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how to completely remove McAfee

How can I completely remove an old non-functional McAfee virus protection app from my MacBook Pro? It seems that a ghost of it still appears at the top of the screen on the upper menu bar. I'm thinking that there may be other (hidden) components that could safely be removed too.

MacBook Pro, Mac OS X (10.6.8)

Posted on Jun 4, 2014 3:17 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Jun 4, 2014 7:02 AM

There should be an uninstaller in the Applications folder. However, if McAfee was removed improperly, by simply putting all the McAfee apps in the trash, then it may be gone. In that case, you have two options:


First, log in as an admin user (if you aren't already using an admin user account) and try executing the following command in the Terminal:


/usr/local/McAfee/uninstallMSC


There is a hidden Unix shell script there that will uninstall components of McAfee. When it runs, it will ask you for your account password. When you type it, nothing will appear in the window... that is normal, just type it anyway and press return.


If the Terminal complains with an error message saying "No such file or directory" that means this script is no longer present. In this case, you will need to try reinstalling McAfee, then remove it using the newly-installed uninstaller, found in the Applications folder.

4 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Jun 4, 2014 7:02 AM in response to rbspid

There should be an uninstaller in the Applications folder. However, if McAfee was removed improperly, by simply putting all the McAfee apps in the trash, then it may be gone. In that case, you have two options:


First, log in as an admin user (if you aren't already using an admin user account) and try executing the following command in the Terminal:


/usr/local/McAfee/uninstallMSC


There is a hidden Unix shell script there that will uninstall components of McAfee. When it runs, it will ask you for your account password. When you type it, nothing will appear in the window... that is normal, just type it anyway and press return.


If the Terminal complains with an error message saying "No such file or directory" that means this script is no longer present. In this case, you will need to try reinstalling McAfee, then remove it using the newly-installed uninstaller, found in the Applications folder.

how to completely remove McAfee

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