I am unable to fully remove a McAfee evaluation program. After downloading it from the McAfee website I decided not to continue using that program. I removed it improperly into the ‘Recycle Bin’ instead of uninstalling it. As a result, whenever I switch on the computer a window opens saying ‘What’s this? Help Composer. The Help File … could not be found. Would you like to search for this file now? Yes/No’. Subsequently, I removed ‘McAfee VirusScan v. 4.0.3 (Evaluation)’ from ‘Add/Remove Programs’. However, the files SHUTIL.DLL, AVCONSOL, CSH.DLL, MCKRNL32.DLL, VSSTAT, etc… still remain in the C:PROGRAM FILESNETWORK ASSOCIATESMCAFEE VIRUS SCAN directory. Any attempt to delete these files brings up the message ‘Cannot delete. The specified file is being used by Windows’. Is there any chance of removing these files from my computer?

When you say that you ‘have removed ‘McAfee VirusScan v. 4.0.3 (Evaluation)’ from ‘Add/Remove Programs’ I am not sure whether you mean that you have actually reinstalled VirusScan and then removed it properly via the uninstall procedure or whether you have simply removed the entry ‘McAfee VirusScan v. 4.0.3 (Evaluation)’ from ‘Add/Remove Programs’ by a Add/Remove Programs list cleaner. However, I will cover both scenarios.

Firstly, if you simply removed the entry of ‘McAfee VirusScan v. 4.0.3 (Evaluation)’ from ‘Add/Remove Programs’ I suggest you reinstall VirusScan and then uninstall it properly from the ‘Add/Remove Programs’ control panel. Make sure that you install it to the original location which is C:PROGRAM FILESNETWORK ASSOCIATESMCAFEE VIRUS SCAN. Once you have done this, if you still have a problem with left over files, keep on reading!

Even if you have reinstalled and then uninstalled the application properly, it is quite common to have some files left over. This happens because those files are in use by the uninstalling application so it can’t delete files which it is using at the time (catch 22: to delete the file the uninstaller needs to stop using the file so that it isn’t currently in use, however, the uninstaller needs that file to delete itself). You can usually solve this problem by restarting your computer and then deleting. However, if you still have files such as SHUTIL.DLL and AVCONSOL left over and they cannot be deleted and you receive the message ‘Cannot delete. The specified file is being used by Windows’ then this may be a much deeper problem as these files look like actual VirusScan executable and program files. This may indicate that the uninstaller isn’t working and the program is still installed.

I am going to make the grand assumption that you are running Windows 98. Hit CTRL-ALT-DEL and see if you can find AVCONSOL and/or VSSTAT in the list of running applications. If the files don’t appear on the list, try and delete these files as they don’t appear to be in use. However, in the more likely event that the files are listed, then it looks like they are still running for some reason. Go to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Run’ and type ‘msconfig’ (without the quotes) and press the ‘Ok’ button. In the ‘Microsoft System Configuration Utility’ window which appears, click the ‘Startup’ tab and look down the list for any applications like AVCONSOL, VSSTAT or any other VirusScan applications. If you find any, click the box (with a tick in it) next to its name in order to remove the tick from the box. Click the ‘Ok’ button to close the utility and then restart your computer. Those applications which you have unchecked will no longer run when you start up the computer. Now that you have done this, when your computer restarts, you should be able to delete the files as they are no longer required by Windows.