>I have McAfee Security Center and there is one irritating feature in it. Basically, all day long, it keeps complaining whenever a write should be done in the register for the windows placement. Is there a way to turn that on so it would stop asking me everything I open or close a window on the desktop?

I recently set up 3 new Dell Inspiron 6400 Core2 Duo laptops for a client. Each had a 90-day trial of McAfee preinstalled.

When each new Dell started for the first time, a McAfee setup wizard starts, which has no "cancel" option - you can't exit. Since these machines were going into a managed environment with the Trend CSM Suite installed, I knew I was going to be uninstalling McAfee anyways. Eventually I got to a point where I could accept or decline the McAfee license. Naturally, I declined. At this point each machine BSOD'd. Yes, BSOD just because I declined the McAfee license.

After powering off and rebooting, it seems to restart OK without errors. Next step is to uninstall McAfee. Go into Add/Remove programs, select Uninstall. Message comes up - "Cannot uninstall because one or more parts of the program are in use".

OK, go into Task Manager, manually End Process on every McAfee-related process and service. Retry McAfee uninstall - same message.

Next step - call Dell. Get tech on the line, he knows the answer right away - "Oh, we get this problem all the time. You have to uninstall McAfee while in Safe Mode".

All right, [with Dell tech support still on the phone] restart machine in Safe Mode. Go to Add/Remove Programs, uninstall McAfee. Uninstall works OK, thank goodness. Thank Dell tech, remark on the crappiness of McAfee, he ruefully agrees.

So, in summary:

- McAfee BSODs your computer if you decline their license
- You can uninstall it only in Safe Mode

I've seen MANY pieces of spyware that cause fewer problems and are easier to get rid of than McAfee. It's been literally years since I've been so disgusted with the obvious lack of quality of a consumer product from a formerly well-regarded company.

So, if you've read this far, the answer to your particular problem is very simple - get rid of McAfee.