Help · Mac apps

How to uninstall McAfee on a Mac.

By Grant and Brad, who make Pangalin's apps · Updated 10 October 2026

McAfee puts its own uninstaller in your Applications folder. Use it rather than dragging McAfee to the Trash: it also removes McAfee's system extension, which macOS asks you to approve.

Uninstall McAfee

1. Sign in to your Mac with an administrator account and quit all McAfee apps.
2. In Finder, choose Go › Applications and find the McAfee uninstaller. Its name depends on your product, for example McAfee Total Protection Uninstaller or McAfee LiveSafe - Internet Security Uninstaller. If you can't see it, press ⌘Space and search for McAfee.
3. Open the uninstaller and choose Continue.
4. Enter your Mac password and choose OK. If it asks to access data from other apps, choose Allow.
5. If McAfeeSystemExtensions asks to modify a system extension, enter your password and choose OK.
6. When it says McAfee was removed, choose Finish and restart your Mac.

If a McAfee icon with a question mark stays in the Dock, Control-click it and choose Options › Remove from Dock. If the uninstall fails, restart and run the uninstaller again.

Uninstalling doesn't cancel a McAfee subscription; manage that in your McAfee account.

Afterwards

• Check System Settings › General › Login Items & Extensions for anything still named McAfee; see login items. An app that's still in your Trash can stay listed there until you empty the Trash or restart; that's normal macOS behaviour.
• Empty the Trash when you're sure. Emptying the Trash is permanent.

Removing another antivirus app? See Avast and Norton, Bitdefender and Malwarebytes.

Based on McAfee's own support article, checked October 2026. Menu names can change between versions.