I'm currently running a W10** laptop...which came with a trial version of McAfee antivirus, which I have no intention of keeping. Periodically, I got little "nag notes", saying that I need to buy and install McAfee before the trial runs out.
Many months ago, after discusssing with a McAfee rep, I removed any and all traces from the hard drive---but now the issue is back.

In Another discussion today, the story changed a bit. The rep suggested that some 3rd-party promotion might be doing this- 'IOW: " if you are getting those notes after uninstalling the SW, then they are not our doing."

Anyone out there know how I can keep them honest?


**Don't ask........

Possibly not the best question for a Linux forum, even in the General section...
My advice (years out of date):

• install some software that really does its best to completely uninstall things. I used to use this, but I forget the name of one that wasn't scamware.
• Registry editing
• Full reboot after every action (not the hibernation that Windows laptops default to afair)

After a quick search of the web: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/...b-690ab1f8ed8f

This is in line with my own experience of Mcafee - it's often difficult to remove without using their "removal tool". If you have a Dell device, it's worth noting that they own Mcafee, hence the preinstallation.

I believe the program was called 'ccleaner' but that may very well contain malware at this point too (it seems this is the fate of most every windows 'freeware' or 'shareware' application once it becomes famous).

Look in the 'startup services' (assuming Windows 10 still has such and that it hasn't become placebo settings to prevent you from disabling the ads) at (run 'services.msc') and see if there's anything in there mentioning McAfee - disable that, but also potentially find where the other portions of this spyware are and delete those too. Look in the registry too (if I remember right regedit allows search via ctrl+F).

I would agree with many, maybe even most, but not every - WinRAR is an obvious example that (afaik) hasn't sold out.



Best way to remove the malware is to completely wipe Win 10, and then use Wine instead - or, if it's absolutely unavoidable, a locked-down VM using a fresh ISO from Microsoft.

Very true.


So ccleaner turned to crap as well? I haven't used it since those quoted incidents in 2017/2018 and won't be revisiting now. Thanks for posting that info.

I would add "Foxit Reader" to the list...

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foxit_Reader#Issues

You might try installing and running malwarebytes:

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

The free version should be adequate for this task. Malwarebytes is very good at detecting and removing both malware and "pups"(potentially unwanted programs). Pups are those applications that get surreptitiously installed along with a desired application.

I was being admittedly facetious, hence 'most every' - sure there are examples that aren't awful, 7zip is another, but it's just a headache to keep track of it all - one of the reasons I agree with your second point:





I don't know if it 'recovered' or not - that's around when I stopped dealing with Windows more generally. The Wikipedia page implies it did not, with a 'disclosure' of a second malware bundling in 2019

That one is 'well known' I thought (and an example of the 'most every' point - there's jsut so much garbage Windows-side) - and I never understood the selling point for it (Foxit) either, since Adobe gave Acrobat away for free, and later browsers integrated it as a plug-in...

Note that MalwareBytes will happily sign you up for auto-billing if you let them, and its a pain to terminate it. I have no reason to believe the program itself is 'bad' though, they're just fans of the hard-sell subscription it seems.

Video on the topic BTW I was in college with John(mostly at the bars)


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKgf5PaBzyg

"Anti-virus (sic ...) software" turns out to be a commonly-exploited vector for installing malware.