I attempted to remove McAfee Total Protection Service from my MSS by using the Add/Remove Programs utility from the Windows Control Panel. I probably should have used the Uninstall button on the WHS Settings Add-ins panel.

McAfee uninstalled just fine, BUT McAfee TPS 4.9.2.132 still appears on the WHS Settings Installed Add-ins panel.

If I press the Uninstall button now, I get error Uninstallation Failed. TPS does not show-up as an Available add-in, likely because WHS still thinks it's installed. TopWHSaddin.msi is still sitting in the Software folder on the server.

Any thoughts about how to "clean-up" this McAfee TPS uninstallation?

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EX490

First, welcome to the world of MSS/WHS! Good to have you aboard!

I have always studiously avoided using the McAfee products but, based on comments from others and my experience in similar situations, I would make the following suggestions:

-- Have you restarted the server? If not try that and then repeat that uninstall. 4

-- Reinstall the software and then uninstall it properly. (Restart the server before and after.)

I am sure you will get other suggestions...

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

I uninstalled the add-in from the WHS console and the process completed successfully. I don't recall whether a restart was required or not. I would try reinstalling the software via the console and uninstalling it from there as well. I would hope the reinstall would either overlay the current files and registry settings, or see them as evidence of a corrupted installation and attempt to repair it. Once it's reinstalled, you should be able to remove it cleanly via the add-in manager in the console.

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Synology DS411: 2 * WD20EARX and 2 * WD20EARS
DIY Small Business Server 2011
MP 8-core 2.26GHz, 2012 MBA13 i7/8GB/256GB, AppleTVs, iPhone

I think the problem for the OP right now is that WHS thinks McAfee is still installed and thus the add-in does not appear under Settings>Add-ins>Available>Install. This prevents reinstalling using that method. This is likely caused by the uninstall from the control panel and it not removing all remnants for WHS. I'm not sure how one might fix this. Using a somewhat similar situation involving My Movies, the solution required digging into the registry and deleting the entry causing it to continue to appear in WHS.

I would be tempted to RDP into the MSS, run regedit, go to HKey Local Machine and then Software and look for McAfee and delete all entries for McAfee. Take careful notes of what you do so that you can recreate it if necessary as this is just a guess on my part.


EDIT: Here's the thread on My Movies. The solution involved a registry edit but in a different location that I recalled. It might lead you in the right direction to a solution. viewtopic.php?p=29046#p29046

Looks like you need to go to locate the key "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows Home Server\RegisteredAdditions" - delete the subkey associated with McAfee. To figure out which one, click on each and then click on Manufacturer in the right hand window until you find McAfee

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HP MSS EX490 with Intel E6300
4 GB RAM
7 TB Drive Storage

MediaSmartServer.net Wiki, it's loaded with helpful information about WHS and the HP MediaSmart Server.

It's still early here and my reading comprehension is impaired... It should be possible to run the .msi file from the command line and ignore the console for now. If manual edits to the registry become required, then make copies early and often via file | export.

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Synology DS411: 2 * WD20EARX and 2 * WD20EARS
DIY Small Business Server 2011
MP 8-core 2.26GHz, 2012 MBA13 i7/8GB/256GB, AppleTVs, iPhone

Please keep us updated, triplespeed... I had not expanded sufficiently on my recommendation to re-install. I had missed that you had tried it from the console already (sorry) but agree with Cliff that it may be possible to run the .msi file from the command line and overlay an installation that way.

I was holding off on recommending the REGEDIT until you tried the reinstallation first, simply because that is a risky approach for inexperienced users. But, in this case, it may be the only way. If you do that be sure to back up the registry first.

_________________
....JBick

EX475, 2 GB, LE-1640
PC1: Vista-->W7 Ultimate/32, (D-Drive RAID-5 Array)
PC2: Lenovo Laptop, Win XP Home SP3
2xLinksys WRT54G v1.1 and 2xNetGear GS105 Gbit switch

So would the best way to uninstall Mcafee be to go to the settings-Addins section in the WHS console and just uninstalling it that way? Mcafee is incredibly slow when scanning for viruses, so I was considering getting Avast instead.

I am trying to remember how I got rid of McAffee. I think I used the ADD/Remove software from the Control Panel after having tried removing it from the Console as it would not completely remove itself. Even though my subscription expires sometime I believe in July I could not bear to deal with its annoying messages that it could not schedule a scan everytime I was in the the Settings. So not it can't schedule anything.

