McAfee Unwanted Programs Database

McAfee VirusScan crawls through the files on your computer and compares them against a database of "Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPS)" to find potentially harmful programs on your computer. This database is categorized depending on the type of unwanted program (spyware, adware, remote admin tools, dialers, password crackers, jokes, key loggers, and other). Not all of these programs are truly unwanted. Nonetheless, McAfee will delete them from your system. Fortunately, McAfee allows users to ignore programs in their "Potentially Unwanted Programs" database.

Options for Disabling a "Potentially Unwanted Program" Detection

McAfee recognizes that for an administrator, they very well could be detecting a legitimate program that you've knowingly installed, so you have several options for disabling this detection.

1. You can disable each VirusScan crawl from examining a particular folder.
2. You can disable the detection of all unwanted programs during each VirusScan crawl.
3. You can exclude the detection from the list of unwanted programs.
4. You can disable the entire category of unwanted programs, so that all detections in that category are ignored. e.g. "Remote Administrator Tools"

Obviously, each option does leave you vulnerable to someone deciding to install some admin tool onto your machine, but the relative risk is different depending on how you decide to fix the issue. (1) probably makes you least vulnerable because it only applies to a folder and it's sub-folders, while (4) provides blanket permission to use programs anywhere, but you're probably not using all of the tools in a particular category, so you're leaving yourself open to a potential attack. For example, you're probably not using all of the tools in "Remote Administrator Tools" even though VNC Viewer is within this category.

Directions for Disabling Certain Options

Excluding a Detection from the List of Unwanted Programs

1. Follow the path, Start > All Programs > McAfee > VirusScan Console
2. Double-click on 'Unwanted Programs Policy'
3. Select the 'Detection' tab
4. Click on 'Exclusions...'
5. Click on 'Add...'
6. Type in the exact name for the specific unwanted program that you want excluded, or click on 'Browse...' and search for the file
7. Click OK

Common Programs Misidentified as "Unwanted"

RealVNC Viewer

The RealVNC Viewer is identified as a "potentially unwanted program."

Detection: RemAdm-VNCView
Category: Remote Administrator Tools
More Information: [1]

Seagate FreeAgent Drive Backup

The software that came with the device allows a user to setup automatic backups. During these backups, the software creates a .TMP file that's identified as the FPort tool, which is identified as a "potentially unwanted program".

Detection: FPort
Category: Other Potentially Unwanted Programs
More Information: [2]