I just got off the phone with McAfee. I was uninstalling McAfee Security Suite V.6.0 2004 edition. Next, I wanted to install McAfee Security Suite V.7.0 2005 edition. ------------------ McAfee told me that I would have to clean up the registry to rid my pc of any trace of the 2004 version as follows: After add and remove programs Remove the following: privacy service spamkiller virusScan security center ---- *must be installed last* Website about backing up registry. http://tools.mcafeehelp.com/doc.php?siteid=1&docid=68037&support=ts. Steps to delete the entry’s: Click on (+) mark before HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE. Click on (+) mark before software. There you will see McAfee and McAfee.com folder please delete both. Check for Network associates folder then click on delete. Click on (+) mark before Microsoft. Click on (+) mark before windows. Click on (+) mark before Current Version. Click on Run. You will see the entries on McAfee on the right side of the page please select one by one then delete it. After that you need to restart the computer. ------------ My question is "does every security suite software maker require you to go into the registry to delete trace files before you install the new version?" It seems like anything to do with the registry can be dangerous. There must be a better way.

AVG doesnt. Some programs will delete everything related to themselves when uninstalled. Did you ask the person at McAfee whether that was the only way? Matt www.bbcomputing.co.uk matt@bbcomputing.co.uk

McAfee told me that they recommend the procedure above when ever uninstalling McAfee security suite 2004 version. I guess it may be possible to uninstall just using add/remove programs. Maybe there would be issues though.

I went through a similar "ritual" when uninstalling Norton AV from one of my home PCs. You should probably start by removing McAfee from Add/Remove Porgrams in your Control Center, and then clean up the registry per their instructions.

I tried Mcafee about 3 years ago, and after 1 week of trying to get it to run correctly with their so-called tech support I finally gave up. (the result of each session usually ended with them saying to uninstall and reinstall) Getting it off the computer so I could get things back to normal was the really hard part. Yes, it is necessary to go into the registry. Why their product does not uninstall itself completely is a good question. Afterwards I went with Trend Micro and have not had any problems since. Their product uninstalls itself completely without going into the registry. Good luck.