Why can't I remove the McAfee toolbar icon?

Please read this whole message before doing anything.

This procedure is a diagnostic test. It won’t solve your problem. Don’t be disappointed when you find that nothing has changed after you complete it.

Third-party system modifications are a common cause of usability problems. By a “system modification,” I mean software that affects the operation of other software — potentially for the worse. The following procedure will help identify which such modifications you've installed. Don’t be alarmed by the complexity of these instructions — they’re easy to carry out and won’t change anything on your Mac.

These steps are to be taken while booted in “normal” mode, not in safe mode. If you’re now running in safe mode, reboot as usual before continuing.

Below are instructions to enter some UNIX shell commands. The commands are harmless, but they must be entered exactly as given in order to work. If you have doubts about the safety of the procedure suggested here, search this site for other discussions in which it’s been followed without any report of ill effects.

Some of the commands will line-wrap or scroll in your browser, but each one is really just a single line, all of which must be selected. You can accomplish this easily by triple-clicking anywhere in the line. The whole line will highlight, and you can then either copy or drag it. The headings “Step 1” and so on are not part of the commands.

Note: If you have more than one user account, Step 2 must be taken as an administrator. Ordinarily that would be the user created automatically when you booted the system for the first time. The other steps should be taken as the user who has the problem, if different. Most personal Macs have only one user, and in that case this paragraph doesn’t apply.

Launch the Terminal application in any of the following ways:

☞ Enter the first few letters of its name into a Spotlight search. Select it in the results (it should be at the top.)

☞ In the Finder, select Go ▹ Utilities from the menu bar, or press the key combination shift-command-U. The application is in the folder that opens.

☞ Open LaunchPad. Click Utilities, then Terminal in the page that opens.

When you launch Terminal, a text window will open with a line already in it, ending either in a dollar sign (“$”) or a percent sign (“%”). If you get the percent sign, enter “sh” and press return. You should then get a new line ending in a dollar sign.

Step 1

Copy or drag — do not type — the line below into the Terminal window, then press return:

kextstat -kl | awk '!/com\.apple/{printf "%s %s\n", $6, $7}'

Post the lines of output (if any) that appear below what you just entered (the text, please, not a screenshot.) You can omit the final line ending in “$”.

Step 2

Repeat with this line:

sudo launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.(apple|openssh|vix)|edu\.mit|org\.(amavis|apache|cups|isc|ntp|postfix|x)/{print $3}'

This time, you'll be prompted for your login password, which won't be displayed when you type it. You may get a one-time warning not to screw up. You don't need to post the warning.

Note: If you don’t have a login password, you’ll need to set one before taking this step. If that’s not possible, skip to the next step.

Step 3

launchctl list | sed 1d | awk '!/0x|com\.apple|edu\.mit|org\.(x|openbsd)/{print $3}'

Step 4

ls -1A /e*/mach* {,/}L*/{Ad,Compon,Ex,Fram,In,Keyb,La,Mail/Bu,P*P,Priv,Qu,Scripti,Servi,Spo,Sta}* L*/Fonts 2> /dev/null

Important: If you formerly synchronized with a MobileMe account, your me.com email address may appear in the output of the above command. If so, anonymize it before posting.

Step 5

osascript -e 'tell application "System Events" to get name of every login item' 2> /dev/null

Remember, steps 1-5 are all drag-and-drop or copy-and-paste, whichever you prefer — no typing, except your password. Also remember to post the output.

You can then quit Terminal.

Just install a fresh version of OSX Lion. Just remember to save your important stuff on an external HD.

Installing a fresh version of Lion - unless you do a 'clean' install is not going to solve your problems. Follow Linc's advice first. If the program came with an uninstaller you should have used it. There are various app deletion apps around and some are better than others but there's nothing like an uninstaller to get rid of everything.

If you do a clean install you're going to have to wipe your hard drive and lose all of your documents and apps - everything - unless you have a backup. Go ahead and do what Linc suggests. There are just remnants of McAfee lying around in your system. It might be even better to reinstall and then use the uninstaller to get rid of everything...

