McAfee problems

[Krystal n chips]

I have a query regarding McAfee Virus protection. Ever since McAfee started using an automatic delivery system for anti-virus upgrades, I have experienced problems when trying to send even relatively small files eg anything above 100kb. I consistently get a "Pop 3 Server not responded" etc message plus the blue rate of sending bar---sorry, not sure of the technical term! now simply shoots the whole length of the bar and then stagnates. I am advised from a computer person, that McAfee have, in effect, "hijacked" my ISP. I can still send small files with no problem, but it is annoying when the problem seems to have been induced by McAfee's service upgrade efforts.
Has anybody else encountered the problem and does anybody have a solution please? ( yes, I have thought of the obvious re changing the anti-virus provider :8 ! but am advised this may generate even more headaches )

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Krystal n chips,

First lets verify that McAfee is in fact the guilty party. Reboot your computer and disable McAfee. Then try to send an email with a large attachement.

Let us know what happens.

Take Care,

Richard

[Mac the Knife]

If you look at the McAfee Forums http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/ there seems to have been many problems with updates over the last year - updates that nadger something else and have to fixed with patches or reissued updates.

I just got fed up with the constant fiddling and reinstalling and trawling the forums for answers. Sadly (for I've been aa McAfee fan for many years) I ditched it and went over to Norton - smooth and inobtrusive, no problems.

Gotta say that Computer Associates (McAfee) is starting to look like a company who don't have their eye on the ball. Their code base works well enough on Win9x but IMHO is long overdue for a rewrite - I think they've tried to hang too much on an old kernel. VScan 8 has a much simpler interface than VScan 7 (and is less customisable, to many customer's irritation) but, it seems, no more stable...

But Richard is right, disable it and see - OTOH, like all virus scanners it leaves bits and pieces of itself allover and the only true test would be an uninstall... Anyone for hours online downloading the updates (we don't all have broadband) ??

[Krystal n chips]

Richard / Mac the knife,

Thank you both for the courtesy of your replies. So, went down the reboot / disable route ( again I might add ) and no change. As Mac states, we don't all have broadband and to judge from the link, McAfee have been having " more than a few problems" of late.
By coincidence, I opened my emails this morning and 4 out of 15 came through. Then came a message ( promotional ) from McAfee---which effectively blocked the rest of the mail !. So, to prove the theory, I went to webmail, removed the message---and Bingo! --mails flowing perfectly. Short ans. seems to be change anti-virus provider, but you would think that maybe, just maybe, somebody at McAfee would have begun to realise that " we have a problem".
Seasons Greetings and a Prosperous New Year to both of you :ok:

[Groundgripper]

I've got VirusScan8 and have been having a similar problem for the last couple of days. It started when I noticed that an automatic download was taking place and then it seemed to get stuck while applying the down load to the program, on- or off-line.
Now whenever I open up the McAfee Security Centre I get a VB message saying:

McAfee Security Centre cannot perform the requested operation successfully.
msg:object doesn't support this property or method:
'm_objSubMgr.GetLegacySubMgr'
url:mcp://c:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\SCUI.DLL\McDash.htm?Appld=line no:1124

When I try to close the Security Centre window, another message appears:

McAfee Security Centre cannot perform the requested operation successfully.
msg: Object required.
url:mcp://c:\PROGRA~1\MCAFEE.COM\AGENT\SCUI.DLL::McDash.htm?Appld=Line no 1132

AAAHHH...........the smilies should not be there, just a colon followed by a backslash!

Doesn't mean a thing to me!

When I cancel both messages it seems to work OK - VirusScan itself seems to be up and running (or so it claims).

Confused?.................moi?......................yup!

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Krystal n chips,

Personally I do not use Antivirus programs on my computers. After a while, you can tell which programs are viruses just by looking at them.

I use an old email program (Not OL or OLE) which no one writes viruses for anymore. If I download any file that I am suspect of, I do a quick scan with:

Trend Micro's HouseCall (http://housecall.trendmicro.com)

If any attachements capable of carrying viruses comes in an email, I always run HouseCall on it.

One thing I do have is a good hardware firewall, and I religiously update all security patches from Microsoft. I have yet to infect my computer with a virus.

Take Care,

Richard

[Mac the Knife]

Hate to disagree with you Richard but I think for most less experienced users an up-to-date AV program is pretty mandatory. My ISP has started to scan all email and since then I've had nothing but previously quite a few. Yes, most power users can smell a virus a mile off but the average punter can't.

I'm sure HouseCall is excellent, but for those of us on dial-up it is just too cumbersome. My students are always giving me infected material on stiffy or CD prepped on the University's virus-riddled systems and the idea of dialing up to scan it everytime is too tedious (and expensive). When I've finished transitioning my main system to Suse 9.0 then there'll be little need, but 'me other 'alf and the kid will still be running Micro$haft and will certainly need something.

Quite agree about the firewall - my Freesco box is now looking after the home net very nicely and (for some reason) browsing seems faster. I'm busy refining the firewall algorithms to tighten things up and bit more and just generally tinkering with hosts and deny....

BTW many thanks for your helpful input this year (and "patriotic" support off PPRuNe with your ads!) - the machine you advised me to get runs like a dream with zero downtime ok:

Happy Christmas and a safe and prosperous New Year to all!

Mac:

[Naples Air Center, Inc.]

Mac the Knife,

I would not recommend my setup for everyone. I agree with you 100%. That is the fun of computers. There are an unlimited combination of setups to satisfy the diversity of people that use them.

It was a pleasure helping with the specs for your new comp. Do enjoy.

Have a very Merry Christmas,

Richard