Any advice on Microsoft Security Essentials?

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Would appreciate some opinions / advice from the pros as to the reliability of MS Secrurity Essentials for Win7. Have been using McAfee that was pre-installed with Dell Pcs for several years now without any major issues. Sometimes we had to run Mc Virtual Tech and that always fixed the bug. Problems occurred mainly after a major patch update. Basically, McAfee was rock solid. It was only in March of this year that after a major update to the Virus Scan engine that we started having problems where Win Explorer would freeze up then we had to do a hard shutdown reboot and waste a whole lot of time with Intel Rapid Storage Tech having to verify the Raid 1, then having to run CHKDSK then do a restore point. Since then, when there is a major update in McAfee we cross our fingers hoping that WinExplorer won’t crash. Now the Security Center says that Virus Scan is starting but it never does. A little grey circle goes round and round and never starts, manually running full system scan always freezes system at 25%. Tried to fix that problem with MVT and after launching it crashes Windows. Tech support says that I should uninstall and reinstall. I really miss the Win98 and XP days when updating was simple with no problems. Its not normal to have to spend so much time fixing your PCs because of bad pathches that corrupt the operating system.

Nonetheless, we are tired of it and wish to know if uninstalling McAfee and installing Ms Security Essentials is a good idea? Earlier this year someone on AskWoody suggested that I scrap McAfee running on Windows 10 and just run Defender. I have not had any problems since then. I run FixMeStick from time to time on that pc and its always clean. As such, if the reliability is that good. I was wondering if Ms Security Essentials is okay to use for Win7? I assume its similar to Defender for Win8 and 10. THANKS.

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My experience with uninstalling McAfee is that it doesn’t uninstall completely. The leftovers can cause serious problems.

Go to McAfee’s website and download the McAfee Removal Tool (used to be called MCPR.exe, may still be). Run it After you do the uninstall.

2 users thanked author for this post.

cesmart4125, satrow

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McAfee & Microsoft Security Essentials are junks

in my windows 7 I used AVAST free antivurs & Malwarebytes

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@ PKCano
Okay after having more problems with mcafee while installing updates would just hang and make win explorer unusable.  When restarting pc would freeze enven when using an earlier restore point, so had to uninstall in safe mode.   Wasted a whole day.     Uninstalled as per instructions from mcafee. They say to run the MS add/remove programs then to run MCPR if necessary, so I did just in case.   When running Add/Remove programs, a mcafee window pops up with two checkboxes where I checked both to remove ALL of mcafee components and it worked okay.    When running MCPR it would ask for validation then launch until it timed out.   As such it was not doing anything.   So I gave up.   Intalled MSE without any problems and turned on Windows Firewall.   My PC boots twice as fast now without all the bloatware.

Nonetheless, I was looking through the Resource Monitor and saw that there were 3 mcafee programs running.   Further investigation led to me finding a new folder created the same day and time that I uninstalled mcafee.   I found Program Files\Common Files\mcafee\systemcore.    In msconfig the three files running are mcafee/firewall core service, service controller and validation trust protection.  When I uncheck these in services and click apply the checkmarks return.   Tried to  run MCPR again, but it just times out.   Mcafee is just clinging on and won’t let go!     I read many threads on the subject and it seems that there is no workaround unless you install new removal programs and even then those don’t work.  In the meantime I blocked access to the network with WinFirewall.  I can’t even delete or move the flotsam folder (systemcore) to the recycle bin and its my pc and I am the admin.    Any ideas?  Thanks.

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In the Notification Area of the Taskbar, is there any McAfee associated icons? If so right click and exit/quit.
Look in Programs and Features. There may be other McAfee products there (Safe Scan, Agent, or some other than antivirus) – uninstall if present.
In msconfig, uncheck the McAfee associated programs.
Reboot into safe mode.
Run MCPR  – right click and Run as Administrator. MCPR, at least part, may run in a command prompt and you may not see what it’s doing. Let it complete. After it finishes, you should be asked to reboot. I’ve never had it fail to clean out enough that McAfee is unable to run.

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@ PKCano

Good News Update.   I did as you said running MCPR as admin in Safe Mode and it actually did something.  An error message popped up saying “Incomplete Uninstallation” and that was all.   Restarted, checked services and mcafee/firewall core service, service controller and validation trust protection are all gone.   Looked up Program Files\Common Files\mcafee\systemcore folder that was created on the day that I uninstalled McAfee and it is gone as well.   MCPR in safe mode did the trick.   Its really surprising how fast this Dell boots up now with MSE.   Many thanks for your help and best wishes.

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