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robyner
New Participant
March 28, 2016
Answered

Trouble uninstalling True Key that Adobe installed without asking me.

  • March 28, 2016
  • 19 replies
  • 106830 views

Hi, Newest Acrobat installed 2 programs that I didn't ask for or want.  I got McAfee out.  (Already have Norton.)  I STARTED to take out True Key, but it asked me to close my browser.  I couldn't close it right away since I was uploading something.  When that finished, I could no longer find the uninstall window.  Later it popped up again, I went through the bit of closing the browser again, and then could not find the popup again.  Any ideas?

    This topic has been closed for replies.
    Correct answer try67

    Actually, since you mentioned it I did see that this "True Key" app is being bundled with the free Adobe Flash Player (I Don't Want True Key or anything else. Just Flash, please.), and there's even a screenshot of how it looks like, where you can clearly see that it's possible to opt-out of it.

    However, even if you did agree to install it along with Reader there should be a way of uninstalling it, just like any other application.

    At least we now know it did come from Adobe, and isn't some piece of malware...

    19 replies

    Show previous replies
    A
    Anonymous
    November 27, 2016

    I contacted  adobe, as well as the Truekey people on how to get rid of this, and was ignored by both...pretty low.

    Anyway, here's what worked for me... I haven't seen hide nor hair of is since, and it's been a week or two..

    To get rid of truekey open task manager, click the processes tab, end the two true key processes that causes the error, something like "cannot delete because the program is open in another program", then go to c/program files and delete the "Intel Security" folder.

    Fearing the worst next time I update flash, I did away with adobe flask, enabled  Silverlight that was already in my add ons and have had no significant problems since. No more adobe downloads for me. I did run into a few advertisements that required flash but they were of so little consequence, I haven't tried the other flash replacements that are available and would fix that. Everything I need works fine with Silverlight.

    aybuke138
    aybuke138
    New Participant
    October 31, 2016

    I had the same problem. The page I installed Flash Player from did not have anything about True Key or McAfee. Yes, I use a adblocker but i revisited the site and disabled it to be sure. "Optinal offers" part was not visible in Firefox, but i realized that it is visible in Google Chrome. (I guess that means I am returning to Chrome.) I could uninstall McAfee, but  couldn't uninstalled True Key. The uninstaller kept saying "There was a problem. Please close this window and try again." I tried the uninstaller in a different folder in Program Files, not the True Key folder but Intel Security/True Key. It was a different uninstaller because it was in English, while the one from Control Panel was in my language. It said the uninstall was successful, but it wasn't. As a last result, I tried a third party uninstaller. I'm not sure how healthy it is but at least it worked. I can still see some tasks related to True Key in Services but they cannot be actived. Couldn't find any solution for that and really don't have the time to spent on this anymore.

    I'm very disappointed. I had to install a 3rd party uninstaller to uninstall the program I didn't even asked for. Thank you, Adobe!

    D
    davidw56536783
    New Participant
    October 12, 2016

    True key (and Mcaffee) installed on my pc too when installing free adobe reader without any opt out options.  As far as I can tell True Key is a password stealing program disguised to look like its part of the operating system.  I think I was able to remove it by right clicking on the shortcut going to file location then backing up one folder and using the uinstall program.  It may have left a bootloader or something that will reinstall it when I reboot though, a lot of these malware/virus programs do that sort of thing. 

    A
    Anonymous
    October 29, 2016

    Hello Everyone

    I am a new guy on here and don't expect to be much of a contributor to the forum however, having in the past received much valuable advice and information by reading posts from forums such as this I felt obliged to pass on this fix for the above issue that worked for me.

    I tried all of the fixes suggested and only obtained partial success, this is what worked for me;

    Go to Control Panel, Click, Uninstall a Program, Click McAfee LiveSafe internet security, Click, Uninstall/Change, When it appears, Check the TrueKey box, Click Remove, then when directed, Restart your machine and that should fix the problem.

    Regards

      C
      CalBerrys
      New Participant
      January 7, 2017

      For me True Key was not showing up in my Programs and Features list.  I looked under McAfee and Intel, and could find nothing.   yet I could see it, and all it's related folders in C: Programs. When I opened my McAfee icon on my tool bar I could see the True Key icon, but after opening it saw no way to delete it. I was getting very frustrated until I saw DrowningnotWaving's post.  Sure enough, when I went into Uninstall or Change a Program and selected McAfee Total Protection, I had the option to delete either Total protection or True Key (or both I suppose, but I wanted to keep Total Protection).  After selecting to uninstall True Key only and restarting my laptop, True Key is now gone ;-)  Thank you DrowningnotWaving!!!!

