d0fdef48c2338f24 The new dxdiag doesn't list any new Windows errors. And McAfee, like any antivirus, can leave behind unwanted effects, for example changing permissions on folders. But it can't have new effects if it's not running, and you should be able to see any running program or process in the Task Manager. So it shouldn't be affecting things now.
What I would suggest here is uninstalling again and manually searching the entire registry for any entries with Sims in their names. Don't delete anything that belongs to another Sims game you have installed, just Sims 3, and of course don't do this with the game still installed. Revo is normally reliable in this regard, but I do remember another recent example of it not finding some leftover registry entries that the player then needed to remove another way.
To access the registry, click Windows key-R and enter regedit in the run box. Before doing anything else, click File > Export, and export a copy of the entire registry just in case you delete something critical and need to restore it. Save the file to your desktop or somewhere else easily accessible. And please keep in mind that this is a snapshot of the registry, and thus its usefulness will expire once you install something new that creates its own entries.
When you have your backup, you can search for Sims and see what you get. Everything Sims 3-related should be under WOW6432Node, as the game is a 32-bit app. If you're not sure what you're looking at, feel free to list any questionable entries. It would be best not to post screenshots of all the values on the right though, as some of these are specific to your computer. The names are fine, just not the values.
When you're done, that is if you're not asking me about any particular entries you find, I would suggest running a repair install of Windows just to be thorough. Here's how (option two):
https://www.elevenforum.com/t/repair-install-windows-11-with-an-in-place-upgrade.418/
The process is relatively quick and shouldn't delete any of your data, but if you get to step 14 and are NOT asked to keep personal files and apps, back out and start over.
I did a manual uninstall and searched regedit for files and found a few left that I removed. Then I did the repair install of windows and installed the game again - same error message. I installed it on my local user.
However, when I tried to launch the game I got an error message from Windows Defender that I never got before, it says that it had blocked the app - "your administrator has blocked this action" and that it's the controlled folder access that blocked it even though I have added TS3.exe as an allowed app. I hope I translated the message, english is not my native language.
Any ideas? Or should I just re-install the whole computer? I don't have alot on it so it wouldn't be that hard for me to do if there's no other solutions, feels like we've tried everything at this point...
Just adding that I have allowed the nessecary .exe-files for the Sims as exeptions since before, and I also tried turning off controlled folder access but it didn't work.
