How To Disable McAfee

The McAfee security suite helps users to protect their sensitive data and business computers from any unwanted phishing attacks. If you have this software installed on your computer, then you can enable it to scan all the files for potential threats and block files that contain threat code. 

But, sometimes McAfee blocks the clean and legitimate files by thinking that there are viruses or malware. In this situation, if you need to work with those files, then you have to disable the McAfee antivirus program from the system. 

If you are unaware of how to disable the McAfee antivirus program on the system, then you need some effective hacks to do this. Read the further section to know the process.

Also Read: How to Uninstall McAfee?

How to Turn Off McAfee? 

Here we are going to present some simple steps through which you can turn off the McAfee antivirus program. It resumes the protection automatically after a specified period of time. You can do this in two ways. These are as follows: 

Method 1: Disable McAfee SecurityCenter

You can disable McAfee SecurityCenter on your Windows 10 PC manually or even by using a tool. To disable the McAfee antivirus program manually, have a quick look at the steps stated below: 

1. First of all, navigate to the Windows taskbar and right-click on the SecurityCenter icon. 
2. Afterward, choose the ‘Change Settings’ option and then click on the ‘Real-time Scanning’ option. 
3. Now, turn it off from the pop-up window and then choose ‘When I restart my PC and Turn Off’ option. 
4. Next, right-click on the SecurityCenter icon once again. This time choose the ‘Firewall’ option after selecting the ‘Change Settings’ option. 
5. Choose the ‘Turn Off’ option and then choose the ‘When I restart my PC’ option.  
6. After that, go to the Start menu and right-click on that. Open the ‘Apps and Features’ category. 
7. Navigate to the ‘Programs and Features’ section from the right pane of the screen. 
8. Now, choose the ‘McAfee SecurityCenter’ option from the pop-up box and then choose the ‘Change’ or ‘Uninstall’ option. 
9. Thereafter, complete the further process by following the on-screen prompts. 

Once it prompts to restart the computer, restart the system to apply the changes. 

Using McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool: 

If the above steps don’t help you to remove the McAfee SecurityCenter, then you can use this tool to do this: 

• In the beginning, visit the official website of McAfee and then search for the McAfee Consumer Products Removal Tool. Once you get that, download it by following the on-screen prompts. 
• Once the installation process completes, you can restart the system if it is prompted by the system. 

Now, you can successfully remove the McAfee SecurityCenter from the system. 

Method 2: Disable McAfee Antivirus

This procedure of disabling the McAfee antivirus program is quite similar, but also slightly different. So, you can try the below steps to do this: 

1. In the beginning, you can perform the first 4 steps from the above (Manual) method. 
2. Afterward, right-click on the Start menu and then navigate to the ‘Apps and Features; section. 
3. Next, go to the right side of the screen and click on the ‘Programs and Features’ category.
4. Now, search for the McAfee antivirus program by scrolling down the list of programs. Once you get that, select that and click on the Change/Uninstall button.  
5. Now, confirm your action from the pop-up box and complete the process by following the on-screen prompts. 
6. Lastly, restart the system to save the changes. 

Now, you can check if the McAfee antivirus program has been disabled on your Windows 10 PC or not. 

How to Disable McAfee on Mac? 

If you are using the Mac Operating System, then you can follow the below steps to turn off the McAfee antivirus on your computer. Here’s how to do this: 

Step 1

First of all, tap on the McAfee antivirus icon from the upper right pane of the Menu bar. Then, choose the ‘Total Protection Console’ from the list. 

Navigate to the Home tab and click on the Settings (gear-shaped) icon. After that, choose the ‘Real-Time Scanning’ option from the list. 

Step 2

Afterward, you have to disable real-time scanning. To do this, you can follow the steps cited below: 

• Tap on the Lock icon. 
• Type the Admin Password and then tap on the OK button to continue. 
• Next, tap on the ‘Real-Time Scanning’ option from the upper-right pane of the screen. 
• Afterward, you can exit from the Real-Time scanning window. 

Step 3

Open Settings once again and choose the ‘Firewall’ option from the list. Now, turn the Firewall off. Afterward, click on the Settings icon once again. Then, choose the ‘Automatic Updates’ option from the list and turn the ‘Auto Update’ feature off. 

Step 4

Go to the Settings once again and then tap on the ‘Schedule scan’ option. Thereafter, enter the Username and Password in the specific field. Click on the OK button to unlock the ‘Custom and Full Scan Settings’ window.  

Tap on the ‘Weekly’ button to open its drop-down box. If you are unable to locate this option, tap on the ‘Scheduled Scans’ tab near the upper pane of the screen. 

Step 5

Tap on the Never button to prevent the McAfee from reactivating automatically. Afterward, open Settings once again and then select the ‘McAfee SiteAdvisor’ option from the list. Basically, it is responsible for the presence of this antivirus on your computer. 

You have to disable it. To do this, tap on the Lock icon from the upper right corner of the screen and then type the Admin password. Click on the OK button and tap on the Switch button to disable the SiteAdvisor. Afterward, you can exit from the Settings window. 

Now, the McAfee antivirus program is completely disabled on your Mac computer as expected. To read more about related topics, you can follow our posts.