How To Stop McAfee Total Protection’s Start Up Windows

Are you using McAfee Total Protection antivirus software? If so, are you as annoyed as we are with a recent “feature” that has the software popping up a window when you launch or logon to your PC? A persistent window that one has to proactively close in order to make it go away?

The program is also popping up windows in the lower right hand portion of the screen prompting you to run a clean-up of your browser or system without telling you exactly what it plans to do. A popup that you need to manually close in order to make it go away. Worse still, there are no checkboxes or buttons in Total Protection’s settings to make it stop.

Are we the only ones who think this is crossing the line into being malware? After all, it is software causing popups that don’t go away. Software with no settings to make them stop. Utility software that launches its control center on its own, every time I start my computer. I think that’s pretty close to malware.

Here is how to make it go away…

1. Click on Start and type “task scheduler” into the Windows search.
2. Look up at the top of the list and, in the “Programs” section, click on Task Scheduler.
3. After Task Scheduler starts up look in the left hand pane and click on “Task Scheduler Library”.
4. In the top scrolling window in the middle pane, scroll down the list and look for “McAfeeLogon” (see the Screenshot above)
5. Right click on it and click on either delete or disable in the context menu.

Hopefully, in future versions of McAfee’s Total Protection they will put a checkbox into settings to allow one to turn off this “feature”. At least McAfee could set it so that the popups go away by themselves after 2 or 5 seconds, like a splash screen.

I think this is a good example of some bonehead in Marketing or Product Development trying to create awareness for an already paid-for product, without any awareness of how it could infuriate existing customers. McAfee, please don’t do this to your customers!