28 replies to this topic

[glossywhite]

I do not know why Modaco insist on forcing this software upon custom ROM users, STILL. I complained of this last year - it fell on deaf ears, although I could read between the lines. As it turns out, Paul has something to do with the promotion or development of WaveSecure, so it is in his interest to push it at us as much as possible (no offence Paul).

To have this included by default, unless you pay for premium membership, is plain wrong, and flies in the face of everything the FSF and open source were founded to achieve. Android is touted as being Open Source, and almost forcing this app upon users is not a nice thing to do, especially when there is no simple (read: non-geeky, for the average user) way to remove it.

If the software, as Harrid alleges, DOES send texts to a number without permission (unconfirmed), then this is as bad as they spying mechanisms which Microsoft use in XP, to send Microsoft lists of what music you are listening to, and what programs you have installed (yes, they do - I suggest you watch some Richard Stallman lectures - he is the founder of the FSF - "The Free Software Foundation", without whom Android likely wouldn't even exist).

If you value your freedom, you should reject software that has no way of being removed, and if you decide you want to use it, you should ask for someone with appropriate knowledge to look at the WaveSecure source code, and ensure it does not spy on the users by sending texts. This kind of practice is immoral, and should be stopped.

Please note:

This post is not meant to start a flame war, but is intended to (hopefully) allow even free Modaco members to have the choice as to whether or not software is present in THEIR hardware.

Thank you

Edited by glossywhite, 28 March 2011 - 08:23 PM.

[soofire]

Harrid, on Feb 19 2011, 19:14, said:

Wavesecure is sending txt messages to 006592324290 which is costiung me each time as it is not covered in my O2 plan, I cannot seem to turn this off so wish to uninstall it.

give this a try...

The error below is displayed when you attempt to uninstall McAfee WaveSecure on an Android device:

Uninstallation not successful

Solution
Remove McAfee WaveSecure from the Device Administrator list, then uninstall it.

Step 1 - Remove WaveSecure from the list of Device Administrators
Go to the phone Settings.
Tap Location & Security.
Tap Select Device Administrators.
Remove the checkmark beside McAfee WaveSecure.

Step 2 - Uninstall WaveSecure

Go to the Settings menu on the phone.
Tap Applications Settings.
Tap Installed Applications.
Select McAfee WaveSecure.
Tap Options, then select Uninstall or Remove.
NOTE: If you have not defined a PIN for your phone when you configure WaveSecure as a device administrator, a PIN lock will be set automatically. Tthis is a system lock other than your WaveSecure lock. This PIN will be set to the default 123456.



Cause
McAfee WaveSecure is configured as a Device Administrator.

With the Android 2.2 (Froyo) update, Android allows you to select an application as a Device Administrator to prevent accidental uninstallation of important software.


Related Information
Remote locking in Android 1.5 to 2.1:
If you use the pattern lock, the WaveSecure lock will precede the pattern lock unless you press the home key. When you switch the phone off and on, the WaveSecure lock will once again be displayed.

[compact101]

I'd like to remove this app, as I don't want to buy it.

However in Settings, Manage Apps, I select Force Stop, that greys out. The Uninstall is greyed out.

I have looked for the "checkmark beside McAfee WaveSecure." and this was unchecked.

How can I remove it?
How can I stop it auto starting?

Thanks

[andybro]

compact101, on Apr 4 2011, 13:18, said:

I'd like to remove this app, as I don't want to buy it.

However in Settings, Manage Apps, I select Force Stop, that greys out. The Uninstall is greyed out.

I have looked for the "checkmark beside McAfee WaveSecure." and this was unchecked.

How can I remove it?
How can I stop it auto starting?

Thanks

I have found the same situation.  The option to uninstall is greyed out even though wavesecure is not ticked as a device manager.  Can't seem to find a solution to getting rid of this.

[wessexmario]

<moan on>
Ok, I can understand the statement that security software should be 'secure', but the point is, if a thief ends up with a rooted phone with clockwork on it, then it's no hassle for them to install another OS, and they don't care, or would even prefer to have, a freshly installed phone.
BUT, it's a real hassle for genuine owners who have spent time configuring their mobile, to find that the only way to remove commercial prompt-ware is to re-install their device, and so undo all the work they've done to get the phone set up just as they like.
As a previous poster has said, heavily pushing commercial software in a opensource product goes right against the grain.
I don't know about the Android licencing, I haven't read it and I'm no lawyer anyway, but this definately goes against the spirit of open source software.
</moan off>

Ok, now that's off my chest...
The error I had when trying to remove the McAfee WaveSecure apk is that it cannot be deleted as the filesystem it is in is mounted read-only.

So, we need to mount /system as read-write.
Using terminal emulator, enter the following commands

First check that the app to be deleted is in the expected directory:
ls /system/app/com.wsandroid.apk

Enter the following command to check how the filesystem is mounted.
mount

'mount' will produce a list of all mounted filesystems.
Check for the line containing /system, this will confirm the current mount point /dev/block/mtdblk5
If yours is different, use your mount point.