      A
      Anonymous
      September 26, 2016

      I'm having the same problem.  I'm using Windows 7.  I tried to uninstall through the Control Panel and it kept giving me a "can't uninstall now" error (after I closed the browser windows that were open instead of letting the application do it) with the only option to close the message windows.  So I went to ../Program Folders/Intel Security/True Key and used the uninstall.exe file to uninstall.  Except that it didn't.  There are still processes running.  I tried to install a fresh copy, but it reports an error and if I click on "Continue Install" it runs for over an hour with seemingly nothing happening.  I also tried to use a commercial uninstaller program, but it doesn't see the program anymore.  Any other ideas?

      W
      wyashvant
      New Participant
      September 15, 2016

      Go to C:\Program Files\Intel Security\True Key and run the uninstall.exe file.

      That's all folks!

      A
      Anonymous
      September 15, 2016

      Reread my post from the other day, thats after i ran thier uninstaller.

      M
      mitchp91547956
      New Participant
      August 9, 2016

      For Windows10:    Right-click True Key icon on desktop. Select delete.In note explaining result(click Programs & features). In

                                     Program &  features look up"Intel Security True Key. Click True Key. Click uninstall. New box seen from Intel.

                                     Click uninstall. End of  story.....

      A
      Anonymous
      September 13, 2016

      Actually it isn't end of story, because even after you "uninstall" truekey there is still a true key file left behind on your computer and if you use task manager and go to processes you can see 2-3 true key objects running still.

      A
      Anonymous
      July 14, 2016

      To uninstall, you must first be able to find "Intel Security True Key" within you programs and features so you can uninstall it. First restart your computer. Once restarted run control panel again and go to programs and features, then sort by date. It should be the newest date. Delete "Intel Security True Key", then restart again.

      try67
      try67
      Community Expert
      March 29, 2016

      Are you sure it came with an Adobe app? If so, you must have given it permission (it could have been a check-box that you didn't un-check...) to do so, but what you're describing sounds strange. Did you download the installer directly from the Adobe website?

      R
      robynerAuthor
      New Participant
      March 29, 2016

      I actually remember where I was before I got the Acrobat.  I was working on taxes and on the website of a major investment company (a big one - no fly by night scam), and wanted to get a particular brochure from them.  They said you needed Adobe Acrobat.  If you didn't have it, you could get it from here (link).  I had Acrobat, but some time ago Adobe said there was an update available, but I had never gotten it.  Being in the middle of taxes (ugh!), I decided this was the perfect time to get it, so I clicked the link.  I just duplicated all the above to see if I really remembered correctly, and yes I did.  The link took me to the same screen that I remember, with Adobe logo in the upper left hand corner.  I'm not taking this test further since no need to get the Acrobat again.

      Since my memory has been tested that far, I'm confident it's just as accurate for what would happen next.  You get an exe file.  (Strangely, I can't find it in my computer at the moment.  I'm sure I didn't delete it, but I can't find it.)  Anyway, it brings up some legal gobbledygook, you accept that, and then it does the install.  However, it shows three programs - Adobe Acrobat itself, some McAfee scanning program, and Intel True Key, which is some program to avoid using passwords to go to websites.  You use touch screen instead, and I suppose it recognizes your finger print   I didn't want either of these programs, but there was no way to uncheck them.  There were no boxes with check marks to be unchecked.  You got all 3 - or nothing.

      Just now, as I was writing this to you (in my text editor, where it would be saved if anything went wrong), I somehow got back the window to uninstall Intel True Key.  So I took advantage of it.  That meant aborting my upload of photos to a backup site because I had to close the browser.  Then the d--- thing told me I would also have to restart the whole computer.  This has been a real annoyance, but I think the True Key is gone now.  I am p---'d off that this all SEEMS to be coming from Adobe themselves, for not giving me any choice in the matter.  Unless I was duped by that investment website (hard to believe), or THEY were duped by someone purporting to be Adobe (equally hard to believe).  But all's well that ends well.  (At least, I think it's ended.  That is, I have the Acrobat, I don't have the McAfee, and I don't have the True Key.)  Sigh...

      try67
      try67Correct answer
      Community Expert
      March 29, 2016

      Actually, since you mentioned it I did see that this "True Key" app is being bundled with the free Adobe Flash Player (I Don't Want True Key or anything else. Just Flash, please.), and there's even a screenshot of how it looks like, where you can clearly see that it's possible to opt-out of it.

      However, even if you did agree to install it along with Reader there should be a way of uninstalling it, just like any other application.

      At least we now know it did come from Adobe, and isn't some piece of malware...

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