No Utilities with McAfee?

Benedict

Windows 10 comes with McAfee installed. Fine - but if you want Norton, there are problems because bits of McAfee can remain on your hard-drive (whether you want them there or not). This is because Windows owns McAfee.

McAfee would be fine but for the fact that it does not offer "Utilities" - such as cleaning up you Registry. Norton does offer these.

So if you are stuck with McAfee, is there any available "Utilities" soft ware that you can use? McAfee does offer "Defragmenting" but you have this anyway on Windows 10.

davyboy1975

Benedict wrote: »

Windows 10 comes with McAfee installed. Fine - but if you want Norton, there are problems because bits of McAfee can remain on your hard-drive (whether you want them there or not). This is because Windows owns McAfee.

McAfee would be fine but for the fact that it does not offer "Utilities" - such as cleaning up you Registry. Norton does offer these.

So if you are stuck with McAfee, is there any available "Utilities" soft ware that you can use? McAfee does offer "Defragmenting" but you have this anyway on Windows 10.

Install iobit uninstaller. This will delete all of McAfee then you can install a utilities program yourself such as Glary utilities or advanced systemcare

davyboy1975

Also don't use Norton either use either avast or avg

Benedict

I have use Norton for many years and never had any problem so I would go back to it - even though it's not free. And the utilities that you get - like "Disc Doctor" "Registry cleaner" (and other things) really do keep the machine running like clockwork. It is just unbelievable that a company like McAfee do not offer these utilities (apart from the Defragmenter, which you have on Windows in any event).
The internet is full of people warning that if you try to uninstall McAfee, you'll rue the day because your Windows Firewall will stop working properly and you'll be driven mad from McAfee "pop-ups" and messages forever more. And the bits of McAfee embedded in your registry will conflict with the new Anti-virus and you'll never have a minutes peace again. So I thought it might be best to just try to get McAfee utilities and add them - but there doesn't seem to be any available.

Because Windows owns McAfee, they've made it nearly impossible to get it off your machine completely if you buy it already installed on your machine.

So it really does sound like you can't have "utilities" with your McAfee? And trying to get rid of it means you could end up pulling your hair out and being sorry you ever tried.

davyboy1975

Benedict wrote: »

I have use Norton for many years and never had any problem so I would go back to it - even though it's not free. And the utilities that you get - like "Disc Doctor" "Registry cleaner" (and other things) really do keep the machine running like clockwork. It is just unbelievable that a company like McAfee do not offer these utilities (apart from the Defragmenter, which you have on Windows in any event).
The internet is full of people warning that if you try to uninstall McAfee, you'll rue the day because your Windows Firewall will stop working properly and you'll be driven mad from McAfee "pop-ups" and messages forever more. And the bits of McAfee embedded in your registry will conflict with the new Anti-virus and you'll never have a minutes peace again. So I thought it might be best to just try to get McAfee utilities and add them - but there doesn't seem to be any available.

Because Windows owns McAfee, they've made it nearly impossible to get it off your machine completely if you buy it already installed on your machine.

So it really does sound like you can't have "utilities" with your McAfee? And trying to get rid of it means you could end up pulling your hair out and being sorry you ever tried.

You can uninstall McAfee using the uninstaller I suggested and have no problems at all as I do it on different laptops all the time. Also Norton slows down your computer an awful lot so try not using it and see the difference.
The utilities it uses are not great in comparison to either advanced systemcare or glary utilities run in conjunction with ccleaner and you should have no problems.

Benedict

Sounds like great advice davyboy1975. (Especially since I have a hunch that you are an expert in the field.)

I will act on your advice.

ItHurtsWhenIP

McAfee is not owned by Windows (or Microsoft for that matter). It's owned by TPG Capital and Intel.

Bogger77

ItHurtsWhenIP wrote: »

McAfee is not owned by Windows (or Microsoft for that matter). It's owned by TPG Capital and Intel.

51% TPG, 49% Intel

there's a pretty good uninstaller built-into the product, but there's a tool called
McAfee Product Removal Tool, which will remove all traces, even if a botch attempts been made by 3rd part tools
click link

Benedict

The advice is great. But there is one comment I would make regarding Norton. I can accept that it is heavy and can soak up resources and slow down a machine. But not having the "utilities" offered by Norton slows it down even more.
I have upgraded my machine from W7 to W10 (& higher spec) and it is now slower than the W7 (which is years old and I have given it to a family member). I think that is because of the maintenance "utilities" offered by Norton which really do keep the machine running smoothly.
The ONLY reason I am dumping McAfee (even though it came free with the machine) is that it doesn't offer these "utilities" - eg disc-doctor, registry scan & cleaning etc.
These utilities are really important. I have the Livesafe (top of the range) and practically no utilities.

