[ferris1]

Hi there
I purchased a Dell system a mth ago with Mcafee. The security centre was pre-installed, I activated it via web but then the full install of Mcafee hung!!?? After long consults with Dell helpdesk we decided to uninstall then re-install from CD. Uninstall did not work. We then tried Mcafee removal tools MCPR and MCPR2. They did not work. Error msg "clean up failed - clean up already running". (This is dumbfounding as I checked all processes via task mgr and it wasnt "already running").
The Dell techo then decided the program had to be manually removed. He spent next hr deleting files and registers and recommended I switch to AVG. I downloaded it from Grisoft and tried to install - no good - the install hung while mid stream. I have tried it many times and it always hangs. I also tried Zone Alarm install and it also hung.
In total frustration I tried to reinstall Mcafee from the CD. Again no success. The basic security centre is installed but all of the modules failed.
Searching forums it appears Mcafee is notoriously hard to uninstall and leaves remnant files in many places which cause conflicts with other products and apparently itself!?
I then went on a manual clean up binge in temp files, internet cookies/history, then regedit, prefetch and msconfig for AVG and Mcafee. I also downloaded a Mcafee cleanup tool called McRem2. After dealing with anything I could find high and low I tried again to reinstall both Mcafee and AVG. Both processes still hung.
I am now out of ideas short of wiping my hard drive and re-installing Vista. I can assume there r still remnant files there causing a conflict.
Can anyone help me???
Many thx
Ferris

[mrss]

Reinstall Vista along with your Dell drivers and be done with it. Make a disk image after that too for future restores.

[ferris1]

Hmmm sounds drastic - have not done an OS reinstall before.
How difficult is it? Where can I get a good set of instructions?
Many thx

[xrztrx]

easiest way for me is to use a program to wipe your hardrive. then take the OS disk and boot ya pc up. and folow the steps.

[ferris1]

Thx for all the advice guys but I have cracked it! The problem was I had a bad case of Bagle worm. I ran the Trend Micro on line scanner and it picked up and fixed the worm perfectly. This worm blocks any installs of anti virus tools. Now I have AVG installed and running smoothly.
Cheers
Ferris!