Now you can mount the filesystem read-write, delete the app, and remount it as read-only again.

su
mount  -o  remount,rw  -t  yaffs2  /dev/block/mtdblk5  /system
rm  /system/app/com.wsandroid.apk
mount  -o  remount,ro  -t  yaffs2  /dev/block/mtdblk5  /system
exit

It's not required, but would be a good idea to now immediately shutdown the phone and reboot it to confirm everything worked and doing so, the OS should automatically mount all it's filesystems correctly, so preventing any problems if the above commands were incorrectly entered.
More importantly, it will confirm that the app is no longer there to annoy you.

.

[Qwertymon]

glossywhite, on Mar 28 2011, 21:18, said:

I do not know why Modaco insist on forcing this software upon custom ROM users, STILL. I complained of this last year - it fell on deaf ears, although I could read between the lines. As it turns out, Paul has something to do with the promotion or development of WaveSecure, so it is in his interest to push it at us as much as possible (no offence Paul).

To have this included by default, unless you pay for premium membership, is plain wrong, and flies in the face of everything the FSF and open source were founded to achieve. Android is touted as being Open Source, and almost forcing this app upon users is not a nice thing to do, especially when there is no simple (read: non-geeky, for the average user) way to remove it.

If the software, as Harrid alleges, DOES send texts to a number without permission (unconfirmed), then this is as bad as they spying mechanisms which Microsoft use in XP, to send Microsoft lists of what music you are listening to, and what programs you have installed (yes, they do - I suggest you watch some Richard Stallman lectures - he is the founder of the FSF - "The Free Software Foundation", without whom Android likely wouldn't even exist).

If you value your freedom, you should reject software that has no way of being removed, and if you decide you want to use it, you should ask for someone with appropriate knowledge to look at the WaveSecure source code, and ensure it does not spy on the users by sending texts. This kind of practice is immoral, and should be stopped.

Please note:

This post is not meant to start a flame war, but is intended to (hopefully) allow even free Modaco members to have the choice as to whether or not software is present in THEIR hardware.

Thank you

then dont use the rom, simple as that, or dont be a scrooge and donate and bake your own rom :shrug: either way you get to not use wave secure, open source does not mean everything is free, you just have to look at x86 linux distros to understand that.

[Patrice.TANO]

excalibar1984, on Feb 1 2010, 13:23, said:

I can't find this program in anywhere,but i want to Uninstall it.

      How to Uninstall?

Here is the solution From McAfee WaveSecure Site

http://service.mcafe...amp;id=TS101124

[oliwek]

glossywhite, on Mar 28 2011, 22:18, said:

I do not know why Modaco insist on forcing this software upon custom ROM users, STILL. I complained of this last year - it fell on deaf ears, although I could read between the lines. As it turns out, Paul has something to do with the promotion or development of WaveSecure, so it is in his interest to push it at us as much as possible (no offence Paul).

To have this included by default, unless you pay for premium membership, is plain wrong, and flies in the face of everything the FSF and open source were founded to achieve. Android is touted as being Open Source, and almost forcing this app upon users is not a nice thing to do, especially when there is no simple (read: non-geeky, for the average user) way to remove it.

If the software, as Harrid alleges, DOES send texts to a number without permission (unconfirmed), then this is as bad as they spying mechanisms which Microsoft use in XP, to send Microsoft lists of what music you are listening to, and what programs you have installed (yes, they do - I suggest you watch some Richard Stallman lectures - he is the founder of the FSF - "The Free Software Foundation", without whom Android likely wouldn't even exist).

If you value your freedom, you should reject software that has no way of being removed, and if you decide you want to use it, you should ask for someone with appropriate knowledge to look at the WaveSecure source code, and ensure it does not spy on the users by sending texts. This kind of practice is immoral, and should be stopped.

Please note:

This post is not meant to start a flame war, but is intended to (hopefully) allow even free Modaco members to have the choice as to whether or not software is present in THEIR hardware.

Thank you

I agree this is a sad choice...
There are better and cheaper alternatives, with more options, to localize/lock/wipe an android phone on the market.
So all this situation is akin to push bloatware on a custom ROM, ie something people adopt often to get rid of other bloatware the carriers push on their devices.

For info, on my HTC Hero with Paul's r5 ROM, what you have to do to uninstall Wavesecure is using android sdk and adb : connect your phone in HTC sync mode,

then in the command line interface (cmd), CD to android-sdk/platform-tools directory, then :

adb remount
adb shell rm /system/app/com.wsandroid.apk

by the way, as it is still a 2.1 ROM, the tips about removing "WaveSecure from the list of Device Administrators" has no use (it's for android 2.2+)

edit : I had not installed the "uninstall protection" for Wavesure from the Market, so you'll have to solve this if it is installed on your device

Edited by oliwek, 24 May 2011 - 03:22 PM.

[Mrian]

yep. I concour end users should be able to remove software easily. Its not simply a security issue either. before I had even installed the software it was impossible to remove through regular means. So its not as if I had installed the software and it was being 'protected' from removal. it's stuck on the system before installation with nag ware installed too. ie does one wish to install on every start up of the OS. puts a blight on an otherwise nifty is mod. sure paul can make money from the time spent on his mods. but at least allow the end user to have the option to uninstall software. /rant over.

root uninstaller is free (for 3 uninstalls) and will remove this software.