Author Topic: McAfee again. Don't ask. (Read 28435 times)

xcopy · « **on:** July 09, 2009, 05:48 AM »

It's been a while since these false positives by McAfee.
Now I just got the message about a virus found in Launchbar Commander. "tool-nir-cmd". I assume this is deliberately in the package for some new features?

mouser · « **Reply #1 on:** July 09, 2009, 05:59 AM »

I included Nirsoft's excellent nircmd as an example of LBC's new tool interface system.
I will remove it to avoid such hackery.

McAfee and the rest of these retarded, lazy, irresponsible antivirus companies can go to hell.

xcopy · « **Reply #2 on:** July 09, 2009, 06:42 AM »

Thanks.

McAfee and the rest of these retarded, lazy, irresponsible antivirus companies can go to hell.
-mouser (July 09, 2009, 05:59 AM)

But what would we do without McAfee? Sitting lazy all day in front of a working computer without any thrilling experience of what possibly could go wrong.

joby_toss · « **Reply #3 on:** July 09, 2009, 07:15 AM »

Don't need to remove nircmd. Just update it to v2.37. It doesn't get false positives.

mouser · « **Reply #4 on:** July 09, 2009, 07:29 AM »

Don't need to remove nircmd. Just update it to v2.37. It doesn't get false positives.

good idea, done that.
i'll still probably remove it in next release, since no one seems to care about my new Tools feature

joby_toss · « **Reply #5 on:** July 09, 2009, 07:40 AM »

i'll still probably remove it in next release, since no one seems to care about my new Tools feature
-mouser (July 09, 2009, 07:29 AM)

What are you talking about?
I love it!

tomos · « **Reply #6 on:** July 09, 2009, 08:26 AM »

Don't need to remove nircmd. Just update it to v2.37. It doesn't get false positives.
good idea, done that.
i'll still probably remove it in next release, since no one seems to care about my new Tools feature
-mouser (July 09, 2009, 07:29 AM)

well I've been looking at it and it's making me think I should finally try out LBC . .

Innuendo · « **Reply #7 on:** July 11, 2009, 03:50 PM »

Nobody should have to use McAfee. Ever.

Sylphia · « **Reply #8 on:** July 12, 2009, 10:28 PM »

i'll still probably remove it in next release, since no one seems to care about my new Tools feature
-mouser (July 09, 2009, 07:29 AM)
What are you talking about?
I love it!

-joby_toss (July 09, 2009, 07:40 AM)

Agree, I love it too. I think no one talk about it because there is no issue about it.

mouser · « **Reply #9 on:** July 13, 2009, 12:43 AM »

thanks for saying so.

f0dder · « **Reply #10 on:** July 15, 2009, 09:42 AM »

Nobody should have to use McAfee. Ever.
-Innuendo (July 11, 2009, 03:50 PM)

cyberdiva · « **Reply #11 on:** July 15, 2009, 10:34 AM »

Nobody should have to use McAfee. Ever.
-Innuendo (July 11, 2009, 03:50 PM)

-f0dder (July 15, 2009, 09:42 AM)

I can't believe I'm about to defend McAfee. I mean, even though I get McAfee Enterprise Edition free from my university, I've come very close to uninstalling it several times and installing something like Avast instead. McAfee is a major league resource hog, and it has seriously interfered with a couple of other programs I've tried to use. But every time I read about problems people have had with false positives from their AV program and viruses and other malware that have managed to get past their AV programs and onto their computers, I wimp out and keep McAfee. In all the years I've had it, I've had a grand total of one FP and (knock on wood, salt over my shoulder) no viruses.

longrun · « **Reply #12 on:** July 27, 2009, 12:13 PM »

My cousin had been running McAfee despite my advice to the contrary. Her computer ran slowly and erratically. I uninstalled McAfee and installed Sunbelt VIPRE, which found and removed a trojan. Computer worked flawlessly.

Innuendo · « **Reply #13 on:** July 27, 2009, 01:18 PM »

In all the years I've had it, I've had a grand total of one FP and (knock on wood, salt over my shoulder) no viruses.
-cyberdiva (July 15, 2009, 10:34 AM)

McAfee is very good about not having false positives. However, it is sometimes also very good at not finding viruses and trojans. How can you know you truly have no viruses unless you have run another AV to double-check?

I wouldn't get Avast. It's real-time monitoring interferes with too many programs, but maybe you should download a trial version of NOD32 or Kaspersky & give them a try?

McAfee and Norton are the biggest AV sellers. Not because they are all that great, but because you can buy them in just about any store from Wal-Mart to Office Depot. Malware authors _DO_ take this into account and write their code to circumvent these two best sellers. Why not spend an hour or two optimizing and rewriting your code if you can get it to slip past the vast majority of installed AV programs in the world?

My advice is don't believe anything an AV program's marketing tells you. Of course they are all going to tell you that they are the best. Instead, read up on independent AV testing on the net and after reading a few you'll know right away who the best companies and programs are.

For the sake of completeness, the other AV programs on my To-Be-Avoided list are Trend Micro and Bit Defender.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #14 on:** July 27, 2009, 02:02 PM »

McAfee is very good about not having false positives. However, it is sometimes also very good at not finding viruses and trojans. How can you know you truly have no viruses unless you have run another AV to double-check?
-Innuendo (July 27, 2009, 01:18 PM)

I agree. I have several anti-malware programs that I run from time to time. One of them, Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Pro, apparently will find all kinds of viruses, trojans, and other malware. It seems especially good at identifying stuff that slips by other AV and anti-malware programs.

