Remove annoying McAfee pop-up bloatware

[mathewcsims]

I recently purchased a laptop from HP (dk0017na) which, every so often, shows me supremely irritating pop-ups asking me to 'activate McAfee LiveSafe'. There is no option to stop these popups, nor is there any way I can uninstall the app which is creating them (since it does not appear anywhere in Control Panel, or the start menu).

Can someone please, for the love of God, tell me how to rid my laptop of this bloatware menace?

Note: accepting and installing LiveSafe is not an option.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Hi:

The only suggestion I can offer, would be to review the info on the McAfee site at the link below.

https://service.mcafee.com/webcenter/portal/oracle/webcenter/page/scopedMD/s55728c97_466d_4ddb_952d_...

[mathewcsims]

Tried that, I'm afraid. There is no McAfee product installed, as such, it's the HP-installed pop-ups prompting me to install the free McAfee LiveSafe app that I need to get rid of.

When I say there's no McAfee product installed, there is literally nothing in the start menu, nothing in Control Panel. There is nothing I can see to uninstall, and McAfee's removal tool, which I've run, doesn't do anything either.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

Is there anything related in the msconfig startup menu?

Run msconfig.

Click on the startup tab.

Open task manager and see if there is anything there related to that popup.

If there is, you can disable it.

You can also see if the task is set in the task manager itself and rename the file.

Open the task manager app.
In the processes tab, find the related annoying task
Right click on it and click Open file Location
Rename the file that shows up.

[mathewcsims]

There's nothing obvious as a start-up process/app, either in msconfig or task manager. The only thing I can find is three processes called "McAfee OS Switch EXE" which seem to run whenever the pop-up appears (see image below).

I take your point about renaming the process, but that doesn't actually solve the problem because the malware concerned will still be there.

[Paul_Tikkanen]

You could see if you can delete those McAfee OS Switch EXE files.

Since the software isn't installed, perhaps that will cause the popups to go away.

When I run into issues like those that I can't figure out, I clean install Windows, and set up the OS just the way I want it regarding the programs I use.

[mathewcsims]

I can try that (I'll have to wait for it to appear again to trace the source files of those processes) but that only solves a part of the problem; there still needs to be a way to track down all this nonsense and get rid of it.

I know what you're saying about doing a clean OS install, but that would be a massive pain in the neck and isn't really something I'd be willing to do. if HP can't supply me with a laptop that is fit for purpose, I'd rather send it back for a refund and get one that works properly.

[nikkijc]

I'm wondering if the issue was ever solved? Because I am having the exact same problem on a brand new laptop! It's so irritating; I can't figure out what to do.

[mathewcsims]

I'm sorry to say that, no, this was never resolved. I spoke to HP support many times and, after denying that it was their responsibility for several days, the only solution they offered was a factory reset of the laptop - which just made the whole problem start again.

They offered to exchange the laptop for a new one, but since they refused to send out a replacement until the laptop had been returned and then 'processed' (whatever that means) - and this would have left me without a laptop for potentially two weeks - I purchased a replacement machine from Asus, which was both cheaper than the HP model and performs far better. I sent the HP laptop back for a full refund, and I will never, ever be buying a product from HP again. Not only was this laptop appaling (I had it for three weeks, and the letters were rubbing off the keys already) the customer service is shocking.