Clinton

Delete these files, then reboot:

/Library/Frameworks/VirusScanPreferences.framework

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.mcafee.menulet.plist

/Library/LaunchAgents/com.mcafee.reporter.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mcafee.ssm.Eupdate.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mcafee.ssm.ScanManager.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.mcafee.virusscan.fmpd.plist

That may not be all of it, but it should be enough to disable it. Never install any third-party software unless you know how to uninstall it.

Linc Davis...I have the same problem going on and I did everything you told the orignal poster to do...my question from here is how do you delete those files?

Your help is greatly appreciated.

MT11

Step 1

com.sophos.nke.swi (9.0.53)

com.mcafee.kext.Virex (1.1.0d1)

com.sophos.kext.sav (9.0.61)

com.McAfee.kext.AppProtection (1.1.0d1)

Step 2

com.sophos.scan

com.sophos.intercheck

org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx

com.vsearch.helper

com.sophos.webd

com.sophos.sxld

com.sophos.notification

com.sophos.configuration

com.sophos.autoupdate

com.rockysandstudio.WUHelper

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.mcafee.virusscan.fmpd

com.mcafee.ssm.ScanManager

com.mcafee.ssm.Eupdate

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent

com.google.keystone.daemon

com.disc-soft.DAEMONTools.PrivilegedHelper

com.cloudpath.maccmd

com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd

com.adobe.SwitchBoard

com.adobe.fpsaud

Step 3

com.google.GoogleTalkPluginD.4784.0241E159-D628-4A8C-BF4C-77BB8E2EC812

com.google.Chrome.10592

com.adobe.PDApp.AAMUpdatesNotifier.59168.13425103-2FA4-40AB-8DAA-D033FF6541D0

com.google.android.mtpagent.31712

com.hegenberg.BetterSnapTool.31536

org.macosforge.xquartz.startx

com.sophos.uiserver

com.mcafee.reporter

com.mcafee.menulet

com.google.keystone.system.agent

com.divx.update.agent

com.divx.dms.agent

com.citrix.ServiceRecords

com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac

com.cisco.anyconnect.gui

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager

com.valvesoftware.steamclean

com.spotify.webhelper

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan

com.facebook.videochat.DareBear.updater

com.divx.agent.postinstall

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UpdaterAgent

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UninstallAgent

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.Service

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.LogRotator

com.adobe.AAM.Scheduler-1.0

Step 4

/Library/Extensions:

ATTOCelerityFC8.kext

ATTOExpressSASHBA2.kext

ATTOExpressSASRAID2.kext

ArcMSR.kext

CalDigitHDProDrv.kext

HighPointIOP.kext

HighPointRR.kext

PromiseSTEX.kext

SoftRAID.kext

SophosNetworkInterceptor.kext

SophosOnAccessInterceptor.kext

/Library/Frameworks:

AECore.framework

AEProfiling.framework

AERegistration.framework

AVEngine.framework

Adobe AIR.framework

AudioMixEngine.framework

Compressor.framework

DSPPublishing.framework

DivX Toolkit.framework

FxPlug.framework

MacScanner.framework

MediaServerAPI.framework

Mono.framework

Motion.framework

NyxAudioAnalysis.framework

PluginManager.framework

ProMetadataSupport.framework

Qmaster.framework

SAVI.framework

SUMScanKit.framework

ScanBooster.framework

TSLicense.framework

VirusScanPreferences.framework

XSKey.framework

iTunesLibrary.framework

/Library/Input Methods:

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

CitrixICAClientPlugIn.plugin

Default Browser.plugin

DivX Plus Web Player.plugin

Flash Player.plugin

Flip4Mac WMV Plugin.plugin

JavaAppletPlugin.plugin

OVSHelper.plugin

Quartz Composer.webplugin

QuickTime Plugin.plugin

SharePointBrowserPlugin.plugin

SharePointWebKitPlugin.webplugin

Silverlight.plugin

flashplayer.xpt

googletalkbrowserplugin.plugin

npContributeMac.bundle

nsIQTScriptablePlugin.xpt

o1dbrowserplugin.plugin

/Library/Internet Plug-Ins (Disabled):

Flash Player.plugin

/Library/Keyboard Layouts:

/Library/LaunchAgents:

