McAfee Malware Cleaner: What is it?

McAfee Malware Cleaner (MMC) is a free tool that cleans malware, adware, viruses, and other threats from your Windows computer.

To use McAfee Malware Cleaner, you don’t need to be a McAfee customer, or have a product subscription.

How to use McAfee Malware Cleaner

If you think your PC is infected, watch this video or follow the steps below to download and run McAfee Malware Cleaner. If there are known threats on your PC, MMC removes them. 
 

 

To view and subscribe to more videos, visit the official McAfee YouTube channel.

1. Download McAfee Malware Cleaner. 
2. Go to the Downloads folder on your Windows PC.
3. Double-click the McAfee_Malware_Cleaner.exe file.
4. Select Yes when prompted Do you want to allow this app to make changes to your device?
   Review the actions that McAfee Malware Cleaner can take.
5. Accept the License Agreement and Privacy Notice, by selecting the checkbox:
   
   
   
    
6. Select Scan & Clean to start the scan, and wait for the scan to complete. 
   NOTE: The scan might take 15 to 30 minutes to finish, based on the size of your hard drive. To cancel the scan at any time, select Stop scanning.
    
7. When the scan completes, review the Summary screen. The Summary screen tells you what actions MMC performed. For example:
   • The number of infected files that were found and deleted.
   • The number of registry entries that were changed. 
   • The number of browsers that were reset. Currently, MMC can reset the Internet Explorer, Chrome, and Edge browsers. Read FAQs listed below to learn why MMC resets the browser settings to default.
      
8. Review the changes made by MMC, and select Restart to restart your PC and apply the changes. 
   NOTE: Before you restart your machine, save and close all your files and other works on your PC. 
    
9. Select Close when you see this message — You're about to be signed out. Now, your PC will restart. 
   NOTE:  After your computer restarts, McAfee Malware Cleaner opens automatically if it had found infected files or made any changes to your PC. ‌But if it didn't make any major changes, it won't open automatically when your computer restarts.
    

10. If MMC opens automatically and you see the screen as shown below, do one of these.

    • Select Undo changes if you're not happy with the changes made by MMC and want to revert these changes.
    • Select Done if you're happy with the changes. 

    
    
     

NOTES:

• MMC doesn’t perform automatic updates. So if you plan to run MMC regularly, always download a new copy before you run a scan. A new copy makes sure that MMC always detects the newest threats and malware.
• Your cookies, passwords, and site login info aren't removed by MMC.