The Avast Software runs much smoother and in April just before the tial period ends I will pay for it. McAfee just was too annoying for me.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Apprciate the input, but do you/anyone have a definitive answer? I'd hate to get Avast only to be stuck with the McAffee nightmare I've been reading about. Does Avast scan the hard drives faster than McAffee? HP tried to tell me things run better because they're optimized for McAffee..

Without reinstalling McAffee I can not be certain. All I know is it was not difficult to remove. I will install it on my test server and then remove it to get you a more clear way to remove it.

I believe what HP was trying to tell you is that the way McAffee works is it scans the files as they are used. What I can tell you is that when you run a scan and lets say McAffee quarantines files WHS complains about the files being left open. This drove me crazy because McAffee was messing up files that had no issues. That and everytime I was in the Settings area on the Console and changed something McAffee Complained it could not schedule a Scan. I really do not believe it to be a good program to run on WHS.

As for Avast I am running it on my main server and so far so good but I have yet to watch it scan maybe I will set it to do a scan and see what impact if any it has on my server but its not running on an MSS but a ProLiant running WHS. They key difference there is that the ProLiant had 2 duel core processors running so it would not be a fair evaluation when you compair it to a unit running 1 processor be it single or duel core but I could install it on each of my EX470's one has a stock processor the other a duel core but its the ProLiant which has most of my data.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Dominick_7,

I reinstalled the McAffee on my EX470 Test Unit. I then removed it using the options provided in the ADD-INs for McAffee and it removed itself. When I restarted the console I did receive a message telling me McAffee was not running then a message that the McAffee add-in was ready to install.

Other then what I have mentioned it appears to me that it removed itself properly although I would imagine it left bits and pieces of itself in my registry.

What I recommend you do is reinstall the McAffee and then try to remove it again to see if it cleans itself up properly.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

Are you sure it did properly though, doing it that way? I know like with Norton, if you don't uninstall it and symantec, reboot, then use the norton removal tool, that actually STILL doesn't get rid of everything.. I have to go through the registry to delete everything that says norton and symantec. To make it more difficult, if I don't get rid of everything it can conflict with Kaspersky or any other Antivirus program I install afterwards. I just wonder exactly what I have to do to make sure there is NOTHING left of McAffee so there are no conflicts with Avast.

Yes I did it exactly as I wrote but what I did not do was install another AV program in to replace it because there is no need since its not online all the time. On the other hand I do need to install an AV program on my other EX470 because its now online again 24/7 after installing the 3.0. I use the Landing Page on my ProLiant to control access to the EX470.

This weekend I will install Avast on both my EX470's and let you know if there is a conflict or not. I might get to it sooner but my schedule is very tight these days. If you do not see anything from me on this by Saturday evening just send me a PM. I do not want to hold you up and the PM may not be necessary but just incase I am delayed or over looked the AV install.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8

I actually uninstalled it the way you stated, and it SEEMS to have worked, but I reinstalled Mcrapee because I still have another 2 months of usage for the 3 month trial. The virus scan takes a million years, and I connected it via my HP HDX Dragon notebook.. the problem is that you need to reboot a notebook every so often to refresh memory, so I don't know how I'll get through a virus scan IF you HAVE to have an active Console signed in through the whole scan process and can't resume a scan.. Or can you? I appreciate you being considerate, there's no huge rush but if you do get a chance to get Avast on there to see if there's a conflict that would be great to hear about it. I MAY ride out the trial but then again.. if Avast is way faster on virus scans then I may jump ship much sooner. ProLiant?

Dominick_7,

Hey if you concerned with having to have an active console you could try to RDP your server access the console and just set McAffee to perform a scan then just close the RDP session and it should leave your session active. However if McAffee is running as its suppose to your suppose to be able to schedule a scan. Notice I said suppose to because when I was running McAfee it only let me set a schedule scan once then after that it ghosted out the option and then always complained it could not schedule a scan.

Furthermore if McAffee quarentines a file your server will report to you the file is open and that you need to have the application that has it open close it. Thing is this everything I put on my server is prescanned then I dump my files to the server but McAffee seems to have a mind of its own.

I removed McAffee because it annoyed me and my subscription is valid until like July of this year. I think Avast gives you like 60 days to try it out.

The ProLiant is a Business Server Line which HP manufactures.

I still need to install Avast in my EX470's which I will do tomorrow.

_________________
Exploring the possibilities!

Migrated from WHS2011 to WS2012E: HIGHLANDER

~ Norco 4220 Enclosure
~ Gigabyte GA-990FXA-UD5
~ AMD Phenom II X4 995 3.2 GHz
~ 8 GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800)
~ 3 Supermicro AOC-SASLP-MV8