deleting unused software files

[Jo-Anne]

I'm doing cleanup on my old computer (XP SP3) and discovered some McAfee
folders and files in Program Files. I've never used McAfee, and there's no
McAfee program listed in Add/Remove Programs. Is it therefore safe to delete
the folders and their files? The structure is this:

McAfee (folder)
Shared (folder)
dunzip32.dll
mccomctl.dll
mccomctl.inf
mghtml.exe
mghtml.inf
VSO (folder)
Res09 (folder)

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[BillW50]

In Jo-Anne typed on Wed, 13 Aug 2008 19:21:07 -0500:

I'm doing cleanup on my old computer (XP SP3) and discovered some
McAfee folders and files in Program Files. I've never used McAfee,
and there's no McAfee program listed in Add/Remove Programs. Is it
therefore safe to delete the folders and their files? The structure
is this:
McAfee (folder)
Shared (folder)
dunzip32.dll
mccomctl.dll
mccomctl.inf
mghtml.exe
mghtml.inf
VSO (folder)
Res09 (folder)

Thank you!

What I do in cases like this is to just rename that folder to something like
"McAfee-Remove". If it won't let you, that means some files are in use. And
that is another problem. But if that works, reboot sometime and see if
Windows complains. If nothing bad happens... I would give it a few days or
weeks to tell for sure, then go ahead and delete it.

--
Bill
Gateway Celeron M 370 (1.5GHZ)
MX6124 (laptop) w/2GB
Windows XP Home SP2 (120GB HD)
Intel(r) 910GML (64MB shared)

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, Bill! That makes perfect sense to me. I did something like it a
while back with some stray WordPerfect files. I'll give it a try.

Jo-Anne

 

[Big_Al]

Thank you, Bill! That makes perfect sense to me. I did something like it a
while back with some stray WordPerfect files. I'll give it a try.

Jo-Anne

Not sure what you are doing for backup, but Acronis True Image Home, and
Norton Ghost seem to be front runners. The point being, if you imaged
your drive, and then removed stuff like this, you could always restore
the whole drive. Its better than the system restore in one way, that
it handles your apps as well.

Just FYI.

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, Al! I do use Acronis True Image, and I think it'll restore OK (I
read on the Acronis forum about the problems some people have
restoring)--but I'm hoping I won't have to restore (vain hope, I'm sure;
it's bound to happen sometime).

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Well, I just tried to rename the folder and got the "access denied" error
message. I right-clicked on the folder, and its attribute was read-only. I
unchecked that box, clicked Apply, was asked if I wanted the change to apply
to subfolders and files, said yes, clicked OK til done--and still can't
rename the folder. Each time I try, the read-only attribute is checked
again.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

 

[BillW50]

In

Well, I just tried to rename the folder and got the "access denied"
error message. I right-clicked on the folder, and its attribute was
read-only. I unchecked that box, clicked Apply, was asked if I wanted
the change to apply to subfolders and files, said yes, clicked OK til
done--and still can't rename the folder. Each time I try, the
read-only attribute is checked again.

Any suggestions?

Thank you!

Jo-Anne

In

Download and run MCPR (McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool).

It will remove all McAfee products.

http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/McAfee-Consumer-Product-Removal-Tool.shtml

Yes follow Smirnoff suggestions. I was afraid that folder was going to do
that.

--
Bill
Gateway Celeron M 370 (1.5GHZ)
MX6124 (laptop) w/2GB
Windows XP Home SP2 (120GB HD)
Intel(r) 910GML (64MB shared)

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you, Smirnoff! One more question, though. I bought my computer in
2003, and Properties shows that the folders and files were created in April
of that year. The tool says "Will remove all 2005, 2006, and 2007 versions
of McAfee consumer products." Do you think it's worth a try anyway? (Or more
importantly, could it do any harm?)

Jo-Anne

 

[Jo-Anne]

Thank you again! When I get past my nervousness, I'll give it a try and will
report back.

Jo-Anne