Just a couple of days ago I bought the Acer Asipre One netbook. It’s handy, cute and cool. But before I could rejoice I found out a couple of irritating issues. One of them is that this machine comes pre-installed with a trial version of McAfee Security Center which requires online activation (which means you will be forced to buy the product eventually). I am not particularly a fan of McAfee, and I already have a licensed Kaspersky product. So I thought what the heck. I’ll just remove it and install the Kaspersky. But it turned out that it wasn’t as simple as that.
I removed McAfee through the Add/Remove software wizard, restarted the machine and went on to install Kaspersky. But, to my surprise, during the installation, the wizard alerted me that McAfee Security Center was still present in the system and it aborted the installation. What the …? I instantly understood that there were still some entries present in the registry. OK, that’s not so much of a big deal. I’ll just open the registry, find all keys with ‘McAfee’ and remove them. Well, let me tell you, this did not work either.
So, I went back to Google and after a brief research, I found out that I needed a tool to remove McAfee from my system. I got that from McAfee’s support page. The rest was pretty simple. I ran the tool, it removed every trace of McAfee from my system, and after a restart I was able to install Kaspersky. So happy!
To get the tool from my Box.net online storage click here.
Pixelspace 
Thanks, the information was really helpful.
Thanks a ton..saved a lot of time for searching the file.
Thanks, I will write you back If I am having problems …
Really should check this page earlier
Would safe a lot of unnecessary work I’ve done
Thanx
Thank you, helpful tip!
HI
I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM CAN NOT GET THE MCAFEE OUT OF ASPIRE. PLEASE ADVISE STEPS TO FOLLOW.
I DID DOWN LOAD UPDATED VERSION OF MCAFEE 2009 BUT IT DOES NOT UPDATE: I GET MESSAGE ” UPDATES NOT AVAILABLE IN THE RESPIRATORY.
You cannot manually un-install McAfee.
First you have to download a small software that can remove McAfee from your system. I have provided a link at the end of my blog post.
Click that link and download the file.
Run that program and it will do the job for you. When it is done removing McAfee, it will ask for ‘Restart’, just restart and that’s it.
HI THANKS
BUT I STILL DON’T GET THE LINK ANY SIMPLE STEPS TO FOLLOW
HI THANKS AGAIN
BUT WHERE IS THIS LINK THE ONE THAT SAYS ” To get the tool from my Box.net online storage click here.” WELL I TRIED BUT I STILL CAN’T GET THE SOFTWARE TO UNINSTALL THE MCAFEE.
ANY OTHER SIMPLE STEPS PLEASE
HI AGAIN
I DID FINALLY MANAGE TO DOWN LOAD THE SOFT WARE HOWEVER IT ONLY GIVES ME THREE OPTIONS THAT IS OPEN SAVE CANCEL
THERE IS NOT OPTION FOR RUN. WHEN CLICKING ON OPEN WHAT PROGRAME SHOULD BE USED TO OPEN THIS SOFTWARE
THANKS
Thank you for your post.
However I have vice-versa problem: I’ve deleted mcafee from my PC and I can’t find the distributive to reinstall it.
Do you have any idea how to install the mcaffe?
Thx!
Thank you for your post.
However I have vice-versa problem: I’ve deleted mcafee from my PC and I can’t find the distributive to reinstall it.
Do you have any idea how to install the mcaffe?
Thx!
I think you should contact Local McAfee vendors about this. I don’t think it is freely available for download.
Acer Aspire One AOD250-1165
This model is fairly new. So it has the usual features, i.e. built in wi-fi, camera, 160 GB drive, etc, etc. This is the 3 hr battery model. I have no idea where Amazon gets their tech specs. We just bought this and the manual states that it comes with 1 GB of RAM, and is upgradeable to 2 GB. It recognized 4 wireless connections in my area the instant it was powered on. So far it’s great for what it was bought for, the internet, small low demand games, music, simple word processing…
Thanks for the comment. I agree with you, it’s a great for it’s purpose.
big big thanks..i can remove site advisor from my Acer netbook since i bought 3 month ago.great information from you.GOD Bless u.
You are most welcome, and thank you for the comment.
Hi,
Thanks for the solution, it is very helpful..
Teddy
cool!! i experienced the same problem, this info enlighted me!!
thanks a lot…facing the same problems are all of the above…thanks to google also that it pointed to ur website in the first page of the search.
I bought a new laptop today which of course contained McAfee (which I’ve had issues with in the past.) Before uninstalling the program I ran a quick Google search and your page appeared. Following your instructions and using the removal tool I was able to get rid of McAfee from my laptop with no problems. I dread to think what would have happened if I hadn’t known about the removal tool before attempting to do this. There is no doubt at all that your information saved me a hell of a lot of hassle. I’m extremely grateful.
Thank you.
Steve.
Thanks Steve. Glad I could help.
This idea sounded great until I tried it. My computer will not even run the download! It still needs a peice of software to run RARs and I’m not buying that either! I’m throwing the piece of shit Acer in the trash and will post on every site I can find to tell others what a bunch a dumb asses built this firewood! I will post pictures of the fire for those of you who wish to let off a little Acer steam. As a last note, I should tell you that I even called Acer and got nothing but a run around and had to listen to a shitty recorded piece of music that didnt run right while I was transfered all over the place! Do yourself a favor and stay away from Acer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Yes it’s been almost 3 years since your post but just wanted to salute you, good sir!
eish m having that prob yarafat bt m trying to download your software bt it doesnt finish downloading it remains at 87%