the folder and select Extract All..., then click Extract
• Double click on the RevoUninstaller-Portable folder
• Right click on RevoUPort and select Run as administrator
• Click OK on the License Agreement
• From the list of programs double click on the listed program(s), or anything similar, to remove it (if it exists)

Code:

McAfee
WebAdvisor by McAfee

• If the program's uninstaller appears work through the steps to remove the program(s)
• Be sure the Advanced option is selected then click Scan
• For each window that may appear identifying leftover items click Select All, Delete, then confirm the deletion
• Once done click Finish
• Reboot your computer

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Farbar Recovery Scan Tool SearchAll

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• Right click on FRST and select Run as administrator
• Copy/paste the following in the Search: box

Code:

SearchAll: McAfee

• Click Search Files
• When completed click OK and a Search.txt document will be placed on the Desktop
• Zip and repeat the File Upload step to upload the zipped file

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Things I would like to see in your next reply. Please be sure to copy and paste any requested log information unless you are asked to attach it.

• McAfee uninstalled?
• Attached zip file

 

There is still quite a bit to remove.

Please do this.

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Farbar Recovery Scan Tool - Run Fix in Safe Mode With Attached Fixlist

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• Download the attached Fixlist.txt and save it in the same location as FRST64 (Desktop, Downloads folder, etc.) <<< Important
• Boot into Safe Mode
• Right click on FRST and select Run as administrator
• Click Fix and once completed your computer will automatically reboot into Normal Boot
• The tool will create a log in the same location as FRST64 called Fixlog.txt
• Attach the report to your reply

===================================================

Things I would like to see in your next reply. Please be sure to copy and paste any requested log information unless you are asked to attach it.

• Fixlog

 

OK.

Follow the instructions but skip the booting into Safe Mode. Run it in Normal Boot and we will see how we do.

 

There was a lot to be processed.

Please run this.

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Farbar Recovery Scan Tool Fix

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• Right click on the FRST64 icon and select Run as administrator
• Highlight the below information then hit the Ctrl + C keys at the same time and the text will be copied
• There is no need to paste the information anywhere, FRST64 will do it for you

Code:

Start::
Powershell: Get-MpComputerStatus
End::

• Click Fix
• When completed the tool will create a log on the desktop called Fixlog.txt. Please copy and paste the contents of the file in your reply.

===================================================

Things I would like to see in your next reply. Please be sure to copy and paste any requested log information unless you are asked to attach it.

• Fixlog

 

That looks good.

Let's run a quick scan.

Please do this.

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Windows Defender Quick Scan

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• Click Start, type Windows Security then hit Enter
• Click Virus & threat protection
• Click Quick scan
• When completed report the results

===================================================

Things I would like to see in your next reply. Please be sure to copy and paste any requested log information unless you are asked to attach it.

• Results?

 

Outstanding.

You are all set. Windows Defender is now your antivirus program and will take care of itself in the background.

Are there any other questions or concerns you may have?

 

Thank you for your kindness and tenacity. We can do nothing on this end with your efforts.

You are always welcome here. Happy New Year.

Gary

 

Yes, you can download Malwarebytes. You will probably start off with a free trial version of Malwarebytes Premium then after 14 days if you don't purchase it it will transition to the free version.

The Premium version provides real-time protection so it helps to stop malware from entering your system. This is the same function as Windows Defender so you have 2 programs running at the same time. Normally you should not have 2 programs running but Malwarebytes is designed to avoid conflicts with Windows Defender. There is a setting in Malwarebytes to allow for this dual function

With the Free version you have to manually start a scan which looks for things that may already be on your system. So it is not real-time protection. Although the Free version does not offer automatic scan scheduling, there is a setting you can set as a reminder for you to start a scan.

If your prefer to not spend money it is not essential that you pay for Malwarebytes, Windows Defender is sufficient. A periodic scan with Malwarebytes will help to keep your computer clean.

Let me know if you have any questions.