Help. Unwanted popups. How do we stop them?

[Foxfyre]

Don't know if this is the right place to ask computer questions but it seems logical?

I long ago uninstalled McAfee on hubby's computer. Today he has constant McAfee popups coming up wanting him of terrible threats to this computer etc. He keeps clicking them off. We have rebooted the computer several times. nothing seems to stop them.

Running a Norton deep scan now. But Norton apparently didn't recognize this as a trojan or virus.

What do we do to stop them? Asking of you computer geniuses out there of which I am not one but I'm the IT person for our household.

 

[WorldWatcher]

Don't know if this is the right place to ask computer questions but it seems logical?

I long ago uninstalled McAfee on hubby's computer. Today he has constant McAfee popups coming up wanting him of terrible threats to this computer etc. He keeps clicking them off. We have rebooted the computer several times. nothing seems to stop them.

Running a Norton deep scan now. But Norton apparently didn't recognize this as a trojan or virus.

What do we do to stop them? Asking of you computer geniuses out there of which I am not one but I'm the IT person for our household.

The first thing I'd check is to click the Taskbar, in the search field type "add remove". this should give you the option to open the Add Remove Programs App. Check there are no residuals from McAfee still there.

Similar, check "Startup Apps" to see if there are any lingering signs.

WW

 

[Foxfyre]

So far on Win 10 all that does is take me to Microsoft links on the web. Doesn't show me the programs but says go to control panel. Control Panel isn't showing anything for McAfee. Thanks for responding though.

 

[WorldWatcher]

So far on Win 10 all that does is take me to Microsoft links on the web. Doesn't show me the programs but says go to control panel. Control Panel isn't showing anything for McAfee. Thanks for responding though.

WW

 

[Foxfyre]

Think I'll try malwarebytes. It can sometimes find sneaky trojans or viruses that Norton misses.

And will install an adblocker. Don't want to put on a popup blocker because that would keep him from playing a lot of his games.

 

[Foxfyre]

WW

Thanks again but you have to be able to find the app to uninstall it. So far finding NOTHING that says McAfee other than those annoying popups.

 

[Moonglow]

Adblock Plus

 

[Foxfyre]

I did install Malwarebytes and it did find some malware that got past Norton and removed it. Don't know if that McAfee crap was in it or not.

At the same time I did install AdBlock Plus on Chrome.

So far no more McAfee popups. Don't know which remedy fixed it.

 

[Natural Citizen]

I imagine that you're likely using the Windows operating system.

The uninstallers aren't very thorough and leave all sorts of trash behind after an uninstall.

You have to clean that residual junk out of your registry.

And there's likely a crap ton of it, as is usually the case with those anti-virus programs.

But you need to know what you're doing when tinkering around with the registry.

Instead of using the uninstall feature bult into Windows, there was likely a specific McAfee uninstaller that would have probably...probably...removed the nag screen popups.

 

[Foxfyre]

But thanks for the input everybody.

 

[Foxfyre]

I imaging that you're likely using the Windows operating system.

The uninstallers aren't very thorough and leave all sorts of trash behind after an uninstall.

You have to clean that junk out of your registry.

But you need to know what you're doing when tinkering around with the registry.

Instead of using the uninstall feature bult into Windows, there was likely a specific McAfee uninstaller that would have probably...probably...removed the nag screen popups.

Yes. I don't want to poke around in the registry for fear of compromising something Windows needs to operate. I'm just not skilled enough to know what's what.

Took McAfee off his computer so long ago I don't remember if I used a McAfee uninstaller or used the remove programs feature on the Control Panel. This popup problem has never occurred until today now. I figure he picked it up in a malicious website.

But either Malwarebytes or Adblock Plus seems to have stopped the popups. For now anyway.

Thanks.

 

[Natural Citizen]

At the same time I did install AdBlock Plus on Chrome.

So far no more McAfee popups. Don't know which remedy fixed it.

Well AdBlock is just blocking them from appearing.

The leftover junk is still in your registry and if you turn AdBlock off, they'll likely start right back up.

But...if you;re okay wit hjust not seeing them, then I suppose that;s good enough, so long as they arenlt stealing your computer's operating resources.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Yes. I don't want to poke around in the registry for fear of compromising something Windows needs to operate. I'm just not skilled enough to know what's what.

That type of stuff is usually Ringel05 's department.

Haven't seen him around in a while, though.

 

[Foxfyre]

Well AdBlock is just blocking them from appearing.

The leftover junk is still in your registry and if you turn AdBlock off, they'll likely start right back up.

