mcafee anti-virus runs activex/scripting

[s0mbs(nope)]

Hello, I recently purchased McAfee's Internet security suite 2004 ver
6.0. My main complaint is that when I run the update service and/or go
to configure anything it runs the program using the web browser and
activex controls with scritping. Now generally I disable all of these
things, so now everytime I want to use this program in this way I have
to allow activex and scripting etc. After I'm finished I then go back
and disable them. This is not that big of a deal except that when the PC
starts up I normally get a "can't run this program because your PC
settings are do not allow..." message because I have disabled activex
and scripting at some point before shutting down.

I have added mcafee to my trusted sites zone in Windows Internet Options
and this helps when using the program when it requires communication
with the McAfee domain but I don't know what else I can do so that I
don't have enable these things just for this program to run locally.

Ideally, I would like Windows to recognize this program as safe and to
run it locally and also be able use the McAfee domain when needed
without the need to enable/disable activex and scripting every time.

Any experience with this? Any suggestions?

Any help is appreciated.

s

 

[John Coutts]

Hello, I recently purchased McAfee's Internet security suite 2004 ver
6.0. My main complaint is that when I run the update service and/or go
to configure anything it runs the program using the web browser and
activex controls with scritping. Now generally I disable all of these
things, so now everytime I want to use this program in this way I have
to allow activex and scripting etc. After I'm finished I then go back
and disable them. This is not that big of a deal except that when the PC
starts up I normally get a "can't run this program because your PC
settings are do not allow..." message because I have disabled activex
and scripting at some point before shutting down.

I have added mcafee to my trusted sites zone in Windows Internet Options
and this helps when using the program when it requires communication
with the McAfee domain but I don't know what else I can do so that I
don't have enable these things just for this program to run locally.

Ideally, I would like Windows to recognize this program as safe and to
run it locally and also be able use the McAfee domain when needed
without the need to enable/disable activex and scripting every time.

Any experience with this? Any suggestions?

Any help is appreciated.

s

*********************** REPLY SEPARATER ***************************
Once an ActiveX program has been installed, you generally only needs Active
Scripting to utilize it. If the component is already up-to-date, it will simply
use it. This where I am in disagreement with CERT recommendations. ActiveX is
not the risky component, it is Active Scripting. I only change Active Scripting
to Prompt. That way, I can control what programs are loaded onto my computer
(including pop-ups), but I can still run what I know are trusted components.

The difficulty is that many (probably most) people can't or won't differentiate
between trusted and non-trusted sites. Microsoft tries to do that for you with
their many Security Settings and their continuous stream of patches, but there
are so many potential holes that it just becomes a bottomless pit. On one ISP
site recently, Mozilla could not install a Wizard (Mozilla does not support
ActiveX). As much as I disagree with these type of installations, there seemed
to be no way around it. So I fired up Internet Explorer, let it install, got
the information I needed, and then used HiJackThis to disable the ActiveX
component. You really don't know what is potentially Spyware and what is not.
ActiveX components may be convenient for online suppliers, but it leaves the
consumer completely vulnerable.

J.A. Coutts