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.adobe.CS5ServiceManager.plist

com.cisco.anyconnect.gui.plist

com.citrix.AuthManager_Mac.plist

com.citrix.ServiceRecords.plist

com.divx.dms.agent.plist

com.divx.update.agent.plist

com.google.keystone.agent.plist

com.mcafee.menulet.plist

com.mcafee.reporter.plist

com.sophos.uiserver.plist

com.vsearch.agent.plist

org.macosforge.xquartz.startx.plist

/Library/LaunchDaemons:

com.adobe.SwitchBoard.plist

com.adobe.fpsaud.plist

com.apple.aelwriter.plist

com.apple.qmaster.qmasterd.plist

com.cisco.anyconnect.vpnagentd.plist

com.cloudpath.maccmd.plist

com.disc-soft.DAEMONTools.PrivilegedHelper.plist

com.google.keystone.daemon.plist

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent.plist

com.mcafee.ssm.Eupdate.plist

com.mcafee.ssm.ScanManager.plist

com.mcafee.virusscan.fmpd.plist

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper.plist

com.rockysandstudio.WUHelper.plist

com.sophos.autoupdate.plist

com.sophos.configuration.plist

com.sophos.intercheck.plist

com.sophos.notification.plist

com.sophos.scan.plist

com.sophos.sxld.plist

com.sophos.webd.plist

com.vsearch.daemon.plist

com.vsearch.helper.plist

org.macosforge.xquartz.privileged_startx.plist

/Library/PreferencePanes:

Apple Qmaster.prefPane

FMDSysPrefPane.prefPane

Flash Player.prefPane

Flip4Mac WMV.prefPane

Growl.prefPane

/Library/PrivilegedHelperTools:

Google Drive Icon Helper

com.cloudpath.maccmd

com.disc-soft.DAEMONTools.PrivilegedHelper

com.genieoinnovation.macextension.client

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2.Agent

com.microsoft.office.licensing.helper

com.rockysandstudio.WUHelper

/Library/QuickLook:

iBooksAuthor.qlgenerator

iWork.qlgenerator

/Library/QuickTime:

AppleAVCIntraCodec.component

AppleHDVCodec.component

AppleIntermediateCodec.component

AppleMPEG2Codec.component

AppleProResCodec.component

DVCPROHDCodec.component

DVCPROHDMuxer.component

DVCPROHDVideoDigitizer.component

DVCPROHDVideoOutput.component

DVCPROHDVideoOutputClock.component

DVCPROHDVideoOutputCodec.component

DesktopVideoOut.component

DivX Decoder.component

DivX Encoder.component

FCP Uncompressed 422.component

IMXCodec.component

LiveType.component

Motion.component

SoundboothScoreCodec.component

iChatTheaterPreview.component

/Library/ScriptingAdditions:

Adobe Unit Types.osax

/Library/Spotlight:

Microsoft Office.mdimporter

iBooksAuthor.mdimporter

iWork.mdimporter

/Library/StartupItems:

cma

/etc/mach_init.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_login_session.d:

/etc/mach_init_per_user.d:

Library/Address Book Plug-Ins:

SkypeABDialer.bundle

SkypeABSMS.bundle

Library/Fonts:

Library/Frameworks:

Library/Input Methods:

.localized

Library/Internet Plug-Ins:

BlueStacks Install Detector.plugin

ConduitNPAPIPlugin.plugin

FacebookVideoCalling.bundle

Library/Keyboard Layouts:

Library/LaunchAgents:

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.LogRotator.plist

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.Service.plist

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UninstallAgent.plist

com.BlueStacks.AppPlayer.UpdaterAgent.plist

com.adobe.AAM.Updater-1.0.plist

com.divx.agent.postinstall.plist

com.facebook.videochat.DareBear.plist

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.scheduledScan.plist

com.macpaw.CleanMyMac2Helper.trashWatcher.plist

com.spotify.webhelper.plist

com.valvesoftware.steamclean.plist

Library/PreferencePanes:

Perian.prefPane

Library/QuickTime:

AC3MovieImport.component

Perian.component

Library/Services:

.localized

Step 5

BetterSnapTool, Android File Transfer Agent

I also wanted to know if you could help me get rid of the remnats of that clean my mac thing. Thank you.

This worked for me!

You must have administrator rights to uninstall the software.