VirusScan 8.0, Updates and Cookies

[n1xtv]

I have McAfee VirusScan 8.0 installed and have configured it to disable
automatic updates, choosing to manually check for them.

Still, every time I fire up the 'puter, at some point in the session using
it, I get a dialog box asking if I want to accept a cookie from MacAfee.

Of course, the whole "Security Center" gets installed along with VirusScan
and along with that, the annoying splash screen.

To top it off, Sygate Personal Firewall tells me Security Center wants to
phone home several times during each session.

Anyone else notice the cookies and the phoning home? Any way to stop the
phoning home?

I used Norton NAV 2003 on a previous machine and couldn't bear to install it
on my new one, and AVG 7.0 registered version missed all manner of stuff
(Trojans and worms, mostly). I settled on VirusScan because most of the test
results I've seen show it catching the most virii etc.

Michael

 

[null]

I have McAfee VirusScan 8.0 installed and have configured it to disable
automatic updates, choosing to manually check for them.

Still, every time I fire up the 'puter, at some point in the session using
it, I get a dialog box asking if I want to accept a cookie from MacAfee.

Of course, the whole "Security Center" gets installed along with VirusScan
and along with that, the annoying splash screen.

To top it off, Sygate Personal Firewall tells me Security Center wants to
phone home several times during each session.

Anyone else notice the cookies and the phoning home? Any way to stop the
phoning home?

I used Norton NAV 2003 on a previous machine and couldn't bear to install it
on my new one, and AVG 7.0 registered version missed all manner of stuff
(Trojans and worms, mostly). I settled on VirusScan because most of the test
results I've seen show it catching the most virii etc.

If what I've heard is true, you have an even more serious problem. Is
it true that you have to leave both scripting and activex enabled in
IE? If so, you need to dump McAfee 8 immediately.

It is unfortunate, since it is true that the McAfee scan engine is
quite good. I dunno what options you might have ... if you can use a
different version with the same license, etc.

If you're going to seek an alternative to McAfee, I suggest either KAV
or F-Secure.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Ionizer]

I have McAfee VirusScan 8.0 installed and have configured it to disable
automatic updates, choosing to manually check for them.

Still, every time I fire up the 'puter, at some point in the session using
it, I get a dialog box asking if I want to accept a cookie from MacAfee.

Of course, the whole "Security Center" gets installed along with VirusScan
and along with that, the annoying splash screen.

To top it off, Sygate Personal Firewall tells me Security Center wants to
phone home several times during each session.

Anyone else notice the cookies and the phoning home? Any way to stop the
phoning home?

I used Norton NAV 2003 on a previous machine and couldn't bear to install it
on my new one, and AVG 7.0 registered version missed all manner of stuff
(Trojans and worms, mostly). I settled on VirusScan because most of the test
results I've seen show it catching the most virii etc.

I have McAfee AV 8.0 installed and have set it to not run in the
background- I am using Norton AV 2003 for full-time protection until its
subscription expires later this summer. I have set McAfee to NOT check
for updates, and have set the Security Center to NOT display security
alerts- I just want McAfee to lie dormant until I want to use it. And yet
I see the same "phone home" activity you describe: mcinfo.exe and
mcupdate.exe making repeated outbound connection attempts when the
computer is running. It doesn't seem to matter if you deny or allow these
connection attempts- they just keep on coming. I finally just granted
them full permission through Zone Alarm as I accept the fact that the
McAfee programs are not malicious, but it still pisses me off that I
cannot make McAfee lie down and be quiet. And yesterday, after ignoring
McAfee AV for over a week, the Security Center popped up to ask me if I
wanted to check for updates, despite the fact that I have un-checked every
reference to update-checking in its options.

All that said, McAfee AV is the ideal antivirus for the great unwashed
masses out there- it keeps itself up to date or hassles you to do so no
matter what you tell it. It leaves no excuses for having out-of-date
virus signatures. If every newbie ran such an antivirus program, I'm sure
there would be far fewer viruses and worms bouncing around in cyberspace.

Regards,
Ian.

 

[null]

All that said, McAfee AV is the ideal antivirus for the great unwashed
masses out there- it keeps itself up to date or hassles you to do so no
matter what you tell it. It leaves no excuses for having out-of-date
virus signatures. If every newbie ran such an antivirus program, I'm sure
there would be far fewer viruses and worms bouncing around in cyberspace.

The unwashed masses would be far better off cleaning up their act.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[n1xtv]

Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

Agreed, but for those of us with a little (dangerous) knowledge and the
desire to do things differently, it seems odd that a company that develops
antivirus software would give us so little control over how it updates;
indeed, would offer then ignore the preference to update manually!

I did opt in for the class settlement to download free software, figuring
I'd try their firewall. But that--oops, sorry, McAfee just asked to set a
cookie!--that was a couple of weeks ago and I haven't received confirming
email yet. Maybe that's a blessing in disguise...

Michael

 

[Ionizer]

The unwashed masses would be far better off cleaning up their act.

I agree, but those unwashed types don't have a clue about the wherefore
and the why-bother. But that's okay, really. The rest of us, after
having acquired a bit of knowledge, can easily protect ourselves from the
fallout of thousands of new computer users coming online daily, with their
un-patched and unprotected systems becoming immediate conduits for spam
and viruses and the like.

