If you see VisualDiscovery in your programs, disable it.

 

open Lenovo vantage and go to the preferences tab. Then uncheck all notifications.

 

I previously disabled Lenovo Vantage, but went back and disabled everything that was enabled anyway. I'd suspect Marketing - Promotion messages including Lenovo special offers would have been responsible. Since seeing that notification and disabling the others that I noted I haven't seen any since.

Noted re: VisualDiscovery.

 

You can also Uninstall Lenovo Vantage in Settings/Installed Apps

 

Didn't think of that - thanks. So far no ads since the last one.

 

Spoke too soon - got a McAfee pop up, and realized its actually installed on the pc. Didn't see it in Notifications as something I could disable. When I started to de-install it, a message said I have an active subscription. Must have come with the new pc. I will de-install it at some point. With previous laptops Windows Defender seemed to be adequate, now I guess its called Windows Security. That probably came from the McAfee app itself, correct?

I even got another from Lenovo as shown below. Lenovo Vantage and Lenovo Now are set to off. I chose Don't ask again for what its worth.

 

Every brand new laptop comes with Trial versions of McAfee, or Norton, and Trial versioin of Micrsoft Office. Among other Bloatware from the manufacturer. If you don't uninstall these, after 30 days you will get continuous nags that your trial has ended and you need to pay to continue using the apps.
It is suggested you press the Winodws key +X and choose Installed Apps and Uninstall all Lenovo apps that you do not use as well as trial versions of any Anti-Virus or Office

 

I usually look for "add/remove installed programs" look down the list and remove anything that I don't like the look of. Some items will not be removable (usually Microsoft stuff) so you might have to do a Google search to fix that. Anything that can't be removed can usually be disabled in some way. I also use msconfig.exe to tweak programs not to run.

 

When removing a 3rd party AV suite it's generally best practice to see whether the manufacturer offers a free standing uninstaller rather than uninstalling it via Windows.

AV programs integrate tightly with the host OS, so are often not fully removed by the on board uninstaller. This can cause problems when you try to activate Windows Security.

The uninstaller for MacAfee can be found at .... https://www.mcafee.com/support/s/article/000001616?language=en_US ... follow the instructions in Option 2 (personally I never try Option 1 first, I just go to Option 2).

 

Noted re: uninstalling, and use the manufacturer's uninstaller. I would have thought using the manufacturer's would be the one that would not fully uninstall it.

I installed Libre office and will uninstall the Microsoft office and other trails.

 

You received the correct advice. McAfee's does a better job than Windows.

 

LIbreOffice is a FREE alternative to Microsoft Office. If you want a free office suite instead of the paid MS Office it is a great alternative, no need to uninstall it.
Do uninstall the trial version of Microsoft Office.

 

McAfee's free standing installer usually does the best job of uninstalling McAfee, however from time to time their may still be "orphans" left behind that may cause problems.

Don't forget to reboot your machine after running the tool, since many of the McAfee entries can only be removed during a reboot.

If after running the tool, you're unable to activate Windows Security, please get back to me. We can then scan your machine for remnants and write a script to remove any that are found, but usually this is not necessary because the tool generally does a good job.

 

I've been using LibreOffice for years. I installed it the day I bought the laptop. Sure it's nice having the authentic Microsoft Office on the work desktop and laptop, but LibreOffice is a great alternative. I was surprised it even has something similar to PowerPoint. I sometimes wonder why it's free, like Google Voice.

Noted re: uninstalling and Windows Security.

 

Always use the AV uninstaller as the Windows Uninstaller always leaves "danglers:" and never totally removes anything in my experience. None of those Antivirus programs are worth owning IMHO.

 

In the McAfee app itself, I looked around for an uninstaller but did not find one. Should it be uninstalled from the Start menu by right-clicking?

 

Go here: https://www.mcafee.com/support/s/ar...ort/s/article/000001616?language=en_US&msockid=1cea2b3b342167aa2e913fc835376634 then scroll to and select Option #2. You'll see the MCPR download tool link.

 

Ok thanks.

 

I have not had issues using the uninstaller from Windows (Control Panel\Programs\Programs and Features) on new machines but +1 on the McAfee uninstaller for when the system is not new and the user has added multiple McAfee "security" products. With either method, after rebooting go into Settings>Apps>Installed Apps and make sure the App version is gone. Three dots, then Uninstall if it is there.

Lastly, if a shortcut still shows in the Programs List (All Apps) of the Start Menu, right-click on it, choose More > Open File Location. Here you can remove the shortcut that appears in the All Apps list by right-clicking and deleting on it or the containing folder if it is in a folder of the same name. Take care to only delete the unwanted shortcut and its specific containing folder if it exists and not any other items because this is what shows in your Start Menu.