Two New Machines... McAfee Expiring.... Which Way Now?

**chip** · #1 15th Sep 2009, 08:53

Hi

I'm running a new desktop and laptop which both had a 30-day free McAfee Security Centre installed, both of which are about to expire (unless I spend the £40 per system to renew). I've used AVG free and Avast (free) on previous machines and intend to install one or the other on these machines too. Both machines run Vista (one 32-bit one 64-bit)

My question is do these provide the same level of cover as the McAfee of should I supplement these with other means of protection? i.e. is the windows firewall recommended and what about scanning downloads etc

Also, should I fully uninstall the McAfee?

Thanks in advance.

**Hybr!d** · #2 15th Sep 2009, 09:00

Quote:

My question is do these provide the same level of cover as the McAfee of should I supplement these with other means of protection?

Yes they are just as good if not better. McAffee and Norton tend to be very bloated and actually slow machines down, massively.

Avast gets my vote, or AVG. Both do the job just fine and are free.

http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

**evilfantasy** · #3 15th Sep 2009, 14:01

The only real advantage of a paid antivirus is live support which you can get at Computer Juice for free.

A good read. Can you Trust Free Anti-Virus?

And the follow-up. Can you Trust Free Anti-Virus? (Part 2)

Avira Antivir Personal is also a worthy solution.

**chip** · #4 15th Sep 2009, 14:59

Thanks again guys.

Would you recommend doing a full removal of the McAfee?

I'll ask agin but I think you guys prefer/recommended the Avast last time; are you still of the same opinion? Does one slow the PC more than the other?

**evilfantasy** · #5 15th Sep 2009, 15:06

Avast is the lightest on resources. You will probably see an improvement in performance by removing McAfee.

To completely remove McAfee:

Go to Add or Remove Programs (Vista is Programs and Features) and uninstall anything with McAfee in the name.

Next: Download the McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool to your Desktop.
Using McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool:

Double click the MCPR.exe
A Command Line window will be displayed, and then close automatically.
Wait for a second Command Line window to be displayed.
- Note: Do not double-click MCPR.exe again, you may have to wait up to 1 minute for the next window to appear.
After the second window appears, the program will begin the cleanup.
Observe the installation, which could take several minutes. The following message will be displayed in the Command Line window: The machine must reboot to complete the un-installation. Reboot now? [y.n]
Press Y on the keyboard.
Wait for the computer to restart.
All McAfee products are now removed from your computer.

**chip** · #6 15th Sep 2009, 15:13

Much appreciated

**KanoakaVirus** · #7 15th Sep 2009, 15:47

Avast has been my choice for a long time, cant go wrong with it.

**chip** · #8 17th Sep 2009, 16:14

Have got Avast up and running on both machines however on the laptop the Windows Security Centre (red shield in system tray) states that the antivirus is out of date (which it isn't).

Now I tried stoping the security centre and WMI in services and deleting the repository folder from system32/wbem but the result was that after reboot it didn't recognise Avast at all, so have reinstated the original repository file.

Any help to sort out this glitch would be appreciated (I know I can disable the monitoring but want to beat this!).

OS is Vista 64-bit.

**evilfantasy** · #9 17th Sep 2009, 17:27

Make sure you have updated Avast.

Quote:

Now I tried stoping the security centre and WMI in services and deleting the repository folder from system32/wbem but the result was that after reboot it didn't recognise Avast at all, so have reinstated the original repository file.

You may need to uninstall Avast before doing this. Then restart the computer and install it again.