Why is Adobe installing McAfee software by stealth?

Given the fact that this thread is now attracting abusive and unrelated comments, I'm going to lock it.  Thanks for the feedback.

Here's my general advice:

For better or worse, the bundled offers pay the bills.  I've posted extensive explanations which you can find in my activity history, but the bottom line is that while Flash Player is distributed free, Adobe is a for-profit corporation.

While I'd love to live in a post-scarcity Start Trek style meritocracy, that day seems very remote.  In the meantime, we don't have the luxury of just spending money without generating income, and maintaining and distributing Flash Player is a tremendously complex and expensive undertaking.

At the end of the day, we pay business experts to research, identify and implement the most effective business strategy, and this is hands-down the approach that yields the best results.  It’s also the case that those bundled offers keep me employed, and it would be disingenuous to just blame it on the business people.

The truth is, a sufficient number of people find enough value in the bundled offers that they ultimately spend money with those sponsors, who in turn see value in partnering with us, which in turn keeps us supplied with engineers, servers, bandwidth and coffee.  It’s an imperfect solution for an imperfect world.

That said, you actually *do* have a few options at your disposal in terms of avoiding this prompt:

1.) Enable automatic updates.

You do not get prompted for background updates.  We actually forego the revenue opportunity to ensure that you're always updated with the latest security patches.

2.) Use Google Chrome or Internet Explorer/Edge on Windows 8 and higher

These browser partners contribute directly to the Flash ecosystem in multiple ways, and distribute Flash Player as built-in components of their browsers.  There's nothing separate to download or install, and Flash Player is automatically kept updated via either the Chrome updater or Windows Update, respectively.

3.) Uninstall Flash Player

While probably not the optimal answer, you can always opt-out of participating in the ecosystem.

I've included links to our uninstallers below, for your convenience:

Uninstall Flash Player - Mac:

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-mac-os.html

Uninstall Flash Player - Windows:

https://helpx.adobe.com/flash-player/kb/uninstall-flash-player-windows.html

I tried making a post - but couldn't. Also replying to other posts doesn't seem possible.

I've posted to Facebook the following:

I'd like Adobe to conform to the standard procedure every other software company does and have the default update screen have the default with installing McAfee "UNCHECKED".

Having multiple antivirus programs on a computer takes up unnecessary space and usually renders any A/V you have as useless meaning because of this blatantly deceptive setup your users, who have done nothing that should leave them exposed, ARE LEFT EXPOSED.

If it was possible for me to post on the Forum - I would put one there asking "Who WANTS McAfee to be forced upon them.

And you would then see that no-one wants it.

Surely there are enough negative posts (without a response from you) saying this VERY CLEARLY.

Open your eyes & ears guys.

yeah, I just installed adobe acrobat reader dc, and it installed mcafee on my computer. It's happened before, so I was curious why this would happen. I knew adobe didn't get hacked with trojan programs or anything, because the installer explicitly shows an install progress bar for the mcafee crap. After looking at a few forums, I decided to take a look and see if disabling my ad-blocker would fix it (they said it would), and I got this:

I don't know about you, but I don't see any options for not installing mcafee (the ad-blocker is the ad-on on the far left, next to the star to bookmark pages, and hangouts). You can see it's greyed out, which means the site is whitelisted. It shows up orange when it's active, and yes, before you ask, I did refresh the page to see if it made a difference. It did show (for like a half a second before the page fully loaded) instead of About:, it showed Additional offer: or something like that (maybe that's where the option to not install mcafee is?).

This post is kinda weird to read, I know (I'm not the best writer), but as far as I know, there's NO WAY TO NOT INSTALL MCAFEE WITH MY ADOBE DOWNLOAD. Not only am I good with computers so I almost never get viruses, but if I ever do I always just download malwrebytes, run a scan, then delete it.

Adobe, you need to stop doing this. I know I'm not the only one who's pissed off about this. I also know nothing's going to change because of one post, but my hope is that tons of people will get pissed off and something will change.

Thanks a ton.

P.S. Those other tabs that are open are for a school assignment. I don't usually search that kind of stuff lol

After Firefox 30 forced an update, this morning, by disallowing Adobe Flash 17 (Win7) from running due to security issues (it gave me the option to disregard, but that became tiresome after the 5th time), I dutifully went to update the player. I always prefer a standalone installer, looked for one, but didn't easily find one for individual users (finding ones only for developers). Downloaded the quick installer. After initializing the installation, I checked the "do not automatically update" option, kept my eyes open for opt-in/opt-out for ride-alongs and watched the update/install process. And was horrified to see McAfee download and install, and was too stunned to stop the process.

I uninstalled everything. Interesting note: the original download file had disappeared from my saved location and was NOT in trash. Wassup with that?? Anyway: redownloaded the installer and installed, waiting to stop the McAfee download/install. It never happened. The second install ONLY installed Flash. Go figure.

Adding to the rants.... this kind of underhanded stealthy "product enhancement [not]" is insulting and infuriating. It's my flipping bandwidth that _ I _ pay for, and to assume I'm not running my own AV software is just plain insulting. P*isser, for sure!!

I had the same thing this morning, Adobe update request box came up when I booted up this morning, no mention whatsoever of any attached third party bullshit.  Then proceeded to show install progress for flash AND McAfee "Plus" (what's the 'plus'?  Plus useless shit you know we didn't want?).

Cancelled the install, but it'd already shotgunned in.  Now scrubbing out every last reminder of that filth I can find.

...Just a little WTF Adobe, as far as I'm aware, it's NOT LEGAL to install 3rd party software without an 'untick' option.

Thanks for wasting my time this morning cleaning out the shit you took in my registry, and f#@k you very much.  Back into the 'not-trusted' group for you, no more auto updates.

I have been using Adobe software for decades, and generally love their products, despite their high price tags. But, for fuxake, making an extra few $$ by installing malware on my machine is just shite! Come on, Adobe, you're better than that!

(I updated Adobe Flash Player, and there were NO 'opt out' options. I managed to force quit the installer after it had updated Flash and before the McAfee install completed. Who knows what junk it's left on my machine).

The first post of that one thread alone has 5k+ views. It must be a lot of money for Adobe to make it worth damaging their brand name like that.
I honnestly don't get it. I'm always careful and I'm almost sure there was no check box at all this time, I ll have to retrace my steps carefully next time cause I'm pretty sure that'd be not legal. Really sad to see how low they are going.

I didn't want this junk the past 500 hundred times!!!!  wtf  why would i want it now??!

stop including it

A McAfee stealth install slipped by me this morning. I have been fighting this for years, and it never fails to infuriate me.

I will not have any McAfee product on any computer I own, and Adobe's complicity in this will keep me from ever buying another Adobe product.

There are other choices out there.

I know Adobe could care less about customer's opinions, and does not monitor customer forums, but at least this forum gives me a place to vent.

I have also just updated Flash and there was no option about installing Mcafee. Why are Adobe annoying customers by putting unrequested stuff on their computers. This leaves a very bad taste indeed. It shows very little concern for the people who use their software.