New Windows 10 Desktop PC

I received my new HP PC yesterday and finished setting it up today. I can NOT say that I am 100% happy with it.

First for what ever reason they (don't know who they are) installed McAfee as the main antivirus and turned off Defender. To me Defender is a perfectly good antivirus. There is NO way on this earth I would Pay for McAfee (The first PC I ever owned (40 yrs ago) had McAfee on it and I hated it then and nothing has happened to change my mind). If anyone knows how uninstall McAfee and turn on Defender, I would greatly appreciate knowing how.

This has me all cranky. I installed Google Chrome and dang I have to set it up and some things it wants to know, I don't know LOL. I have it installed my Win 7 and don't remember having to go through all this crap.

Last of this post today is the reason I got this PC is so I can watch videos from this pc to my big screen TV. I will have to figure that one out.

Take care and have a great day.

Whenever I have gotten a new off the shelf computer, I have:
1. Used Macrium Reflect Free to make an image of the existing HDD/SSD.
2. Exported the drivers to the standard Windows 10 USB installation flash drive (to a drivers folder created on it).
3. Wiped the entire HDD/SSD drive clean and started over with a fresh, clean install of Windows 10.

That way I don't have to deal with all the crap/junk ware that manufacturers put on the computer. To uninstall McAfee you should just need to go to add or remove programs and uninstall it like any other program. And, with the ten or so different off-the-shelf laptops and desktops I have purchased over the years, I have never went back to the original factory image I have saved from them, not even once.

If you do a clean install, you may then have to go to the manufacturer's website to install any apps or drivers that didn't get installed with the clean install, so depending on your level of knowledge, consider that. Making a full backup of the virgin system with Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect is definitely a great idea.

And I also like to get rid of crapware like McAfee and Microsoft games I don't play.

https://service.mcafee.com/?articleI...l=article-view

The standard Windows program uninstall may be adequate, but McAfee also has more comprehensive tool for download. If it was me, I might go directly to that.

There a video about this stuff - this example is from dell, but the principle is the same.

There is logic to using your peferred software to make a backup image ( in case you need to restore it for warranty purposes).
Then a clean install to avoid the crud.

Dell's Dumpster Fire: Bloatware Uses 30% GPU (G5 5000 Review & Benchmarks) - YouTube

First let me say, I am retired (79 yrs old) on a fixed income. I don't really have the funds to invest in a new Windows 10 operating system and I am NOT ready yet for Windows 11. From this I guess I can NOT do a clean install of Win 10.

NavyLCDR, yes I do need to make a back image, I have been using AOMEI and I really do like it. This HP has all the drivers included and I do not see anyway to get a copy of them.

Berton, how did you get rid of McAfee? I have tried uninstalling it, but that did NOT work.

Hello huffman and welcome to TF ,
You don't have to spend more money to do a clean install - your existing Windows 10 license which is embedded in the motherboard would be used.

I think the better option for you is to uninstall McAfee, etc after you make an image backup, unless you're up for the task of doing a clean install and adding back in the HP software that keeps your drivers and BIOS up to date and whatever other useful HP software may be on your PC.

Clean Install Windows 10

I have never found it necessary to do an clean install on any prebuilt PCs I've touched, but I have uninstalled software they came with.

how did you get rid of McAfee? I have tried uninstalling it, but that did NOT work.

https://service.mcafee.com/?articleId=TS101331&page=shell&shell=article-view

If you want to Uninstall McAfee, then you need to also run their Removal Utility, because McAfee leaves a lot of dredge behind.
-----------------------------------------------------------
Run The McAfee Removal Tool MCPR.EXE
1. Download the removal tool from:
http://download.mcafee.com/products/...tches/MCPR.exe
2. Click Save and save the file to a folder on your computer.
3. Navigate to the folder where the file was saved.
4. Double-click MCPR.exe to run the removal tool.

Chuck