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FeliTec
FeliTec
Participant
July 22, 2022
Question

[Action] Filing Formal Complaint on Installation of McAfee, Who's With Me?

  • July 22, 2022
  • 2 replies
  • 2671 views

As mentioned by many users before, I made a detailed list on what is being seen on my side, this is how the installation journey is currently designed besides delivering the Acrobat Reader DC:

 

1. Landing

  • Adobe’s website provides transportation to deceive user that the installer only provides the installation of Adobe Reader

 

2. Post Download

  • no explicit terms to notify user before installation
  • no any clear options to let user uncheck McAfee installation

3. Installation

  • my installation of the Acrobat Reader was being abandoned due to having Acrobat Pro DC being installed whereas the installer still proceeds to instell McAfee
  • clicking "Yes" when confirming cancellation does not stop the installation process

 

4. Post-Installation

  • McAfee performs auto scan after installation, meaning unauthorized access to ALL user’s machine files, possibly riding on the permission granted at the beginning of instellation.
  • McAfee change operation system settings without ANY user permission, possibly riding on the permission granted at the beginning of instellation.
  • McAfee is tricky to delete.

 

I have all the screenshots avaliable in attachment

 

After reading related posts being ignored since 2012, with 4 similar suggestion being filed in uservoice ideabox since 2021, no **** is being given, I have been a loyal user / customer for almost 10 years, after seeing this, enough is enough, lets raise our voice to MAKE THEM LISTEN.

 

Action 1: Like, comment, share this post

We need more attention from the community and group everyone together to make bigger voice, your likes, comments and shares on this post (refer users with similar concerns to this post) will bring wider concern within the community.

 

Action 2: Comment, upvote the idea and mark as critical

Idea link here: [Click here to direct]

Their team usually addresses issues with most number of concern in priority, upvote and mark as critical will help them notice the complaint and handle in timely manner.

 

Action 3: Upvote all similar ideas, or even raise your own complaint in different channal

More complaint = higher priority to handle, you know the trick.

    This topic has been closed for replies.

    2 replies

    tony3Dski
    tony3Dski
    Participant
    March 28, 2023

    I concur! I was not provided any customization options for Adobe Reader. An attached PDF wasn't opening as it should from Google Email, so it basically took me to a page to download Reader. To be clear, there was a description that stated that it would include 2 McAfee products. But, this would lead most to believe they would have an option at install time to exclude them from the actual install.  THERE WERE NO SUCH OPTIONS TO EXCLUDE THESE MCAFEE PRODUCTS FROM THE INSTALL!  I've grown to dislike McAfee very much, and now Adobe forces me to deal with them. Then, if you don't uninstall right away, McAfee rears its ugly head to intercede when opening a PDF and you have to put up with their advertising for all their product variations. Its disgusting that Adobe has associated themselves with this kind of tactic, to be subsidized by that company. I was forced to come to this site to find a way to complain!

    try67
    Community Expert
    try67Community Expert
    Community Expert
    July 22, 2022

    While I agree with the general sentiment, some of your claims are incorrect. See this thread for a more in-depth analysis of the situation: https://community.adobe.com/t5/acrobat-reader-discussions/mcafee-installed-without-permission-or-any-way-to-avoid-it/m-p/13073384#M92756

    To summarize, Adobe most likely uses cookies to keep track of your selections on the download page. If you (or someone else on your computer) once selected to download these add-ons it assumes you still want to do so, and will download them again, without asking you to select it once more. Now, I don't think that's a good way of doing things, but it's not the same as forcing these add-ons on all users (as you claim), which is indeed illegal in many places, such as the EU (not sure about the US).

    However, I will support your complaint as I believe this is not how a company should treat its users. At the very least they should always give the option to opt-out of this feature, regardless of past selections. And I also believe these selections should be un-ticked by default, so the user will have to opt-in to get them, if they wanted to.

      M
      maghiss
      Participant
      July 6, 2024

      @try67 you are incorrect. I always considered McAfee to be malware and I am the only user on my machine. The installer simply installs McAfee, even after cancelling the original install.

      I am happy to provide a virtual machine that can predictably replicate every time.

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