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Pixelgon
So when I got this pc a while back, it had McAfee antivirus preinstalled on it, with a 30 day free trial. So I let the trial run out, then uninstalled. This was to try and see if my issues would continue happening with McAfee gone, because I had nothing else the would even remotely affect the game.
Long story short, it didn't work. (Yes, I used MCPR and manually removed it.)
So, this means 2 things.
1. McAfee has been hiding a app somewhere where I wouldn't see it, and/or has been impersonating a Sys32 .dll/app, and forever running in the bg, and if it's ever stopped, will start back up again, to continue blocking the communication signal from Mojang, or just generally cause issues in general, just happening to affect minecraft. (Unlikely)
2. Since I'm running windows, it probably went into the Regestry Editor (RegEdit), and modified one, or more keys, or created key(s), to block some internet related thing to make it so that I couldn't use any connections from a specified ip (Mojang Authentication Servers) which will not allow me to log in, get a auth key (Unique to every session of minecraft you have, also required to play servers), or join and find LAN servers, or pretty much everything online related. (Unlikely)
3. The combination of the 2, hiding itself in a different unrelated folder as a hidden file, and blocking a list of ip address because it was flagged as 'being harmful' because it constantly attempts to connect to my ip address. (Most likely)
Unfortunately, it probably constantly checks if the ip is blocked in RegEdit, and if it isnt, it will make it blocked. So, unless it only sets this value once, I can't go into RegEdit and modify it without tracking the file down and completely removing it. Unfortunately, I have over 250 folders on this drive (I only have one), and I could be in any one of them.
Though, just to test, I could make a vm with Windows 10 on it, install the McAfee free trial, let the trial run out, and try to connect to the Mojang Authentication Servers from that ip, and see if it works, then if needed check the Registry Editor (because I'm not doing this on my host machine), and see if McAfee messed with anything, unblock the ip, and if it works, do the same thing on my host machine.
Alternatively, I could just reinstall Windows 10, reauthenticate it, and then if McAfee is on there, immediately remove it, and carry on.
If anyone's willing to try this with the version of McAfee that I think was in November or before, but not too far into 2019, or just the latest version on a vm, please do and reply here with the results! Thanks!
Also, included is a poll to see how many of you got the same thing, where you can't do online Minecraft because of McAfee, just because I'm curious.
Long story short, it didn't work. (Yes, I used MCPR and manually removed it.)
So, this means 2 things.
1. McAfee has been hiding a app somewhere where I wouldn't see it, and/or has been impersonating a Sys32 .dll/app, and forever running in the bg, and if it's ever stopped, will start back up again, to continue blocking the communication signal from Mojang, or just generally cause issues in general, just happening to affect minecraft. (Unlikely)
2. Since I'm running windows, it probably went into the Regestry Editor (RegEdit), and modified one, or more keys, or created key(s), to block some internet related thing to make it so that I couldn't use any connections from a specified ip (Mojang Authentication Servers) which will not allow me to log in, get a auth key (Unique to every session of minecraft you have, also required to play servers), or join and find LAN servers, or pretty much everything online related. (Unlikely)
3. The combination of the 2, hiding itself in a different unrelated folder as a hidden file, and blocking a list of ip address because it was flagged as 'being harmful' because it constantly attempts to connect to my ip address. (Most likely)
Unfortunately, it probably constantly checks if the ip is blocked in RegEdit, and if it isnt, it will make it blocked. So, unless it only sets this value once, I can't go into RegEdit and modify it without tracking the file down and completely removing it. Unfortunately, I have over 250 folders on this drive (I only have one), and I could be in any one of them.
Though, just to test, I could make a vm with Windows 10 on it, install the McAfee free trial, let the trial run out, and try to connect to the Mojang Authentication Servers from that ip, and see if it works, then if needed check the Registry Editor (because I'm not doing this on my host machine), and see if McAfee messed with anything, unblock the ip, and if it works, do the same thing on my host machine.
Alternatively, I could just reinstall Windows 10, reauthenticate it, and then if McAfee is on there, immediately remove it, and carry on.
