(no subject)

[chronovore]

Let me also add that McAfee Virus Scan is very annoying. The friend had installed it on her new laptop and the machine immediately slowed down -- not perceptiply -- dramatically. The machine took twice as long to boot, and even after booting to the desktop, it would continue chugging until it came up with a dialog box that required her to log in to McAfee, even though it wasn't connected to the internet. After I uninstalled the various components of it via the Control Panel and rebooted, some lingering piece of it popped up in the Task Tray and said, "Hey, you might be at risk. There are pieces of me that are missing." As-in, YEAH, ALL OF YOU. WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU STILL DOING HERE?

So apparently, after googling about this problem, McAfee suggests that you call their tech support line if you are considering uninstalling their software, so they can walk you through it. What. The. Fuck?

Comments

[andrewv.livejournal.com]

twice as long? so it's like a speedy Norton Anti-Virus, then. :)

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

The older laptop had Norton on it; if I had any confidence that they'd actually, USE the old laptop in the future, I'd have done a nuke-and-pave reinstall on it, and forego the Norton in favor of Avast or even AVG as suggested below.

Norton is also teh suX0r, yes.

[professormass.livejournal.com]

Try AVG from Grisoft. AVG good.

[jameskitty.livejournal.com]

http://clamwin.org/

clam av opensource and free.

[evil-genius.livejournal.com]

please explain how open source antivirus isn't a horrible idea?

[jameskitty.livejournal.com]

um... by your logic an open source server (like, say linux) would be inherently less secure than a closed source server (like say windows iis).

open source projects have an unlimited number of people reviewing (and testing) the code, thus it's near impossible for mal-intents to hide backdoors. not to mention serious threats can be addressed quicker (because the contributors are also the clients).

closed source av projects have every interest in spreading fud, and no vested interest in addressing threats before they reach critical status.

[evil-genius.livejournal.com]

I don't recall explaining my logic. I merely requested an explanation.

[jameskitty.livejournal.com]

and - despite you semantic objections - you got one. :D

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Like jameskitty, my assumption is that the stuff would have to be vetted against the people participating in the project. To me, the downside would be the same downside that appears to plague OSS development: work is performed on what looks to be the most interesting or fun, and not always what would be the most helpful to users. That's just my ignorant outsider's view, though.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

I am actually using Avast! and pretty pleased with it overall. It appears to have caught everything slung at me except some Java malware that, in itself, was still harmless in the way that leaving a gun around the house is harmless. I buh-leted that, and am sailing fine.

I figured it was good enough for the friend, so that's what I gave her. I may take a peek at clamwin, though.

Thanks!

[evil-genius.livejournal.com]

Seconded.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

Thanks. I will probably try AVG next time I am needing a full reinstall of my Windows system. Right now I am quite pleased with Avast, except for the Java virus incursions I mentioned to you in mail a couple weeks ago, and as you said, those would need permission from me to do anything.

Do you know, offhand, if AVG would have prevented those?

Is it fast?

[josienutter.livejournal.com]

Make sure you don't have any McAffee stuff in your registry startup/run areas... this might help:

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=431691

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

On her new machine yesterday, I think what I ran into was Funnyguy912-ga's situation from that thread of responses. I opened up the XP Security Center control panel and told it that I would do something by myself, and it shut the hell up after that.

I installed Avast antivirus after that, and the whole machine was behaving itself again when I dropped it off at her place.

Thanks!

[josienutter.livejournal.com]

Sweet! I had to jump through a similar series of hoops to get it off my Dell Inspiron, too. Bastiches.

[chronovore.livejournal.com]

McAfee are, in fact, "farging iceholes."

[(Anonymous)]

Heheh. ;)