But...if you;re okay wit hjust not seeing them, then I suppose that;s good enough, so long as they arenlt stealing your computer's operating resources.

We have to replace these computer soon anyway. They were refurbished machines we got through Amazon for little or nothing. Have been great computers, super fast, pretty much no problems.

But they can't be upgraded to Win 11. Microsoft stops support for Win 10 in October.

 

[Foxfyre]

That type of stuff is usually Ringel05 's department.

Haven't seen him around in a while, though.

If we have any further problems I'll call on him. He is barely active on USMB anymore but we stay in touch. But yeah, for most things he's my go to guy for computer issues.

 

[BackAgain]

Leveling your swing often helps.

 

[iamwhatiseem]

Let me say - McAfee products - ARE A VIRUS.

They absolutely are. If you leave McAfee that was pre-installed on your computer when you bought it, it will plague you with popups with all manner of warnings. "You are unprotected!!!" - "You have 47 viruses!!" etc. etc.

The first thing to do is unintsall everything that says McAfee anything.
After you restart, your Windows Defender will prompt you saying you have no anti-virus turned on, click here to fix. And enable Windows defender.

 

[The Duke]

Don't know if this is the right place to ask computer questions but it seems logical?

I long ago uninstalled McAfee on hubby's computer. Today he has constant McAfee popups coming up wanting him of terrible threats to this computer etc. He keeps clicking them off. We have rebooted the computer several times. nothing seems to stop them.

Running a Norton deep scan now. But Norton apparently didn't recognize this as a trojan or virus.

What do we do to stop them? Asking of you computer geniuses out there of which I am not one but I'm the IT person for our household.

Uninstall Norton, it's garbage. Okay, I think what you want to do here is to hit the "Windows" key.
Just to the left of "Alt" and type "services.msc"
From there you should be able to stop any kind of things like McAfee from starting.
Or uninstall and reinstall your browser. Do save your bookmarks, passwords, and history if you go that route. Hope that helps.

 

[Foxfyre]

Uninstall Norton, it's garbage. Okay, I think what you want to do here is to hit the "Windows" key.
Just to the left of "Alt" and type "services.msc"
From there you should be able to stop any kind of things like McAfee from starting.
Or uninstall and reinstall your browser. Do save your bookmarks, passwords, and history if you go that route. Hope that helps.

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for future reference. But installing AdBlock took care of the problem for now. We will be replacing our computers this fall--we are using great refurbished computers that we bought to very modest sums--fast with lots of RAM and have been terrific but both have Windows 10 and can't be upgraded to WIN 11.

But that will start us over with fresh hard drives and apps.

Why do you say Norton is crap? We use it paired with Lifelock to protect our computers and it so far has been great with minimal interference with other things we do on our computers. We get notification of our stuff that shows up on the dark web. It is always an old password or something, often preceding when I installed Norton. But ever tech site I've checked rates Norton No. 1 or No. 2 among all virus protection programs.

The best protection would be to get off Microsoft and go to Linux or some other program the hackers haven't messed with yet. But then we couldn't play a lot of our favorite games. It's always something isn't it.

 

[The Duke]

Thanks. I'll keep that in mind for future reference. But installing AdBlock took care of the problem for now. We will be replacing our computers this fall--we are using great refurbished computers that we bought to very modest sums--fast with lots of RAM and have been terrific but both have Windows 10 and can't be upgraded to WIN 11.

But that will start us over with fresh hard drives and apps.

Why do you say Norton is crap? We use it paired with Lifelock to protect our computers and it so far has been great with minimal interference with other things we do on our computers. We get notification of our stuff that shows up on the dark web. It is always an old password or something, often preceding when I installed Norton. But ever tech site I've checked rates Norton No. 1 or No. 2 among all virus protection programs.

The best protection would be to get off Microsoft and go to Linux or some other program the hackers haven't messed with yet. But then we couldn't play a lot of our favorite games. It's always something isn't it.

No antivirus programs are worth installing. MSE is all you really need.
Buy a different hard drive and use Windows for games and Linux for business stuff.
Tbh, I don't go online with Windows much, Gates made Windows 10 to catch up on the datamining that Apple And Google were doing. 11 is even worse.
MSE=Microsoft Essentials. I uh..take a basic install like that and rip all the Cortana and Edge and all that crap out. then save it and use that. Do have to use Linux to delete some of the BS. Also: Do not use Firefox with Linux, use Chromium or Iridium.
I got into Linux with a lot of help from a friend and there is a learning curve. I know some things.