If anyone's willing to try this with the version of McAfee that I think was in November or before, but not too far into 2019, or just the latest version on a vm, please do and reply here with the results! Thanks!
Also, included is a poll to see how many of you got the same thing, where you can't do online Minecraft because of McAfee, just because I'm curious.
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20
06/02/2020 6:42 pm
This reply was removed by the poster or a moderator.
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Wasn't supposed to be easy to read, I was trying to be as informative as possible
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[deleted]
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My opinion exactly.
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never heard of Mcafee
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Do yourself a favor, don't let it screw up ur pc, like mine
Just uninstall it
Just uninstall it
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McAffee is not anti virus, it has lost all credibility and the bloke who made it is an absolute lunatic do yourself a favour and uninstall it you should never let it be on your machine, it is not an credible antivirus program and PC companies need to stop distributing it
in this day and age windows defender will protect you from the goings on in the world it does the job you want a third party antivirus, i will endorse Malwarebytes or Bitdefender they are my two favorite and ones i have had most success on (currently using malwarebytes cuz the plan is cheaper)
if system resets are the way you want to go, they are super easy to do if you want to go that way the way windows removes itself is great, ands makes it super easy to restore your data, you will be sent back to default windows, make sure to set it to not delete your data then you can nuke McAffee again, the issue probably surrounds the "antivirus" not removing itself correctly
i saw in the comments you were concerned about re-authenticating windows 10, you dont have to, even if you do a full wipe with the built in system reset options , its even easier if your windows key is tied to a microsoft account, the key will still be authenticated automatically (wiping with a third party program and doing things like zeroing the HD will make it harder to automatically re-auth the key if you dont have it tied to a micrsoft account)
i play PC fixing all the time, so feel free to reach out if you have any issues
in this day and age windows defender will protect you from the goings on in the world it does the job you want a third party antivirus, i will endorse Malwarebytes or Bitdefender they are my two favorite and ones i have had most success on (currently using malwarebytes cuz the plan is cheaper)
if system resets are the way you want to go, they are super easy to do if you want to go that way the way windows removes itself is great, ands makes it super easy to restore your data, you will be sent back to default windows, make sure to set it to not delete your data then you can nuke McAffee again, the issue probably surrounds the "antivirus" not removing itself correctly
i saw in the comments you were concerned about re-authenticating windows 10, you dont have to, even if you do a full wipe with the built in system reset options , its even easier if your windows key is tied to a microsoft account, the key will still be authenticated automatically (wiping with a third party program and doing things like zeroing the HD will make it harder to automatically re-auth the key if you dont have it tied to a micrsoft account)
i play PC fixing all the time, so feel free to reach out if you have any issues
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Bloatware is horrible - especially when it's McAfee
Please back-up your data and factory reset your PC, I recommend a USB stick or an SD card.
Thanks.
Please back-up your data and factory reset your PC, I recommend a USB stick or an SD card.
Thanks.
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[deleted]
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Thanks! I'll see if I can look into that, due to the amount of things I have on the drive. (220gb of 1tb)
Edit: actually, most of the stuff on the drive i don't even use lol
So it's definitely a viable option
Edit: actually, most of the stuff on the drive i don't even use lol
So it's definitely a viable option
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Tomorrow, I'm going to try and start the McAfee free trial thing on a vm, and see how it goes
Hopefully by safely poking around I can reverse McAfee's changes
Hopefully by safely poking around I can reverse McAfee's changes
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I would suggest re installing windows 10 from a USB drive. Pre-installed software is a pain up the backside and only causes problems. Plus McAfee suuuucks!!
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Thanks for the idea, but I don't really like having to authenticate the copy of windows
But copying the prev files from a thumb drive is something I didn't think of
Thanks!
But copying the prev files from a thumb drive is something I didn't think of
Thanks!
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Is there any other anti virus software you could try?
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I've never used McAfee, so I'm not sure. I've only used Windows Defender and AVG for mobile, sorry!
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No, it's fine. Ty for replying though
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OK!