Bogger77

Benedict wrote: »

The advice is great. But there is one comment I would make regarding Norton. I can accept that it is heavy and can soak up resources and slow down a machine. But not having the "utilities" offered by Norton slows it down even more.
I have upgraded my machine from W7 to W10 (& higher spec) and it is now slower than the W7 (which is years old and I have given it to a family member). I think that is because of the maintenance "utilities" offered by Norton which really do keep the machine running smoothly.
The ONLY reason I am dumping McAfee (even though it came free with the machine) is that it doesn't offer these "utilities" - eg disc-doctor, registry scan & cleaning etc.
These utilities are really important. I have the Livesafe (top of the range) and practically no utilities.

in all honesty, if you think that disc doctor, registry scan and cleaner etc, are such important elements to have, and that your machine is slower without them, I fear you're mistaken.

a well setup machine, maintained using common sense, will have no benefit on running all those utilities.

Norton is heavy on CPU, and having more utilities only increases that load, and also increases the attack surface for malware and other exploits.
A small compact install with the bare minimum is always better than bloatware, and "useful" utilities.

Do a quick comparison, and see what utilities and non antivirus applications, Eset, kaspersky and mcafee include, with their product.

If utilities such as a hard disc scan, and registry cleaner, were useful in a modern world, don't you think that this companies would include them.

Benedict

I have to strenuously disagree with Bogger 77. Okay, so W7 - I reckon I used it reasonably responsibly and didn't do anything daft. Yet every so often it would advise me to use the various Norton utilities. My registry would be scanned, cleaned and compacted. The disc-doctor would scan on a black screen for drive errors and it would repair them. I could bleach the disks, shred files, recover lost drives, restore registry back-ups - and much more.

And when I'd use the utilities, the machine would improve.

With McAfee, for example, I am not even able to find out if my registry needs to be cleaned let alone have it cleaned and compacted.

Yes, the utilities take up space - but I have 2 TB so I don't care.

The Norton finds errors and FIXES them. McAfee doesn't do either!

So sorry, Norton is the one to go for - unless you are really stuck for space.

I don't know why the other brands don't offer the same utilities - but I sure as hell think they should do so.

Bogger77

Benedict wrote: »

I have to strenuously disagree with Bogger 77. Okay, so W7 - I reckon I used it reasonably responsibly and didn't do anything daft. Yet every so often it would advise me to use the various Norton utilities. My registry would be scanned, cleaned and compacted. The disc-doctor would scan on a black screen for drive errors and it would repair them. I could bleach the disks, shred files, recover lost drives, restore registry back-ups - and much more.

And when I'd use the utilities, the machine would improve.

With McAfee, for example, I am not even able to find out if my registry needs to be cleaned let alone have it cleaned and compacted.

Yes, the utilities take up space - but I have 2 TB so I don't care.

The Norton finds errors and FIXES them. McAfee doesn't do either!

So sorry, Norton is the one to go for - unless you are really stuck for space.

I don't know why the other brands don't offer the same utilities - but I sure as hell think they should do so.

feel free to disagree, but my CV contains several of the companies mentioned in this thread.

Norton is a computer security vendor, i.e. antivirus/firewall etc., we'll exclude the rest of the Symantec borg for the time being, for clarity, it's core products are anti-virus. It doesn't make money on the utilities, so they're not developed much (or just licensed from the cheapest supplier). Contrast that to Glary, or CCcleaner, who only do specific utilities.


Jack of All trades, master of none, versus many experts, each with their own specialties, working together. I know which I'd choose, every time.

Benedict

Yes, Bogger 77, what you say is helpful and many thanks. And obviously you know what you're talking about. But at the end of the day, with Norton, I can have my registry cleaned and compacted at the touch of a button. I can have errors "fixed" at the touch of a button! I can order a full "optimisation" for the click of a mouse.

If these jobs need to be done and I have McAfee, they don't get done.

If I have Norton.....they do!

If Norton utilities says I have problems with my registry or has errors on the drive and then it confirms that it has fixed them, I have to assume that the problems have not been invented and that they are, in fact, fixed. That doesn't happen with McAfee. So is McAfee fixing the problems without telling me? I very much doubt it.

It's a clear as day. Getting problems fixed has to be a good thing. Not getting them fixed has to be a bad thing.

So.... Norton good, McAfee bad.

End of story.