re-appearing mcafee installation

[gcw1]

Hey everyone,

I have a WinXp pro computer that was provided with Mcafee Enterprise installed. We use Etrust, so I uninstalled Mcafee and reboot. Shortly after computer is finished booting Mcafee returns as if it never left. For some reason this installation is being restored. Any other changes I make stick. For the hell of it I decided to uninstall Mcafee yet again without rebooting after. I then installed Etrust and started a full system scan. I returned 15 minutes later to find that Etrust was gone... only thing remaining was an empty folder in Program Files. I've done various web virus and malware scans. Anyone have any insight on this issue? I'm rather stumped. Thanks

 

[linney]

Is McAfee still on your machine and running correctly, if you don't reboot after uninstalling it?

Have you had a good look at the various settings of "Mcafee Enterprise" to see if there are any settings that are preventing a successful uninstall? Have you searched the various McAfee forums and support sites for any clues?

Have you installed any other security type software that would "protect" McAfee from being tampered with?

Are you an Administrator user? Is there any Group Policy setting that might prevent you from installing or uninstalling software?

Have you tried uninstalling McAfee from Safe Mode?

 

[gcw1]

Thanks for your response.

After uninstalling the folder under C:\program files\network associates\ where virus scan is installed is gone. Reboot and it's back.

I haven't looked at Mcafee settings yet, and yes I did try searching their support site with no luck.

Nothing we use would protect Mcafee from being uninstalled.

Yes I'm an Admin user, and no there is no policy in effect preventing me from installing/uninstalling software.

Could not run uninstall from safe mode... "could not load uninstaller.exe because in safe mode" or something similar.

 

[linney]

Is this Enterprise version installed on a Server (and run from there) or a Workstation, I am not familiar with it?

Mcafee Uninstalling.

http://groups.google.com/group/micr...se"+uninstall+problem&rnum=3#58f824413998f6d3

Besides the story it tells, the above site has a link to McAfee forums.

 

[gcw1]

I figured it out... Mcafee Enterprise must have some functionality in place that detects if it is uninstalled and reinstals it. I looked through the settings but could not find anything. Noticed that after rebooting the VirusScan folder would re-appear in a few minutes (this was after uninstalling).

I recalled that after uninstalling and trying to delete/rename "network associates" it would not let me. At the time I didn't think much of it since I've had so many issues with mcafee in the past. (Last place I worked used it exclusively) Sometimes a reboot was needed before you could delete the folder it so nicely leaves behind. Anyway I then searched the running processes and discovered that there were 2 that belonged to network associates. I killed these 2 processes ran uninstall once again... deleted the network associates folder and finished with a nice reboot.

System came back up, I left it for a few minutes still no folder or reinstallation. Reinstalled Etrust again... updated and reboot. It's still there.

Thanks