[Wrinkly Pete]

Firstly, this relates to my Windows 7 Home Premium SP1 Samsung R780 laptop.

Here's a puzzle I'd be glad of some help with:

N.B. I have NEVER had McAfee installed on my Samsung R780 laptop. It was not even included in the free bundled software that came with it.

THIS is taken from the original advert, so you can see it wasn't preinstalled or bundled with the PC when I bought it:-

"Installed Software: Adobe Acrobat Reader, Easy Battery Manager, Easy Display Manager, Easy Network Manager, Easy SpeedUp Manager, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007 (free 60-day trial), Samsung Support Centre, Samsung Update Plus, Cyberlink DVD Suite"

The C drive contains 2 (hidden) folders which ARE McAfee!!!

They are located in > ProgramData (a hidden file).

Within these 2 folders are some further items:(See attached pictures)

So, the BIG questions are:

1: HOW did these hidden folders get on my PC at all, when I’ve never installed McAfee?

2: Why are they there, and what do they do?

3: How can I safely remove them, as I cannot:
a) Run any McAfee removal tool because I do not know WHAT McAfee product they originated from?
b) Use Control Panel > Programs and Features > Uninstall, as McAfee doesn’t appear.
c) Uninstall from Start > All Programs , as it is not listed.

4: Would it be safe to just manually delete the hidden McAfee folder and its contents?

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Some Adobe products (like acrobat) automatically install a free McAfee security scan program when they are installed onto the computer.
I believe that it would be safe to delete the folders, as long as you have a currently working antivirus

Note: if a folder contains a shell extension for windows, you won't be able to delete it. Try to delete as many files in the folder as you can if the folder can't be deleted.

[Mister Fox]

Some Adobe products (like acrobat) automatically install a free McAfee security scan program when they are installed onto the computer.
I believe that it would be safe to delete the folders, as long as you have a currently working antivirus

Note: if a folder contains a shell extension for windows, you won't be able to delete it. Try to delete as many files in the folder as you can if the folder can't be deleted.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Many thanks Mr Fox.

I thought I was going crazy, as I KNEW I HADN'T installed it myself!
I only came across it by chance when doing something else, as it was a hidden file. I would never have noticed it under normal circumstances.

With something like that I prefer to check BEFORE I do anything - just in case!

Many thanks once again.

[phillpower2]

See the information @ http://service.mcafe...spx?id=TS101331 to remove the entries safely.
Mister Fox is correct that some programs can and will add such entries, it is important to read carefully before downloading anything and look out for tick boxes that need to be unchecked first or you will end up with such things as bing and AVG toolbars added to your browser.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Hi,

I had already checked on the McAfee website as you suggest, but because the only reference to McAfee was this one (hidden) McAfee folder, with NO indication WHAT McAfee program it referred to, their website was not much use.

I am 100% CERTAIN I didn't agree to anything involving McAfee being installed at the same time as anything else.
The reason I'm SO sure is because I used McAfee ONCE many years ago and it, together with a McAfee support guy, seriously messed up my PC at the time fiddling with the registry. I've steered WELL clear of using their products ever since.

THAT is why I was so puzzled at this folder being present in the first place.

Thanks for your input though phillpower2.
Funnily enough you mention AVG. I had used it for MANY years (since AVG 6.0) and recently given the company up (due to poorer and poorer service/support). I have also found on the D partition of my Windows 7 laptop, in Program Files (x86), an AVG folder relating to AVG 9. See picture:

I had already (supposedly) removed all previous versions of AVG before I installed AVG Internet Security 2012, using their own removal tools!
It also is inexplicable why THAT folder is on this PC, as AVG 9 had NEVER been used on this laptop. It isn't old enough to have been around when AVG 9 was even current! Strange indeed!

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Edited by Wrinkly Pete, 12 May 2012 - 04:45 AM.

[phillpower2]

Running either removal tool will only remove the products that it detects that were installed as part of a package and not items that were added by a third party such as Adobe or download sites such as CNET, coincidentally I recently removed Norton and Macaffee from a works PC using the correct uninstall tools and there was a Macaffee security scan entry left behind which I had to manually remove.
If there anything in the AVG folder?

[Wrinkly Pete]

Yes, there's 130 MB in various folders and files in a folder named "AVG". Inside THAT is a folder AVG9.
Judging by the date, they were (somehow) imported onto my new laptop when I downloaded AVG 2012 Internet Security and updated it.
I had been using AVG 2010 prior to upgrading to 2012. AVG 9 was last used by me several YEARS ago, long before this PC was even made!

When I ceased using AVG Internet Security 2012 (in favour of trying out M.S.E.) I ran the AVG Removal tool. Following that I thought all references to AVG had been removed from the PC. It appears only files relating to AVG 2010 & 2012 were removed.

This stray AVG 9 folder is on the (D:) section of the drive. I'm not sure about removing it.

[phillpower2]

This stray AVG 9 folder is on the (D:) section of the drive. I'm not sure about removing it.

Was there any AVG product on the machine when you purchased it?
The above may be a system recovery tool that was pre-installed by the supplier, you could not have done this inadvertently as you would have had to do it manually as by default it would have been saved to the main drive, predominantly allocated as C:

[Wrinkly Pete]

When I purchased this laptop there was no security software installed.

I already had a multiple licence for AVG Internet Security 2010, so I just installed and updated from the AVG website. I added this PC to an existing licence.
Some while later 2010 was replaced by 2012 version which I upgraded on all 4 PCs.

The only way I can think of how it came to be on THIS PC was, if AVG recognised the licence number (which the other PCs were all listed under), and installed the same files as the others had???

I would have had NO reason to install a (long out of date) version of AVG onto a brand new PC that was to be covered by the latest version of AVG.

None of my 4 PCs (2 using XP, 1 vista and 1 Windows 7) are linked to one another, but they do all share a wireless router to connect to the web.

[phillpower2]

Well that is a mystery
The AVG rescue disk that I referred to is a program that is downloaded to a USB memory stick or burnt to a CD and used to boot a system that has become inoperable due to an infection, the program is Linux based and does not require Windows.
The D: drive on your system is a built in Samsung recovery partition that is accessed by tapping the F4 key so if the AVG folder is not part of that utility I for one cannot surmise how it got there, one possible answer is that AVG was installed but due to one of Samsungs own programs AVG was not detected, see http://www.sammynetb...tor-VS-AVG-Free
The link is for the information only and I am not suggesting the use of any product or service there.
Running the AVG uninstaller on the D: drive or leaving well alone are two options and the latter is the most favourable of the two.

[Wrinkly Pete]

I've a bit more (possibly helpful) information.

A short while ago I downloaded and installed Revo un-installer Free version. When I tried using that to remove the AVG9 files/folders I got the following result: see picture.

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[phillpower2]

Can you open the folder and then take and post a screenshot for us.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Sure, no problem.
(D:) > Program Files (x86) > AVG > AVG9.
Within AVG9 there are lots of things. I cannot include them all on one screen snippet as they don't fit into one screen, so I've taken more than one snip... 5 in total:

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[phillpower2]

Thanks for the screenshots

Go to Start then to Run/Search
Type in compmgmt.msc and click Enter
On left side click on Disk Management
On right side you will see your hard drive.
Now I need you to take a screenshot and attach it to your next reply.
Take a screenshot while the above is open and showing on your desktop.

As the program is an AV I will ask a colleague to have a look at this as the Malware Staff may have encountered this before, the information you have already provided will hopefully help them resolve this for you quickly and it may be a case of running the AVG uninstaller tool on the D: drive.

[Wrinkly Pete]

Please find as requested, screenshot:

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