McAffee anti-virus, is it causing problems for you?

[abra]

I installed McAffee on New Years Day, and about the same time I noticed that this site slowed way down for me. I didn't connect it right away, but finally decided that was what was causing the problem. I figure I'll have to live with it. Then I started getting Trojans, that it said came from this site, and today, It just about stops, a few times, and then tells me there is unsafe content on this page. I suppose it doesn't want one of the ads.

I just wonder if anyone else has these problems. Misery loves company.

[Lily H]

Hi Abra, I don't use McAfee, but I have had some problems lately with this site. I was playing a couple weeks ago, and I kept getting messages that Internet Explorer had modified the page to prevent cross-site scripting. I sent the administrator a message, but I never got a response from him. I use a several different anti-malware/anti-virus programs to run scans, and I have had to remove several trojans/viruses the past few weeks that I picked up from this site. It wouldn't be the first time that this site has been hacked. I have several anti-virus programs on my computer, but only one of them is running in real time. I only turn on the others one at a time to run scans. Everything that I've read said that you should only have one of them on as they may conflict with each other and give you a lot of false positives. Also this could be slowing down your computer. I don't know if this helps, but I've done a lot of research on the subject. Perhaps some of the more computer savvy members have better suggestions.

[abra]

Thanks, Lily. I was using CA virust protection, and it never found these things. I'm glad it's finding them, but it's really slowing things down.

[gryhnd51]

no problems here

I only use Microsoft Security Essentials, which is a free download, and have had absolutely no problems. I quit using McAfee a long time ago because I always had problems with it, and after paying for it I was amazed to learn that if you need their technical help you still had to give your credit card info FIRST!
Hope this info might be useful.

[abra]

Thank you, I'll probably keep this for now, but I'll remember that for next year.

[pootie49]

Hi Abra

I have found Mcafee to be one of the worst av programs out there.
Its invasive and is known for generating false positives when you download.
It is a resource hog on your computer, if you go to your desktop
put your mouse on the bottom task bar and right click you will see a task manager in
the menu that pops up click on it and then click on the processes tab
check the processes tab and see how big the mcaffee.exe file is. You will see also
if you check performance, it is assaulting all your computer resources including memory,
and a big hit on the processor.
I too use Microsoft Essentials. Alone. I run an anti spyware program twice a week
with another program.
M E is free and is moving up the ladder into one of the best AV programs out there that are free.
Mcafee will definitely slow your computer down.
Its not hard to download MS Essentials just make sure you do a complete uninstall of mcafee.
Using a free program like Revo or Your Uninstaller is an excellent way to get rid
of all the little hidden things that a normal remove program isnt able to.
I hope that helps.

[afulton]

McAfee blocking

Hi there,
I have been using McAfee for years, and today, for the first time while at this site, I got a message saying it had blocked a site. I have several tabs open, so I can't be sure which page it was blocking, but it was very interesting indeed to see a post here asking if McAfee is causing problems. Perhaps indeed one of the ads contains a malicious link. My subscription has expired, so some of the features are not available to me, but I may choose another AV program when the rest of my subscriptions expire next month.

Thanks for all the info, everyone.
Ann

[gryhnd51]

Abra,

I too had just paid for a years worth of McAfee "protection" when I decided that it just wasn't meeting my expectations. I printed out the emails confirming my purchase before removing it......just in case I realized that I NEEDED/WANTED it back. These should contain some contact info, just in case you have an issue re-downloading it.

I figured that, since Microsoft Essentials was free, I had really only paid for a new "learning experience". Since then, I haven't looked back, and have been well-pleased with ME.

If I'm not mistaken, ME also offers FREE office downloads.

Pootie, I'm curious as to which other anti-viral program you run?

[abra]

This is all really good information, thanks so much, everyone.

[pootie49]

Yw Abra

Gryhnd I use Super AntiSpyware again a free program.

I only run that as a scan twice a week. I ve been reading up alot on AV programs and
have found two very different schools. Those that say having one or more programs running
is simply better protection. And those that say that they can cause more problems and
have contraindicative results. I noticed with AVG and any other supplemental AV or anti spyware
that my computer was really slowing down and there were problems.

Microsoft Essentials, I find, is good it doesnt eat up resources, runs quietly in the background
and doesnt invade your entire computer like AVG did. Trying to uninstall AVG is one of the
most difficult things to do.

AntiSpyware finds alot of malware that some of the paid AV programs miss. There is a
paid version of AS as well. And it works well with MS. The free version
doesnt offer real time protection so in effect I only have MSE running all the time.

Take care.

[imported_Lurker]

The most expensive anti-virus program is to get a Mac, but you don't even need to run scans. No one bothers to make malware that can affect a Mac.

However, getting compatible software is a b**ch.

[gryhnd51]

Lurker, that was a brilliant reply, and all too true! Do you think that will change....the amount of viral stuff aimed at Apple products..... with the widespread use of the Ipad and Iphone??

[abra]

I'm filing all this information away. I'm a frugal-CHEAP person, since I have this AV I feel stuck with it for this year. My scores are never going to be so high that it makes that much difference in the long run. It seems to have added on about 5 seconds over all.