I have a Lenovo laptop running Windows 11. It originally belonged to my wife, who has passed away. I don't know much about its history, beyond what I can infer from its current state. I think she had a paid subscription to Norton Antivirus, but I'm not sure. I have installed the free version of Bitdefender on it.
Whenever I start it, it displays a popup that says "Your McAfee has expired" or another one that says "Your Norton has expired." "McAfee" has buttons for Renew Protection, Protect, and Close. "Norton" has buttons for Enable Protection, Protect, and Close. Each popup is accompanied by a buh-leeep noise.
If I click either popup's Close button, it closes the popup but opens a browser window which warns me that my computer will be in mortal danger until I renew my subscription. A second or so later the other popup appears. Buh-leeep.
If I just ignore a pop-up, eventually it disappears spontaneously and the other one appears. Buh-leeep.
And sometimes I get a popup that says "McAfee Total Protection / Critical Virus Alert." It seems designed to make me think I have a dangerous virus without actually saying so.
I first assumed that these popups were legitimate and tried to uninstall McAfee and Norton. I found that neither one is listed in Windows's Add or Remove Programs applet. All of the advice I've found on the Web for removing these programs (or their popups) starts with Add or Remove Programs, so it doesn't do me any good.
Bitdefender has scanned my computer and assures me that it is virus-free.
So I can't figure out whether this stuff is coming from a virus that Bitdefender doesn't see, or from actual antivirus applications that are behaving like viruses. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? The constant stream of popups and buh-leeep noises are so distracting that the computer is essentially unusable.
Whenever I start it, it displays a popup that says "Your McAfee has expired" or another one that says "Your Norton has expired." "McAfee" has buttons for Renew Protection, Protect, and Close. "Norton" has buttons for Enable Protection, Protect, and Close. Each popup is accompanied by a buh-leeep noise.
If I click either popup's Close button, it closes the popup but opens a browser window which warns me that my computer will be in mortal danger until I renew my subscription. A second or so later the other popup appears. Buh-leeep.
If I just ignore a pop-up, eventually it disappears spontaneously and the other one appears. Buh-leeep.
And sometimes I get a popup that says "McAfee Total Protection / Critical Virus Alert." It seems designed to make me think I have a dangerous virus without actually saying so.
I first assumed that these popups were legitimate and tried to uninstall McAfee and Norton. I found that neither one is listed in Windows's Add or Remove Programs applet. All of the advice I've found on the Web for removing these programs (or their popups) starts with Add or Remove Programs, so it doesn't do me any good.
Bitdefender has scanned my computer and assures me that it is virus-free.
So I can't figure out whether this stuff is coming from a virus that Bitdefender doesn't see, or from actual antivirus applications that are behaving like viruses. Any suggestions on how to get rid of it? The constant stream of popups and buh-leeep noises are so distracting that the computer is essentially unusable.
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