Of course, another way you often can know that you have no viruses is that your computer doesn't do anything strange. Your firewall doesn't report strange programs attempting to call out, you don't get re-routed to other pages, your homepage is stable, your hosts file isn't tampered with, etc. etc.

I wouldn't get Avast. It's real-time monitoring interferes with too many programs, but maybe you should download a trial version of NOD32 or Kaspersky & give them a try?
-Innuendo (July 27, 2009, 01:18 PM)

Thanks for the advice. I think that's another reason I've kept McAfee: people have reported negative things about every other program I've thought about. Avast, Avira, NOD32, Kapersky, Bit Defender.... I do value your opinion highly, though, so I'll definitely keep your warning in mind.

Innuendo · « **Reply #15 on:** July 27, 2009, 03:45 PM »

I agree. I have several anti-malware programs that I run from time to time.
-cyberdiva (July 27, 2009, 02:02 PM)

That's the best thing you can do. Having a layered defense using multiple things to protect you is the wisest course of action these days. The days of just running a virus scan every month or so are gone.

A lot of people like ot run virtual machines and test out new software in a virtual environment to see how safe it is. I was reading the other day that malware writers have adapted & now a lot of viruses and trojans won't trigger if they detect that they are running in a virtual machine.

It's a constant cat & mouse game.

Lashiec · « **Reply #16 on:** August 04, 2009, 12:26 PM »

I wouldn't get Avast. It's real-time monitoring interferes with too many programs, but maybe you should download a trial version of NOD32 or Kaspersky & give them a try?
-Innuendo (July 27, 2009, 01:18 PM)

xcopy · « **Reply #17 on:** August 04, 2009, 12:30 PM »

I'd recommend F-Secure Client Security because it's reliable and highly configurable. If it only would consume less memory and run faster on slow machines.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #18 on:** August 04, 2009, 03:22 PM »

I'd recommend F-Secure Client Security because it's reliable and highly configurable. If it only would consume less memory and run faster on slow machines.
-xcopy (August 04, 2009, 12:30 PM)

Yes, but from what you say it sounds as if I'd be trading one accurate memory hog for another

.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #19 on:** August 04, 2009, 03:25 PM »

I wouldn't get Avast. It's real-time monitoring interferes with too many programs, but maybe you should download a trial version of NOD32 or Kaspersky & give them a try?
-Innuendo (July 27, 2009, 01:18 PM)

Innuendo, can you say a bit more about the programs Avast interferes with? If they're not programs I use, then perhaps I shouldn't rule Avast out.

Omnivox · « **Reply #20 on:** August 04, 2009, 05:13 PM »

I have been using Avast for many years now and never had any problem at all.

Innuendo · « **Reply #21 on:** August 05, 2009, 10:39 AM »

Innuendo, can you say a bit more about the programs Avast interferes with? If they're not programs I use, then perhaps I shouldn't rule Avast out.
-cyberdiva (August 04, 2009, 03:25 PM)

So far I have only run into major compatibility programs with two programs. DC's own CodeTRUCKER has run into problems with The Bat! email program while running Avast and the Newsbin Pro forum has posts regarding problems while running Avast as well.

It's the same problem with both apps. Avast's real-time scanner interferes with the two apps writing data to the hard drive. I seem to recall a third program in the back of my mind, but since I don't use that one it's name has slipped away.

Avast is free so it won't hurt anything to try it. Just pay attention to your other programs while its running and if there are problems you can always uninstall it. AVG is another free one to look into if Avast does not work out for you.

mrainey · « **Reply #22 on:** August 05, 2009, 10:41 AM »

I have been using Avast for many years now and never had any problem at all.

Me too.

cyberdiva · « **Reply #23 on:** August 05, 2009, 12:22 PM »

So far I have only run into major compatibility programs with two programs. DC's own CodeTRUCKER has run into problems with The Bat! email program while running Avast and the Newsbin Pro forum has posts regarding problems while running Avast as well.
[snip]
Avast is free so it won't hurt anything to try it. Just pay attention to your other programs while its running and if there are problems you can always uninstall it. AVG is another free one to look into if Avast does not work out for you.
-Innuendo (August 05, 2009, 10:39 AM)

Thanks, Innuendo. Though I have The Bat! I've found I prefer Mulberry, so Avast's problems with The Bat! won't impact on me. I went to the Newsbin Pro forum to see whether I could find out more. Apparently Avast interfere's with Newsbin Pro; according to a posting I read there, so too does MalwareBytes Anti-Malware. Since I don't use Newsbin Pro, I guess I'm not worried about Avast, though I do wonder whether Avast will play nicely with MalwareBytes Anti-Malware Pro. I had to turn off the resident protection in the latter because McAfee had major hissy fits. McAfee also got into fights with the Online Armor firewall, which was having an identity crisis and didn't want to be just a firewall. I removed Online Armor.

As for AVG, thanks for the suggestion, but I'm VERY wary of anything coming from AVG, since in the past I had bad experiences with its anti-spyware program. It frequently produced false positives, as I recall. I got rid of it a while ago. Since the easiest thing is to leave well enough alone and stay with McAfee, I think I'll do that for now, until the next time it does something that ticks me off. Shouldn't be long

.

Innuendo · « **Reply #24 on:** August 05, 2009, 09:58 PM »

The negative interaction between Newsbin and Avast is that Avast interferes with Newsbin's ability to download and corrupts the files as they are downloaded. The only solution is to exclude the Newsbin download directory.

I'd recommend Avira Free, but I can't in good conscience do so as the last time I tried it there were way too many false positives for my tastes.