How to Disable McAfee
Computers provide people around the world access to a world of products, services and special information. They give physicians, students, workers and manufacturers the opportunity to collaborate with one another on special projects. Computer owners can also sell products or browse the Internet for the products and services they desire. Unfortunately, malicious people exist in the world. Such people create harmful programs that invade personal computers and cause problems.
Approximately 4,000 computer viruses are created on a monthly basis. To prevent viruses from ruining a consumer’s personal computer, he or she would need to purchase an antivirus program. McAfee is one of the most trusted names in Internet Security. John McAfee created the company in 1987, and it is part of the Intel security company. McAfee headquarters in is the state of California. McAfee provides protection for personal computers and businesses from such nuisances as:
Viruses
Virus is a broad name for a number of computer-invading programs. When a person says that his or her computer has a “virus,” he or she means that the computer is ill with a coding bug that does not belong inside the computer. Much like a human virus, a computer virus tries to grow and spread. A computer that does not have “antibiotics” or a virus protection program could lose its life to an intruder. Worms, spyware, malware, adware and viruses refer to programs that cause a person’s computer to behave abnormally.
People create viruses for a number of reasons, and none of them is innocent. Some people create viruses to annoy other users. Some people create them to make a name for themselves. Additionally, some virus creators make up the viruses to steal information from consumers that they can use for illegal purposes. The government has implemented laws against certain computer crimes.
Worms
A worm is a detrimental virus that gets into a person’s computer and replicates itself. It can infect various computer files and move itself to different areas of the hard drive. A person who has a computer with a worm might unknowingly send emails to everyone in his or her address book. This may occur because the worm has a mind of its own. Worms can cause destruction to a computer. Some symptoms of worm infestation include freezing, flickering, overheating, crashing, and computer death. Worms may affect other computers, as well. A firewall provides the best protection against this kind of electronic rodent.
Trojans
A Trojan is a computer program that seems to be friendly but is not. Trojans got their name from the “Trojan Horse” concept of the Greeks, who used a Trojan horse to enter their enemy’s territory. Trojan viruses enter a computer the same way. Hackers create Trojans so that they can gain access to a person’s computer. Once they gain access to the computer, they may steal the user’s personal information. Hackers may be able to view a person’s screen, view key logs, delete files and steal money. A Trojan is a very serious item. A person who has an infected computer must rid the device of it immediately.
Malware
Malware is any software program that causes the computer to suffer. Some malware slows a computer’s processor down. Some malware will overheat a computer. Other malware programs will cause a computer to frequently freeze. The worst malware programs will ruin a computer to the point of no repair. These are the most costly viruses of them all. Persons who own computers that have been ruined by malware are usually forced to purchase new units. Users who do not purchase new units may still have to pay a repair person a great deal of money to fix the computer.
Spyware
Spyware is a medium risk program that tracks a person’s activities on the Internet. Tracking cookies track the various sites that a user visits during the course of his or her day. The person who sent the spyware may want to know a computer user’s shopping trends so that he or she can send targeted advertisements in an adware application. The individual may also use the consumer’s information to sell it to a third-party organization. Alternatively, some spyware is extremely harmful, and it can record a person’s key presses and password information.
Adware
Adware is perhaps the most annoying type of malware of them all. Adware consists of a special program that makes pop-up advertisements appear on a person’s computer screen. Some people create these programs to annoy a computer user, while other people believe that consumers will purchase the products that are being advertised in the pop-up ads. The adware usually does not ruin a computer, but it can make the user’s experience dreadful and slow.
Why Someone Would Want to Disable McAfee
A computer user may want to learn how to disable McAfee for a wide variety of reasons. The most common reason someone would want to disable McAfee is to download a certain program. The firewalls and restrictions that antivirus places on the computer sometimes make downloading difficult. A computer user has two options for disabling McAfee: temporarily disable and permanent deletion. The user should keep in mind that not having any virus protection may be detrimental to the computer. A virus can attack a new computer within 20 minutes of its initial connection to the Internet.
How to Disable McAfee Permanently
The easiest way to disable McAfee is by deleting the entire program. However, this method will take the computer down to zero protection. To delete McAfee from a Windows 7 machine, the user will want to click on “computer” and then “control panel” from the start menu. Next, the person will want to go to the bottom left of the screen and find “uninstall the program.” The person will see a list of all the programs that are on his or her computer. A person that has a multitude of programs on his or her device can conduct a search for McAfee by typing the word in the search box on the upper right of the screen. Once McAfee shows up, the person can highlight it and press the right mouse button. The right mouse button will reveal an option for the person to uninstall/change McAfee. He or she will want to click “uninstall” and then “remove.” The program will remove itself, which will cause permanent disablement.
How to Disable McAfee Temporarily
The other option that a user has is temporarily disabling McAfee. Temporarily disabling the program requires a few more steps than deleting it does. However, the person can easily enable it again instead of having to reinstall the entire program.
The first step that is necessary to disable McAfee is finding the icon for it. The icon tray is the long band of icons that sits on the bottom of a computer screen. It contains icons for several programs. McAfee should be one of the programs. The person will want to double click on the McAfee icon. This will open up an options menu with options such as “real-time scanning,” “your subscriptions,” “PC and home network tools,” etc. The person will want to click “Real Time Scanning.” Real time scanning is a service that scans the computer in real time for viruses and intrusions. Turning it off will stop McAfee from providing virus protection. To turn off “Real Time Scanning,” the user will click “Turn Off” which he or she will see to the right of the screen under the “Real Time Scanning” status.
RTS will be automatically turned on by default. Once the user clicks “Turn Off,” the RTS option will change to off. The individual will also want to select an amount of time that he or she would like the option disabled.
The next step in disabling McAfee involves turning the firewall off. To turn the firewall off, the user needs to go back to the main McAfee window and double click on “Firewall,” which is located underneath “Web and email protection.” Turning off the firewall is the same as turning off RTS. The user will have the opportunity to set the amount of time that he or she would like the firewall disabled. Leaving it disabled for a long time is not recommended for the user’s protection.
After temporarily disabling the firewall and the real-time scanning, the computer user can move on to downloading the program that he or she desires to have. A computer user should always try to find ways around disabling virus protection. An option that is better than disabling virus protection is finding alternative content to download. If disabling the software is the only way a person can get what he or she needs, then that person should do so with extreme caution. He or she should enable McAfee immediately after downloading the desired material. Users should look out for signs of virus infestation such as slow processing, overheating, freezing and the like. Additionally, a person who has McAfee installed should conduct a full-system virus scan at least twice per week for extra protection.