Some of those new folks stumble into forums or newsgroups and try to
educate themselves, which is where the rest of us can offer assistance and
pay back the millions of newbies to whom we owe a great debt of gratitude.
And that gratitude is for the massive buying power of all these innocent
new people, a buying power which has driven down the prices of new
computers and associated equipment for all of us. The only reason that
you and I can buy a computer ten times more powerful than the one we payed
ten times as much for just a few years ago is because of all these new
people buying new computers.

God bless the unwashed masses.

Regards,
Ian.

 

[n1xtv]

<snip>
God bless the unwashed masses.

Regards,
Ian.

Well put.

Michael

 

[Nemo S.]

Anyone else notice the cookies and the phoning home? Any way to stop the
phoning home?

I think it's their licensing, they like to make sure your NOT pirating
the software, of course it leaves a big exploitable hole but what the
hell more important that you pay them than them protecting you, you
take all the risk and they reap all the benefits, read the licences
real careful and IF you should bash their product publicly you also
run the risk of them dis-ableing it remotely without your knowledge
that is If they can track you which they can after all it's their
software and not yours ...


~Nemo~

 

[n1xtv]

Well, I'm not bashing VirusScan so much as I am venting. I chose to install
it because--in many reviews--its scan engine is said to catch more bad stuff
than other AV products. And it does. And as I said, I went the Norton route
before on an old machine, and AVG just didn't catch everything.

I guess all I want is a way to get it to do what it says I can ask it to do;
i.e., manually update (and not phone home). I like the product's
effectiveness but just question why they give me the choice of manual
updates and then have the software phone home anyway. If it's to check that
it's a legally-acquired and licensed product, shouldn't they only have to
check once--when I register it online (which I did)?


<snip>

and IF you should bash their product publicly you also

 

[Darryl Okahata]

If you're going to seek an alternative to McAfee, I suggest either KAV
or F-Secure.

Are there any others besides these? I don't like NAV or MacAfee,
and f-prot seems to be hanging my laptop. I think I now have to dump
f-prot, as much as like it (I especially like their home licensing,
where I can install f-prot on multiple PCs without paying extra). I'll
look into KAV, but I can't tell how many copies I'll have to buy.

[ I've had this problem for months, where certain large data files would
cause f-prot to "hang" (processing them, I imagine). It's now gotten
to the point where f-prot now seems to be causing problems with
lsass.exe (it grows to 160MB+ in size -- yes, 160+ megabytes -- and my
laptop slows down and eventually hangs, unless I disable f-prot). My
guess is that there's some byte pattern in my (large) registry that's
greatly slowing down f-prot. I reported this (a hang processing large
data files, not some problem with the registry/lsass.exe) to the
f-prot folks some months back, and they said that they were able to
reproduce it, but I haven't heard a thing since. ]

--
Darryl Okahata
(e-mail address removed)

DISCLAIMER: this message is the author's personal opinion and does not
constitute the support, opinion, or policy of Agilent Technologies, or
of the little green men that have been following him all day.

 

[null]

If you're going to seek an alternative to McAfee, I suggest either KAV
or F-Secure.

Are there any others besides these? I don't like NAV or MacAfee,
and f-prot seems to be hanging my laptop. I think I now have to dump
f-prot, as much as like it (I especially like their home licensing,
where I can install f-prot on multiple PCs without paying extra). I'll
look into KAV, but I can't tell how many copies I'll have to buy.

[ I've had this problem for months, where certain large data files would
cause f-prot to "hang" (processing them, I imagine). It's now gotten
to the point where f-prot now seems to be causing problems with
lsass.exe (it grows to 160MB+ in size -- yes, 160+ megabytes -- and my
laptop slows down and eventually hangs, unless I disable f-prot). My
guess is that there's some byte pattern in my (large) registry that's
greatly slowing down f-prot. I reported this (a hang processing large
data files, not some problem with the registry/lsass.exe) to the
f-prot folks some months back, and they said that they were able to
reproduce it, but I haven't heard a thing since. ]

I wonder if you're confusing F-Prot with F-Secure? F-Secure no longer
uses the F-Prot scan engine. It uses KAV and a couple of others but
not F-Prot..

It's not clear to me why you would want additional recommendations. As
I've posted here again recently, my all time favorite is an older
version of KAV .... version 3.5 from:

http://www.avp.ch

It's a real no-nonsense scanner that should appeal to experienced
users looking for excellent detection and several (painless) updates
per day.


Art
http://www.epix.net/~artnpeg

 

[Gertrude]

(snip)> I guess all I want is a way to get it to do what it says I can ask it to do;
i.e., manually update (and not phone home). (snip)

This may be of help. I use a dial up connection and McAfee VirusScan
Online. I suddenly found the connect box popping up every 10 minutes
or so, unasked and unwanted.

After a great deal of messing about, I traced the problem to the Task
Scheduler(I use Windows 98). VirusScan Online had put an entry in
telling the machine to check for updates every 10 minutes. The entry
can be deleted, but re-appears on re-boot.

I just turn off Task Scheduler.

Gertrude

 

[n1xtv]

Well, who woulda thought of that?!

Oh, wait...YOU did!

I never even looked to see if there were a schedule McAfee task, but sure
enough...

Thanks, Gertrude!

Michael