Benevolent Misanthrope: earl_k: FTFA:

IT admins across the globe are letting out a collective groan after servers and PCs running McAfee VirusScan were brought down when the anti-virus program attack their core system files.

If you are an IT admin and you're running McAfee you are a dipshiat.

THIS.

My company just rolled out McAfee world wide. So I am not getting a kick out of these replies.

/not part of that decision making process

WALMART.saves: Caeldan: Did Avast fall out of favour?

I love my avast - as soon as I turn off the sounds for it.
I had the pleasure of uninstalling Trend Micro Security Crap when I got my new PC recently.

/VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED!

Yes, this. Because having one's PC connected to large speakers turned up to 11 + early AM + "database updated" message = hilarity.

Except not.

/other than that DERP, never had any issues with Avast

Pichu0102: Linux_Yes: the beauty of Linux is that you don't need antivirus/antispyware/adware.

And the beauty of Windows is that it actually has useful programs. :)

/i kid
//But seriously, GIMP as a photoshop alternative?

Meh, it works good enough for me.

finnished: RoxtarRyan:
The programs the office used (SAP and a couple others) were pretty CPU intensive.

One of customers uses SAP, a big multinational corporation. So they have the supplier portal set up, where you go check purchase orders and what not.

Don't know about SAP itself, but the portal is horrible. Or maybe they're running it on an underpowered server. But still, when you check a checkbox, it shouldn't require reloading of the entire page. Yet it does.

SAP is awful. We've been using it lately in our office and its rediciously fickle as well as freezing easily.

The most annoying thing is that the user settings will change overnight for no reason.

Tuesday - User B can run every report and User C can't access form settings.
Wednesday - User B can't even access the report list and User C can access management level tasks without a problem.

and no one had been changing any setting at all.

I had mcafee for ages on a laptop that was mainly used for writing, web surfing and that sort of thing. Nothing that required an upgrade. It seemed to run slower everyday. That's when I realized that mcafee had slowly upgraded itself to be using about 60% of the processing power and even more memory. Uninstalled that and put avast on the machine and it was like a whole new computer.
I still have a hard time believing people are willing to shell out the money for mcafee when it's incredibly inferior to most of the free options available.
/Nobody ever leaves mcafee without becoming bitter.

After AVG 7.5 AVG sucks. It turned into crap just like the others.
I've tried most free antiviruses and they all have problems. One shows a popup banner randomly, another requires yearly registration, the rest are slow.

Only "safe" one to use is clamwin. And that is if you don't mind manually checking each file you download (that you are not sure if safe) or manual scan of hard drive each week. But the updates never bother you, and it uses very little resources. I'm mostly using ubuntu now, so I rarely worry about antivirus products, only when I'm fixing other peoples computers.

/no one uses linux therefor no one writes viruses for it. LOL.
//I assume being the only successful virus for 10 million ubuntu machines is not worth anything? Instead of competing with everyone else for windows.

Mcafee is a virus in and of itself.

If you've put it on your computer then you deserve what you get.

As a Tier 1 tech support rep that works for a major ISP that uses a McAfee based "free" AV solution for its' customers, I'm definitely not getting a kick out of this. At all.
/dread going to work today
//Yes, ma'am. You are going to need to reload your OS.

From TFA:
Files belonging to Microsoft Internet Explorer, drivers for Compaq computers, and even the McAfee-associated McScript.exe were being identified...

Well, in McAfee's defense, it's pretty much half the reason a computer might have a virus anyway. ;)

THIS

For home I also like Comodo.
Also fond of the Comodo firewall.

kevin_c7500: If you are an IT admin and you are not testing new DATs or Engines prior to updating production boxes McDonalds may be hiring....

Comparing the home/commercial version of any AV to the enterprise version is apples and dumptrucks....

ePolicy Orchestrator FTW period.

Pretty much this. Backin the day sometimes you'd have to shovel DATs out quickly because something like Sasser or CodeRed was coming. At that point you stuck that DAT out on the server and hoped that the DAT update was the lesser of two evils.

For regular updates though, you test first.

McAfee Total Protection is also fairly decent for smaller business with not much in the way of IT infrastructure. Idiot proof for the most part.

I've heard that Norton 2009 is much better with resource usage than previous versions? Can anyone back this up, or is this bullpucky?

(I'll stick with Avast since I don't like to pay for updates, bt I'm thoroughly curious.)

