Quick & Easy Guide to Turn Off McAfee (PC, Mac, Mobile App, & Extensions)

Do you need to temporarily disable a feature of your McAfee software, such as real-time antivirus scanning, the WebAdvisor extension, or the advanced firewall? Or are you trying to delete McAfee and end your subscription altogether? Disabling McAfee can be surprisingly complicated, but whatever you’re trying to do, we’ve got you covered! Read on to learn how to disable or completely uninstall a McAfee product from any device. We’ll also explain how to deactivate a McAfee license for a device on your account.

Disabling or Deleting McAfee Services and Apps

You can disable many McAfee services, like Real-Time Scanning or the Firewall, by opening the app and going to the My Protection tab (Windows) or clicking the gear icon at the top right side of the window (Mac). Click the Turn Off button or toggle off the service. Completely disable McAfee by deleting the app.

Section 1 of 8:

Deactivating Real-Time Scanning

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You can only disable Real-Time Scanning on your PC or Mac if you’re using an account that has admin privileges. If you’re not logged into an administrator account, log in to one now or change your account to one with admin rights.^{[1]
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Research source} The next steps will depend on whether you’re using McAfee for Windows or Mac.
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Windows In the left-hand menu bar of the McAfee app, select the My Protection tab. It has an icon that looks like four squares. Select Real-Time Scanning under the Device header and click Turn Off.
- You’ll need to select a timeframe for the deactivation from the dropdown menu. If you don’t want Real-Time Scanning to turn back on automatically after a certain period of time, select Never. You can also choose When I restart my PC if you want to just turn it off for your current session.
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Mac Click the red McAfee icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select [Product name] Console (e.g., “McAfee Total Protection Console”). Click the gear icon at the top right corner of the app console, then select Real-Time Scanning. You may need to click the lock icon at the bottom left corner and enter your Mac’s admin password. Then, toggle off the switch at the top right corner of the window.
- Click the lock icon again to save your changes.
- The Mac version of McAfee does not offer the option to automatically re-enable Real-Time Scanning after a set period of time. You’ll need to return to this menu and turn it on again manually.

Section 2 of 8:

Deactivating Scheduled Scans

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Windows You can turn off a scheduled scan just like you would with Real-Time Scanning. You’ll need to be logged into an administrator account to do so. Here’s how:^{[2]
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- In the McAfee app, click the My Protection tab (it looks like a grid of squares) in the left-hand menu.
- Click Scheduled Scans.
- Click Turn off.
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Mac You’ll also need to be logged into an administrator account to disable scheduled scans on Mac.
- Click the red McAfee icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select [Product name] Console (e.g., “McAfee Total Protection Console”).
- Click the gear icon at the top right corner of the app console.
- Click the Scheduled scans tab at the top of the window.
- If you see a lock icon at the bottom left corner of the window, click it and enter your Mac’s admin account password.
- Select Never from the frequency dropdown menu for scheduled scans.
- Click the lock icon again to save your changes.

Section 3 of 8:

Disabling the Advanced Firewall

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Windows You can turn off the McAfee Advanced Firewall in your My Protection settings. Click the My Protection tab on the left side of the app (it looks like a grid of squares), then select Advanced Firewall under the Device header. Click the toggle to set Advanced Firewall to Off.^{[3]
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Mac Click the red McAfee icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select [Product name] Console (e.g., “McAfee Total Protection Console”). Click the gear icon at the top right corner of the app console, then select Firewall. You may need to click a lock icon in the lower left corner and enter your admin password. Toggle off the switch at the top of the window.^{[4]
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- If you had to unlock this page to make changes, click the lock icon again to save your settings.

Section 4 of 8:

Disabling Automatic Updates (Mac Only)

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Click the
gear icon in the top right corner of the app. If you have a McAfee product for Windows, you can’t change the update settings. However, you can disable automatic updates on a Mac. To get started, click the McAfee icon in the menu bar at the top of your screen, then select [Product name] Console to launch the app. Click the gear icon at the top of the window.^{[5]
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Click Automatic Updates. It’s in the Settings menu that pops open when you click the gear icon.
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Click the lock icon and enter your admin password. You’ll see this lock in the lower left corner of the window.
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Click the toggle to turn off Automatic Updates. Click the lock icon again to save your changes.

Section 5 of 8:

Disabling WebAdvisor

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Windows To turn off the McAfee WebAdvisor app on your PC, you’ll need to uninstall it. To do so:^{[6]
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- Close any open browsers.
- Open the Windows Start menu.
- Search for control panel and click Control Panel in the search results.
- Click Programs > Programs and Features.
- Right-click or click and hold McAfee WebAdvisor or WebAdvisor by McAfee.
- Select Uninstall or Uninstall/Change, then click No thanks, just uninstall it.
- Click Done, then restart your computer.
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Mac If you have WebAdvisor on your Mac, you’ll need to disable the associated browser extension to turn it off. See the steps below for browser-specific instructions.
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Browser extension If you have the WebAdvisor extension for Chrome, Microsoft Edge, or Firefox, you can either disable it or completely remove it.
- Chrome:
  - To disable the extension without removing it, open Chrome and click the ••• or ⋮ icon in the top right corner. Select Extensions > Manage Extensions and toggle off McAfee WebAdvisor.
  - To remove the extension, go to ••• or ⋮ > Extensions > Manage Extensions and click Remove on the McAfee WebAdvisor extension. Click Remove again to confirm.
- Edge:
  - To disable the extension without removing it, go to ••• > Extensions > Manage extensions and click the toggle next to McAfee WebAdvisor.
  - To remove the extension, go to ••• > Extensions > Manage extensions and click Remove under McAfee WebAdvisor. Click Remove again to confirm.
- Firefox:
  - To disable the extension without removing it, go to ☰ > Add-on and themes. Click the toggle switch next to McAfee WebAdvisor to turn it off.
  - To remove the extension, go to ☰ > Add-on and themes and click ••• next to McAfee WebAdvisor (to the right of the toggle switch). Click Remove, then click Remove again to confirm.
- You can also use these instructions to disable McAfee Web Boost, although this extension is now largely obsolete.

