Our subscription expired for the McAfee Security Center internet security antivirus software. So we wanted to delete it off of our Windows 7 computer. Why? Because of the many pop ups about zero time left on our subscription. The $49.99 renewal price, plus, the many deals they offered to renew. Well, in a few weeks, we had enough. So, we deleted McAffe from our Dell XPS 8300 Windows 7 Professional PC. Thus in this piece, we detail removing McAfee Security Center instructions we followed, with success.
This software came pre-installed. So we worried over how hard deleting McAfee Security Center would be. In fact, we got cold feet due to a similar experience years earlier that went amiss. I.e. Deleting Norton Internet Security. In that case, during the reboot after the uninstall, the computer choked. It hit into a corrupted boot sector. This made restoration impossible thus. Not even with the help of a Norton technical support engineer did we get that machine running again. So, we lost all data on that hard drive. But fortunately though, we had backups.
However, the removing McAfee Security Center experience was much less painful than deleting Norton was. Went as smoothly as removing any other well-behaved Windows program would go. We hit no unexpected issues; no issues of any kind in fact.
Removing McAfee Security Center from Windows 7 PC Procedure
The procedure that worked well, to delete McAfee Security Center software follows:
1. Make a Windows System Restore Point
It crucial that that you create a Windows system restore point. That way, you’ll likely be able to revert your computer to a working state.
2. Then, Open the Add / Remove Programs program
3. Find the McAfee Security Center Program
Scroll down until you see the McAfee Security Center program. It has a red and white letter M logo.
4. Left-Click the McAfee Security Center Program
A McAfee Security Center window then appears. It invites you to renew your subscription. Then it gives you the option to remove the antivirus program entirely.
5. Just Press the Remove Button to Continue with Removing McAfee Security Center from Windows 7 PC
Find Remove button at the bottom of this window.
After nearly a minute if all goes well, your computer prompts you to restart it.
6. Press the Restart Button
The PC then restarts. Then once reboot finishes continue to the next step.
7. Uninstall Any Other McAfee Programs
After you get your desktop back, go back into the Add / Remove Programs window.
Once there, remove any other programs that begin with the word McAffe. We only found one other one on our XPS 8300. That was McAfee Virtual Technician. Deleting this one did not prompt for a computer restart though.
8. Finished with Removing McAfee Security Center from Windows 7 PC !
The Dell still works great after the McAffe Security Center deletion. In fact, we switched to Avast antivirus. Why? Because we had good experience with Avast. We used the free version before the free McAffe subscription came bundled with our Dell. Did this nearly a decade ago. Since then though, no remnants of McAfee ever interfered with Avast. So, the technique above appears to work well.
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References for Removing McAfee Security Center from Windows 7 PC
Revision History
- 2019-02-23: Added key word targeting, more tags, and more subheadings.
- 2017-02-06: Updated tags list.
- 2015-11-15: Added appropriate tags.
- 2014-11-11: Documented the continued success of the McAffe removal procedure above. Added a References section.
- 2012-10-11: Originally published this piece.