Turning off McAfee trial version firewall and turning on Windows 7 firewall

[jonnyD]

I bought an Acer Aspire 5532 notebook for my daughter which apparently came loaded with a temporary McAfee firewall. I'm getting a pop-up that says the computer is no longer protected, the trial version has expired. I went to the Control Center to see about turning on the built-in Windows 7 firewall, but I get the following message:

These settings are being managed by vendor application McAfee Personal Firewall.

Under the security settings, there is nowhere for me to turn on the Windows 7 firewall and turn off the McAfee.  Any ideas?

[Broni]

Uninstall McAfee through "Programs & Features" in Control Panel.
Next, run McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/McAfee-Consumer-Product-Removal-Tool.shtml

When done, download and install one of these:

- Avira free antivirus: http://www.free-av.com/en/download/1/avira_antivir_personal__free_antivirus.html
- Avast! free antivirus: http://www.avast.com/eng/download-avast-home.html

- free Comodo Internet Security (firewall + AV): http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/
NOTE. During installation, Comodo will also allow you to install AV only, or firewall only, if you prefer to combine one Comodo product with some other product.

If you decide to install Avast, or Avira, make sure, Windows firewall is turned on, or use Comodo firewall..
If you decide to install Comodo Internet Security, or just Comodo firewall, make sure, Windows firewall is turned off.

IMPORTANT! Make sure, you use only ONE antivirus, and ONE firewall.

[jonnyD]

I have uninstalled McAfee.

the reimage tool

Next, run McAfee Consumer Product Removal Tool: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/Uninstallers/McAfee-Consumer-Product-Removal-Tool.shtml

says it's not supported by Windows 7.  I have just uninstalled it too.  Does it matter if it's not run on the computer to do a cleanup?

[Allan]

Sometimes McAfee software doesn't uninstall properly. See if you have any residual issues - if not, don't worry about it.

[jonnyD]

What kind of residual issues might I find - I don't know what to look for.  I do see the McAfee program is no longer in the list of installed programs in the Control Center.

[patio]

Have you tried right clicking it and selecting Run in compatibility mode ? ?

[Allan]

What kind of residual issues might I find - I don't know what to look for.  I do see the McAfee program is no longer in the list of installed programs in the Control Center.

You'll know. Most likely something along the lines of pop-ups relating to McAfee, but nothing that will hurt anything. Try patio's suggestion of compatibility mode - that will probably work.

[jonnyD]

I don't know what compatibility mode is.

[Allan]

http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/316-compatibility-mode.html

[jonnyD]

Ok.  What would I be running in compatibility mode since I removed McAfee?

[patio]

The McAffee removal tool...

[Broni]

says it's not supported by Windows 7

Run it. It'll work. Trust me.

[patio]

Thanx Broni...

[jonnyD]

Run it. It'll work. Trust me.

I jut tried to run it. I get this pop-up message:

Unfortunately Reimage cannot be run in compatibility mode.
If your OS is not supported and tou try to work around this issue you may
damage your PC.  Learn More.

I clicked on the Learn More  link and under the Setup section there is a question: Which operating systems does Reimage support? Answer: Reimage is currently only available for repairing Windows-based XP operating systems.

Does that mean I've just hit a dead end?

[Allan]

Broni suggests you just run it in normal mode regardless of any message(s) you get.