Section 6 of 8:

Deleting McAfee

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Windows To completely delete McAfee from your PC, open the Start menu and select All Apps, then search for McAfee. Right-click the result, then select Uninstall. Follow the on-screen prompts to complete the uninstallation process.^{[7]
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- If you aren’t able to uninstall McAfee this way, there are other options you can try, such as using the McAfee Consumer Product Removal tool. For more information, check out this McAfee Support Page.
- Once you uninstall McAfee, you’ll need to end your subscription so you don’t keep getting charged.
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Mac When you install a McAfee product on your Mac, it comes with an uninstaller tool. To access it, open your Applications folder and locate the McAfee Uninstaller (it might be called something like “McAfee Total Protection Uninstaller”). Double-click the file and click Continue. Enter your password and click OK or Allow when prompted. You may be prompted for your password multiple times. When you’re done, click Finish and restart your Mac.^{[8]
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- Once you uninstall McAfee, don’t forget to end your subscription so you don’t keep getting charged.
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Mobile app You can easily uninstall McAfee security apps (and associated services like WebAdvisor) on Android or iOS with just a few clicks. Here’s how:^{[9]
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- Android:
  - Open the Google Play Store and tap your profile picture.
  - Tap Manage apps & devices > Manage.
  - Select McAfee Mobile Security or McAfee Security.
  - Tap the Delete icon at top right, then tap Uninstall.
- iPhone/iPad:
  - Press and hold the McAfee Mobile Security or McAfee Security app icon.
  - Tap Remove App.
  - Tap Delete App to confirm.

Section 7 of 8:

Turning Off Auto-Renewal

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Turn off auto-renewal on the McAfee account website. If you want to end your McAfee subscription, you can do so at myaccount.mcafee.com. The easiest method is to turn off auto-renewal. Your subscription will remain active until your next auto-renewal date. Follow these steps to cancel your subscription online:^{[10]
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- Log in and click Manage Renewals. You might see a tile that says Subscriptions instead. If so, click that.
- Click Manage Subscription.
  - If you don’t see this option, click Turn off auto-renew instead, then follow the prompts to cancel auto-renewal. Select Turn off if you’re taken to a page with different subscription offers.
- Click Cancel auto-renewal. If you’re redirected to a page with alternative subscription offers, scroll down and click Turn off.
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Cancel auto-renewal in the mobile app. If you use the mobile version of McAfee and have upgraded to premium from within the app, you will need to cancel through the App Store or Google Play Store. Use the following steps to do so:
- Android:
  - Open the Google Play Store and tap your profile picture to open the menu.
  - Tap Subscriptions or Payments & Subscriptions > Subscriptions.
  - Select your McAfee subscription and tap Cancel subscription.
- iPhone/iPad:
  - Open the App Store and tap your profile icon at the top right corner of the screen.
  - Tap Subscriptions.
  - Tap your McAfee subscription and tap Cancel Subscription. Tap Cancel Subscription again to confirm.

Section 8 of 8:

Deactivating a License

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Uninstall McAfee from your device. Deactivating a license can be helpful if you’ve maxed out the number of allowed devices on your account, and you want to free up a spot for a new device. In most cases, you can release a license by simply uninstalling McAfee from a device you no longer use.^{[11]
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Remove a mobile device from your account online. If you’ve installed the mobile app on an Android or iOS device, you can deactivate the license for that device at myaccount.mcafee.com. On the My Account page, click Downloads & devices. Use the arrows to scroll through the tabs at the top of the page, showing each device. When you find the device you want to remove from your account, click Remove, then click Remove Forever in the pop-up to confirm.
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Contact customer support if you can’t remove a device. If you’re not able to deactivate the license for a device using the methods above, McAfee customer service can help you. Visit this page to start a request. Tell the agent you’re trying to remove a device (such as a PC or Mac) from your account, and provide the name of the device as it appears in the Downloads & devices section of the My Account page at myaccount.mcafee.com.

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No, only one antivirus can be run at a time so that they won't conflict with each other.

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I left the app in the recycling bin. What should I do now?

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Go to the control panel, then uninstall a program. Find McAfee, and click uninstall. You may need an additional confirmation.

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Where is the system tray?

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The "system tray," also known as the notification area, is an area at the bottom-right corner of your screen. It has the clock and has icons to open programs, notifications, or settings (Action Center, volume, network, keyboard, etc.).

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It's wise to stay offline while your antivirus program is disabled.

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If you have McAfee installed on your computer, it may completely disable or replace your computer’s built-in antivirus software. McAfee offers some stand-alone apps without antivirus protection, such as the McAfee Safe Connect VPN. Consider using one of these if you want to combine McAfee services with your computer’s native antivirus protection.

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