Laptop question

[LuLu]

So I finally got my hands on a laptop thanks to a girl I used to work with. It's a 2006 (I think) Gateway running XP. Got a couple questions because I'm having issues now that I've actually got it home. Why do things always work elsewhere? lol

 

1. How do I kill McAfee so I can uninstall it? I shut it down thru the taskbar and it still tells me Virus Scan is running even though when I hit Ctrl Alt Del it doesn't show up.

 

2. The wireless stuff was working at her house. I brought it home and connected to my neighbor's wireless like I do with my iPod (yes, she knows I do this) and even though I'm "connected", it doesn't let me on the web. I can't figure out why??

 

3. The cursor doesn't want to work with the touchpad now. It was fine, then I turned it off since I had to take my mom to work and when I booted it back up, the cursor went all wonky when I touched the touchpad. It even moves on it's own...like down the screen. Did I already break it??

 

I swear, electronics and I are never on good terms. lol

[redhawk]

1. How do I kill McAfee so I can uninstall it? I shut it down thru the taskbar and it still tells me Virus Scan is running even though when I hit Ctrl Alt Del it doesn't show up.

To uninstall McAfee start Control Panel and double click on Add or Remove Programs.

In the list you should see something like McAfee SecurityCenter and simply hit remove and follow any instructions.

 

2. The wireless stuff was working at her house. I brought it home and connected to my neighbor's wireless like I do with my iPod (yes, she knows I do this) and even though I'm "connected", it doesn't let me on the web. I can't figure out why??

I guess it depends on how the wireless router is setup some have what's called Mac Address filtering so you need to verify that your adapter is registered.

To check the wireless connection Start, Run cmd.exe and then type the following command:

 

ipconfig /all

 

This should produce a list of IP numbers and other useful data.

Note that the Mac Address if you need to enter this into the router is hex data shown as "Physical Address"

To access the router locate the IP address for "Default Gateway" and open this in Internet Explorer http://192.168.1.1 (as an example)

Also try to ping the GateWay IP address e.g. ping 192.168.1.1 to see if you can send packets to the router.

 

3. The cursor doesn't want to work with the touchpad now. It was fine, then I turned it off since I had to take my mom to work and when I booted it back up, the cursor went all wonky when I touched the touchpad. It even moves on it's own...like down the screen. Did I already break it??

I assume you mean mouse pointer?? this could be a sensitivity setting and you need to lower it because it thinks it's being touched when it's not.

If you still have problems with the touch pad get a optical mouse or perhaps a wireless one like a Logitech.

 

Richard S.

[LuLu]

To uninstall McAfee start Control Panel and double click on Add or Remove Programs.

In the list you should see something like McAfee SecurityCenter and simply hit remove and follow any instructions.

 

LOL I did that (i'm not *that dumb lol). And it kept telling me that Virus Scan was still running and to shut it down to continue with the uninstall. Problem is I can't seem to shut it down completely. I rebooted then killed it in the task manager only and it STILL said it was running. Just one more reason why I hate McAfee.

 

 

I guess it depends on how the wireless router is setup some have what's called Mac Address filtering so you need to verify that your adapter is registered.

To check the wireless connection Start, Run cmd.exe and then type the following command:

 

ipconfig /all

 

This should produce a list of IP numbers and other useful data.

Note that the Mac Address if you need to enter this into the router is hex data shown as "Physical Address"

To access the router locate the IP address for "Default Gateway" and open this in Internet Explorer http://192.168.1.1 (as an example)

Also try to ping the GateWay IP address e.g. ping 192.168.1.1 to see if you can send packets to the router.

 

Ok I'll give that a go. Thanks!!!

 

 

I assume you mean mouse pointer?? this could be a sensitivity setting and you need to lower it because it thinks it's being touched when it's not.

If you still have problems with the touch pad get a optical mouse or perhaps a wireless one like a Logitech.

 

Richard S.

 

Yeah I meant pointer. Sorry, my brain is gone lately. haha But it seems to be ok now that I've rebooted again so I won't mess with anything unless it happens again.

[hazelnut]

Quite a few security type softwares can be stopped first by right-clicking the taskbar icon and choosing exit or something similar. Perhaps if you open the Mcafee program there may be an option under advanced to turn off the virus scanner.

 

Sorry I don't know more about Mcafee.

 

Here is a link to the way to uninstall and the cleanup tool for it afterwards.

 

http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100507

[redhawk]

It appears McAfee have their own removal tool **direct download link removed**

Give it a go and see if that helps.

(using download link from Google search)

 

Richard S.

[LuLu]

I tried the ping option. 4 packets sent, 4 packets received. When I tried to access the router through IE, it still wouldn't actually connect. I'm stumped.

[LuLu]

Thanks for the McAfee tools! I'll be using them as soon as I get that sucker to actually get on the 'net. lol

[LuLu]

Got the internet figured out...sort of. It's a problem with my neighbor's router. I tried pinging it again and it said "media disconnected". Went to a different part of the house and ended up being able to connect to another neighbor's connection with no problem. So it's not my laptop, thank goodness. lol Now to tackle McAfee...

[redhawk]

If you still having trouble LuLu, Start, Run, services.msc

Find all the McAfee services in the list, edit their properties setting "Startup type" to Disabled and then reboot Windows.

 

Richard S.

[LuLu]

Thanks I finally got it uninstalled.

[Andavari]

Don't forget to make a Macrium Reflect backup or use some other disk imaging software once you have everything sorted, then you won't have to do it all over again in the future, instead you can simply restore.

[LuLu]

Thanks Andavari! I'll be sure to do that.

[mjp28]

3. The cursor doesn't want to work with the touchpad now. It was fine, then I turned it off since I had to take my mom to work and when I booted it back up, the cursor went all wonky when I touched the touchpad. It even moves on it's own...like down the screen. Did I already break it??

 

I swear, electronics and I are never on good terms. lol

The guys look right on with #1 and 2, if you're still having problems with #3 try this:

(I'm on Vista now but if I remember my old, and beloved XP it should be similar)

 

Go to your Control Panel, type mouse or pointer in the search box (the easy way to look for anything CP related)

Go over and reset your mouse settings, not a bad idea even if you got it working already to get a nice customized feel and look you like.

 

I always try simple first....amazingly it most often works!

Good luck...mjp

[LuLu]

Thanks