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Do I have a virus?
I am recently getting popups from McAfee that my computer is at risk and my firewall is off. I have windows 8.1 and when I look at my installed programs, it shows that McAfee has just been installed on 3/8/15. I have had my computer for a year and installed programs shows that most of the programs were installed on 3/7/14. I have not intentionally installed McAfee. Does it come loaded on Windows 8.1? Since it was just recently installed, do I have a virus? I thought Windows Defender was my antivirus software and firewall? Help please?
ky331
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March 16th, 2015 07:00
Does McAfee come loaded on Windows 8.1? Possibly --- Many PC Manufacturers pre-load a "trial" version of McAfee [or some other program(s)] because they have a financial arrangement with that/those companies.
HOWEVER, IF McAfee was installed by your PC's OEM, it would have been there from the start... and not suddenly gotten installed a year later.
Most likely, what happened is that you downloaded/installed some OTHER program... for example, Adobe's FLASH Player... which had McAfee "piggy-back attached" to it. There should have been some pre-checked boxes "advertising" McAfee's inclusion... but most people don't take the time to check/read everything, and simply press the NEXT/continue button.
(I'm not saying that FLASH was definitely the "guilty" party --- it could have been some other program you downloaded/installed then. I just mentioned FLASH as an example.)
Since you have Win 8.1, it indeed should have Windows Defender on it, as the default anti-virus. In fact, assuming you don't want McAfee, you can deactivate it and then uninstall it... and then, Windows Defender should automatically reactivate itself. You can then run a scan with Defender, to confirm your machine's status.
RoHe
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March 16th, 2015 12:00
Or maybe you had a 1-year McAfee subscription that started on 3/7/14 and expired on 3/8/15, the date McAfee installed some little widget to tell you that it's off... ??
ky331
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March 16th, 2015 13:00
Ron,
It's a good thought... McAfee flagging its expiration after a year of service... except for the fact the OP asserted McAfee is showing up as being installed on that year anniversary.
RoHe
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March 16th, 2015 19:00
Well, if McAfee disabled itself or installed some widget on the 1-year anniv, that would show up with the date reported by the OP. But, hey, it's McAfee so who knows what the heck they do? :emotion-4:
kshackleford
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March 16th, 2015 21:00
I uninstalled the McAfee and the Windows Defender became active again. Ran the scan and all is good. Thank you for the info!!!