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bxcrwlly
Former Member
Message 1 of 6

Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

Had a problem requiring that I perform a restore.  I selected the restore date/time needed.  Began the process.  Computer rebooted after restore and displayed an error message saying the restore could not be completed due to Antivirus Software.  I turned off scannig and firewall protection and tried Restore again.  Same error message.  Is this a common problem with McAfee?  Never had this problem with my previous antivirus software.  Do I need to disable McAfee to run the restore and if so, how do I accomplish that?

Thanks....

5 Replies
Hayton
Reliable Contributor
Reliable Contributor
Message 2 of 6

Re: Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

As you've had to restore you must have had a problem of some sort. If the problem is malware-related it could be there's an infected file in the saved restore point and McAfee is just telling you so. Can you take a screenshot of the message and post it?

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 3 of 6

Re: Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

"Antivirus Software" sounds suspiciously like malware to me.

McAfee would never prevent a System Restore operation.   Post a screenshot as Hayton has suggested.

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bxcrwlly
Former Member
Message 4 of 6

Re: Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

Well guys, since I couldn't get the restore to work and prior to receiving your responses, I managed to delete and reload the mouse driver causing me problems, so that negated the need to perform the restore.  My scan ran and identified and quarentined the following file:

McAfeeGPUP041515.JPG

Could this be the culprit that was preventing my restore?  What's odd about this is that I have a subscription to MalwareBytes which runs on every PC wake up or start up.  MB did not identify this file as a threat like McAfee did.  Hmmmmm?  Thoughts/ideas?

exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 5 of 6

Re: Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

Could possibly be but I doubt it.  PUP's aren't necessarily harmful - "Possibly Unwanted Program", and one has to decide whether or not to keep them.

More likely a file or driver was corrupted, or even the drive was giving out read errors.

Also it's normal for MBAM to find something that McAfee doesn't and vice-versa as they are two different kinds of software.  MBAM is designed as a supplement to an antivirus.

Glad you've worked around it.

2family4jeff
Contributor
Message 6 of 6

Re: Windows Restore Won't Complete Due To McAfee

I know this is a few years late, but the issue still exists up to now (December 2018).

The problem is due to Mcafee protectioin of system files, particularly the files monitored by it's System Bootup Protection and monitoring features.  

Unfortunately there is no easy way around this, as Mcafee does not make it easy to enable and disable startup and boot protection (sometimes called "Safe Boot"), and the issue is practically unavoidable on systems with Secure Boot enabled for Windows.

I've resorted to Uninstalling Mcafee immediately prior to running system restore, which; due to the nature of System Restore will actually result in McAfee being magically reinstalled in the process of reverting your system to that particular restore point.  This actually works pretty well, as long as System Restore completes and you are back to a known good state.

 

System Restore is one of the best anti-malware tools ever created - bar none.  It is sad that it has a bad reputation going back to the earliest versions (Windows Me and Windows XP) which were made from entirely inferior technologies, and ended up being one of the favourite places for Virus to hide on your system, even after you've removed all the infected files.  Windows 7 and higher (even Vista) uses Volume Shadow Copies to actually bring your entire files system (excluding Documents, Pictures, and other user creatd media) back to the exact state it was in on that day.  I don't mean it undoes changes or reverts to old system files... I mean it actually goes back to the sectors on the hard drive and literally UNDOES the changes at the disk level.  

So - you can uninstall Mcafee, run a restore, and poof - you are back to normal.

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