Antivirus Scam?McAfee asking to pay or else it say "You will lose control of your computer"

Technopeasant

I just got a new gaming laptop last week and downloaded a game from Steam. That is about all I have done with it. There is a McAfee antivirus program installed that requires activation (and Payment). I am being bombarded with messages about viruses on my computer that must be dealt with. I can get a discount of 83%, etc… However, it seems suspicious. Bad english grammer and a threatening tone such as "You will lose control of your computer" and " This is your last warning". The laptop is shut down for now until I can figure this out. ACER doesn't seem to have a way to ask this directly. Also, I ran a FIXMESTICK with no effect and Windows Defender can only be used if I subscribe to Office 360. At this rate my next computer will be Linux. Has anyone come across this scenario with a new computer and are my suspicions groundless?

[Edited the thread to add issue detail]

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/706549/antivirus-scam

No need for Linux or to Reset this PC. Uninstall all bloatware, trial versions, MS 365, McAfee (you need to download McAfee Removal Tool (MCPR) 10.5.212.0 for that, see link at the bottom), 3rd-party browsers and Acer programs/apps other than Predator/NitroSense, in Windows Add or remove programs, click on the ellipsis and uninstall, check in Windows Services if there are still apps/agents running pertaining to what you just uninstalled, stop then disable the startup type in Properties and check also Task Scheduler as the updaters for these programs will still be running/enabled, disable those tasks in the Library (Task Scheduler). Do not use bloatware like CCleaner, REVO, Intel DSA, IObit, etc. stay far away from FIXMESTICK and the like as they play havoc in the Windows registry, and you will end up with more misery than when you started. There are plenty of good deals on the web for Office legacy for life and the Office 2021 Home & Student for life is around $100. There will always be remnants left in Windows registry but if you follow my directions, just ignore that, it would be good at some stage to remove (unregister) these programs completely from Windows with Windows PowerShell (https://woshub.com/uninstall-apps-with-powershell-windows/) and I can help you with PowerShell Package Manager Module to get rid of all the programs that were not properly uninstalled by Windows uninstaller. https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/get/mcafee_consumer_product_removal_tool,1.html

Puraw

https://community.acer.com/en/discussion/706549/antivirus-scam

No need for Linux or to Reset this PC. Uninstall all bloatware, trial versions, MS 365, McAfee (you need to download McAfee Removal Tool (MCPR) 10.5.212.0 for that, see link at the bottom), 3rd-party browsers and Acer programs/apps other than Predator/NitroSense, in Windows Add or remove programs, click on the ellipsis and uninstall, check in Windows Services if there are still apps/agents running pertaining to what you just uninstalled, stop then disable the startup type in Properties and check also Task Scheduler as the updaters for these programs will still be running/enabled, disable those tasks in the Library (Task Scheduler). Do not use bloatware like CCleaner, REVO, Intel DSA, IObit, etc. stay far away from FIXMESTICK and the like as they play havoc in the Windows registry, and you will end up with more misery than when you started. There are plenty of good deals on the web for Office legacy for life and the Office 2021 Home & Student for life is around $100. There will always be remnants left in Windows registry but if you follow my directions, just ignore that, it would be good at some stage to remove (unregister) these programs completely from Windows with Windows PowerShell (https://woshub.com/uninstall-apps-with-powershell-windows/) and I can help you with PowerShell Package Manager Module to get rid of all the programs that were not properly uninstalled by Windows uninstaller. https://www.majorgeeks.com/mg/get/mcafee_consumer_product_removal_tool,1.html

Technopeasant

Thank you Puraw. My comment about Linux was more in reference about how these companies are nickle and diming us to death. One example is that Windows Defender was free software when you purchased a new computer. Now it is called Microsoft Defender and they want me to subscribe to Office 365 to access it. I don't want to. Also, more and more, you don't own programs. You lease them. If I had known about some of this stuff, I wouldn't have bought the game. (Which led to the purchase of a new computer)

I assumed that I needed to be online to download the game and to play with others online, But I never imagined that I would always have to log in on Steam to play it. It is like I am playing it on their site, so why is it taking up over 25 GB on my computer. I travel a fair bit and don't always have access to wi-fi. I was hoping to play the game on downtime while travelling and I can't. So this is me, miffed at large bloated corporations. Sorry for the rant :)

I was able to find several YouTube videos about this problem. It is a pop-up and there are several ways to scrub it

Thanks again for your help.

D.