Author Topic: Warning for McAfee users (Read 787 times)

StarOfAfrica2 · « **on:** August 04, 2006, 12:51:39 AM »

Quote

"This vulnerability can be used to compromise systems running these McAfee consumer products and allow attackers to run code with the ability to modify/delete files [or] backdoor systems," Maiffret said in an e-mail exchange with eWEEK.

............................. ...........

Maiffret said his company's researchers were able to successfully compromise the following products: McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006, McAfee Wireless Home Network Security, McAfee Personal Firewall Plus, McAfee VirusScan, McAfee Privacy Service, McAfee SpamKiller and McAfee AntiSpyware.

Link.....

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1997344,00.asp?kc=EWEWEMNL073106EPW4

Mickey1992 · « **Reply #1 on:** August 04, 2006, 07:27:32 AM »

I am about ready to dump McAfee.

I tried to upgrade to their new engine, but it failed because AdAware "conflicted" with the upgrade. Yeah, right.

Then, without warning, McAfee turned on Windows automatic updates, eventhough I had disabled it.

AWMac · « **Reply #2 on:** August 04, 2006, 07:33:51 AM »

Same here.....

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #3 on:** August 04, 2006, 07:36:39 AM »

Quote

Originally posted by Mickey1992
I am about ready to dump McAfee.

I tried to upgrade to their new engine, but it failed because AdAware "conflicted" with the upgrade. Yeah, right.

Then, without warning, McAfee turned on Windows automatic updates, eventhough I had disabled it.

so THATS how that happened!

Ok Time for a switch

Skuzzy · « **Reply #4 on:** August 04, 2006, 09:05:22 AM »

Any program using ActiveX or .NET controls is a nightmare waiting to happen. When McAfee switched to using ActiveX, I dumped them from my Wife's computer. That was long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.

Now, I just do not use any of them. The major players have all gotten to be as bad as the virus's they are suppose to help detect.

StarOfAfrica2 · « **Reply #5 on:** August 04, 2006, 11:36:34 AM »

I used to swear by McAfee, they found things Norton would ignore. They started getting a little too chummy with Billgatesebub the Devil, and their product went downhill. I havent used their stuff for almost 3 years now. Still, I know alot of people do and figured it was worth passing along the warning.

xrtoronto · « **Reply #6 on:** August 04, 2006, 11:46:29 AM »

I've been using Mcafee for at least 10 years now. I will need to 'renew' in November this year.

After reading the above, I think I will be making a change too, but to what?

Does anyone know a good alternative to Mcafee? What do you use at home now (if not Mcafee)?

x0847Marine · « **Reply #7 on:** August 04, 2006, 01:03:08 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by xrtoronto
I've been using Mcafee for at least 10 years now. I will need to 'renew' in November this year.

After reading the above, I think I will be making a change too, but to what?

Does anyone know a good alternative to Mcafee? What do you use at home now (if not Mcafee)?

http://www.avast.com home version is FREE. Hasn't failed me in years.

I hear AVG, also free, works well.
http://www.grisoft.com/

Maverick · « **Reply #8 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:22:14 PM »

I got rid of McAfee when my last subscription expired. It never operated as advertized, interupted things to self update even with the update feature supposedly disabled. Once I got rid of it my computer got noticably faster. To me mcafee IS a virus in the same manner aol is.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #9 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:30:24 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
Any program using ActiveX or .NET controls is a nightmare waiting to happen. When McAfee switched to using ActiveX, I dumped them from my Wife's computer. That was long ago, in a galaxy far, far, away.

Now, I just do not use any of them. The major players have all gotten to be as bad as the virus's they are suppose to help detect.

so which is your reccomendation?

Skuzzy · « **Reply #10 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:32:25 PM »

I do not use an anti-virus program at all and have not for years (woah,..going on 10 years now), so I cannot make a recommendation.

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #11 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:36:11 PM »

Ok so how do you keep your systems virus free?

who knows. Fill us in and you might be able to save us all enough money to open up second accounts for our families.

That would increase the bottom line of HTC then Hitech can give ya a nice fat raise or bonus:D

Mustaine · « **Reply #12 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:46:15 PM »

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Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Ok so how do you keep your systems virus free?

be smart with what you do

seriously, you don't just "get a virus" without doing something to get it.

don't go to sites you don't trust implicitly, diable ALL active x on your PC, never open any type of email attachment unless you are 1000% certian who it is from and exactly what it is. don't use the preview of emails in outlook, only view non-html messages on yahoo or any other, stuff like that.

Skuzzy · « **Reply #13 on:** August 04, 2006, 03:48:47 PM »

Keeping a computer virus free is pretty easy, but there is no way most people will do it. A virus cannot magically appear on your computer. Most of the time it comes from the Internet through some mechanism.

1) I have a hardened firewall at home. It only allows port propagation on the ports I choose. All others are blocked.
2) I disable many (most) features (activexx, java, javascript...) of my browser. Basically if it aint pure HTML, it aint getting looked at.
3) My email gets scanned by my firewall/router (Linux box, by the way) and stripped of any attachments or HTML or any other scripting language. If it aint ASCII, it aint getting to my computer.
4) If a program requires ActiveX or .NET, it never gets installed. I have a test system (not on my network) for checking beforehand.

There are more details, but I figure the gist of it will cause most people to shy away from doing it. Afterall, you will not be able to view 'youtube' or any other videos on WEB pages after you are done. But, those can be a source of viruses, so I'd rather not deal with it.

The tradeoff for me is I get better performance, higher reliability (the more carp you ad the worse things get), and I really am not giving up anything worthwhile.

Mustaine · « **Reply #14 on:** August 04, 2006, 04:12:52 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Skuzzy
...There are more details, but I figure the gist of it will cause most people to shy away from doing it. Afterall, you will not be able to view 'youtube' or any other videos on WEB pages after you are done. But, those can be a source of viruses, so I'd rather not deal with it.

The tradeoff for me is I get better performance, higher reliability (the more carp you ad the worse things get), and I really am not giving up anything worthwhile.

there is some pretty fun stuff out there though...

I kind of look at it this way personally, I have a seperate hard drive i store "important" data on, but nothing is irreplacable. i look at funny stuff on the internet and get some nasty thing on my PC, it takes all of 2 hours to physically remove the 2nd HD, re-format the main HD, install and set up windows, install avast, put the 2nd HD in, scan, and I'm up and running.

with how fast and simple it is to set up a familiar PC, if I were you skuzzy I'd have a PC on the internet able to do all that "fun" stuff, and thats all it's for. it gets "infected" then dump and re-load.