McAfee VS 6.02.3000.1 on XP & Defrag Function

[T2LE]

I have Windows XP home edition and cannot defrag my system successfully. After defraging I get the following message in the report stating the following files could not be defragmented:

11 2.00 GB \Program Files\McAfee\McAfee
Shared Components\Safe &
Sound\Backup_1.Vol

2 419 MB \UNDO\BACKUP.CAB

I use the instant updater and believe I have all the current patches, upgrades, updates, etc.

Should I uninstall McAfee & reinstall? I have a 20g HD and only have 16% space remaining. I have tried to defrag in Safe Mode and in regular mode with VS disabled (as well as Guardian). Any suggestions?


Thanks - T2LE

 

[AVChap]

The best approach is to disable the VirusScan service before doing the defrag. Might also help to check out the FAQs on this forum for other help options.

AVChap

 

[T2LE]

Thanks AVChap, but I have already tried it - didn't work. Also, I read posts back to the beginning of the year looking for this problem - didn't find anything that matched.

That's why I thought I should uninstall it, run defrag, and then reinstall and see if it works that way. I heard it's best to uninstall McAfee prior to installing Windows XP, but I didn't do that. I also upgraded my McAfee to be compatible with XP.

Now I'm unsure what to do. I think I need to have a clean defrag - don't I???

 

[AVChap]

Probably. All that installing and uninstalling will fragment your free space .

Anything below 5% fragmented is okay. Better run it without McAfee then install afterwards. Probably need another year before you defrag again. By then a new version would have probably come out!!

AVChap

 

[T2LE]

Wait another year after defragging? Really? I thought a pc should be defragged at least 1 or 2 times a month. I have a ton of stuff on my pc that is used extensively. Lots of pictures, music, and apps.

What do you mean "Anything below 5% fragmented is okay." Do you have XP?

XP does not give you the amount of fragmentation. It only tells you what percentage of disk space is available - i.e. 17%.

Are you associated with McAfee, like a tech advisor?

 

[AVChap]

No, I am not associated with McAfee. I do use their products and try to help others who do.

BTW, your problem has something to do with Safe&Sound. Check with the online help from McAfee here:

http://www.mcafeehelp.com

You can also try to "chat" with their engineer.

AVChap

 

[T2LE]

Well, as usual, whenever I dig into one thing I find more problems! I did chat with a McAfee techie and I did uninstall McAfee, however, after reinstalling it, I found that ALL my email messages had disappeared. I have Outlook Express 6. I did not delete them and have checked and re-checked all settings. Any ideas?

Also, I was able to defrag, but not completely. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[Startracker]

Hi,

Your defrag problem is directly related to Safe & Sound--I don't believe that the McAfee tech that you spoke with didn't relate this.

You were correct that Uninstalling was the answer to this issue but to completely uninstall Safe & Sound you MUST do a manual uninstall. Due to the way the McAfee site is now set up I can't direct you to the instructions directly but if you will go to

http://www.mcafeehelp.com/

and do a search for Uninstall Safe & Sound or Uninstall McAfee AV v.6.x you will find the instructions for a manual uninstall which includes the needed registry edits.

When you reinstall the AV software you need to do a "Custom" install so that you can choose to NOT install Safe & Sound and I would also choose to NOT scan the boot files on startup since this is time consuming and totally unnecessary since a normal scan will do it.

The issue with OE is a know issue and was fixed with the latest update that took it to V. 6.02. This update is available in the downloads section of the Mcafee site--a free upgrade.