Want McAfee Security Scan Plus? No - too bad you got it.

I accepted a 'request' to update Flash Player earlier on today which then proceeded without any further input from me. A few hours later and I get a message popping up to tell me that I have just installed McAfee Security Scan Plus - no I didn't but Adobe installed it on my computer for me. Makes me wonder what else they have slipped in under the guise of or together with an update.

I've uninstalled it (probably - who knows) but it shouldn't have been there in the first place should it?

I think you may have accidentally left the checkbox selected to install it.

As Pipexer has said, you probably missed the option to untick the "optional" download.

I recently rebuilt my PC and after constant prompts from websites did download and install Flash player.

However the option to install McAfee was easy to avoid just by unticking a box.

I have seen this behaviour more nowadays. The easy way to avoid this is to always choose a custom install and install only what you require.

And even taking that approach, some of the Option phrasing can make it difficult to decide which is the Accept and which is the Reject paths!

Agreed fully that such offerings are appearing more frequently; and less obviously, nowadays.

I accidentally installed one of those annoying advert-finding efforts, probably when upgrading Google Chrome recently.

When I initially tracked it, I was told I should uninstall "A" - but nary a sign of "A" anywhere on my PC.

Looking more carefully at its annoying screen presentations, I noted a completely different name "B" vertically in a very faint/feint font at the left edge, difficult to read.

I found "B" and Uninstalled it, clearing the annoyance, much to my delight.

-----------------------

Whilst a "Custom Install" does give the opportunity to avoid such nuisances, I sympathise with those PC users with limited experience and/or knowledge, who will be scared of making that choice.

Those saying that you must have missed the tick box are wrong.

It appears that if you accept the auto-update, and have some pop up blockers operating on the PC like Ghostery then the box which gives you the option is missing.
I also did not get get any option not to install and had to remove it from the installed programs list afterwards.

If you go to the website and do a manual upgrade and donwnload then you DO get the opt out box so I'm told.

I actually accepted the request to update. I don't remember the exact wording but then I went out and left my laptop to its own devices.

At least I was told later on in the day that it had been installed. I suppose that's a good thing but being suspicious by nature it got me wondering what gets installed that I am not told about.

Edited by longedge (Fri 06-Dec-13 10:02:00)

I've just gone through the cycle of updating Flash:-

a) I got the usual message about there being an update available
b) having accepted that I was re-directed to a Web-Page to initiate a download.
c) within that Web-Page (although not particularly noticeable) was a tick-box confirming McAfee.
d) un-ticking & accepting downloaded the file
e) Once downloaded, I then had to run it.
f) During the install process I, yet again, had to prevent it setting up auto-update!