Avast on the computers here, Threatfire firewall on the Vista box, Comodo firewall on the laptop, Zonealarm on the XP box. All run great- much better than under either Norton or McAfee.

I had Norton as my firewall/security suite, and think I got it all off. Any way to tell for sure?

/Killed McAfee after it deleted my Fonts folder during a scan
//Killed Norton when it was taking 350MB of my 512MB RAM

Sword and Shield: I had Norton as my firewall/security suite, and think I got it all off. Any way to tell for sure?

Download the SymNRT tool from Symantec. It will pull all the listed Norton products off of a computer.

nabbyfan: I've heard that Norton 2009 is much better with resource usage than previous versions? Can anyone back this up, or is this bullpucky?

(I'll stick with Avast since I don't like to pay for updates, bt I'm thoroughly curious.)

Norton 2009 is great. I'm running Internet Security and both firewall and anti-virus us using a combined total of 12MB.
Way better than the older versions.

vudukungfu: earl_k: .

If you are an IT admin and you're running McAfee you are a dipshiat.

I've been telling the VP of our department this for years.
All 5 of them. One at a time.
We have a new one this week. Maybe he will listen.

Since you believe a VP might listen to you, I have a banking opportunity for you that involves eleventy billion dollars stuck in a Nigerian bank. In payment for your help, you will receive 10% of the amount.

LouDobbsAwaaaay: Linux_Yes: the beauty of Linux is that you don't need antivirus/antispyware/adware.

That's because nobody writes malware for linux. Because nobody uses linux.

The majority of servers are linux and unix. The majority of servers compromised by break-ins and virues are Windows. By your logic, the Linux/unix systems should experience most of the break-ins. They aren't because it's hard. The crackers target Windows because it is easy, not because it is popular.

SpaceBison: Pichu0102: Linux_Yes: the beauty of Linux is that you don't need antivirus/antispyware/adware.

And the beauty of Windows is that it actually has useful programs. :)

/i kid
//But seriously, GIMP as a photoshop alternative?

Meh, it works good enough for me.

Gimp works well but it has the most gawd-awful user interface ever created.

I'm a huge fan of open source. I use it every day both at home and on the job, but one place open source is failing badly is in GUI design.

Monday is going to be a riot.

natgab: Funny, this little McAfee glitch will probably let Best Buy sell a few computer to noobs.

An older neighbor brought over her laptop last week to my brother to fix. "it has a virus, can it be fixed or should I just by a new one ? " she asked.

Backed up files & clean install and free antivirus - Good as new.

Glad she didn't try going to Best Buy on her own, I'd hate to think how much it would have cost Her.

Sell me the infected one.

I don't use an anti-virus.

The university I went when I went to college gave away McAfee free to its students. The company I worked for a few years ago used McAfee as its standard antivirus.

It should be interesting at both places.

OgreMagi: I'm a huge fan of open source. I use it every day both at home and on the job, but one place open source is failing badly is in GUI design.

So fix it.

/you can, you know.

Evilmogwai: finnished: RoxtarRyan:
The programs the office used (SAP and a couple others) were pretty CPU intensive.

One of customers uses SAP, a big multinational corporation. So they have the supplier portal set up, where you go check purchase orders and what not.

Don't know about SAP itself, but the portal is horrible. Or maybe they're running it on an underpowered server. But still, when you check a checkbox, it shouldn't require reloading of the entire page. Yet it does.

SAP is awful. We've been using it lately in our office and its rediciously fickle as well as freezing easily.

The most annoying thing is that the user settings will change overnight for no reason.

Tuesday - User B can run every report and User C can't access form settings.
Wednesday - User B can't even access the report list and User C can access management level tasks without a problem.

and no one had been changing any setting at all.

When the Telco where I worked migrated to SAP, the Engineering department swore that the moniker stood for "Stop All Productivity". Eight years later it's still slower than its predecessor.

Elvis Da King: When the Telco where I worked migrated to SAP, the Engineering department swore that the moniker stood for "Stop All Productivity". Eight years later it's still slower than its predecessor.

Why do people keep buying SAP? I haven't had a good word about it from any user or software engineer.

WALMART.saves: Caeldan: Did Avast fall out of favour?

I love my avast - as soon as I turn off the sounds for it.
I had the pleasure of uninstalling Trend Micro Security Crap when I got my new PC recently.

/VIRUS DATABASE HAS BEEN UPDATED!

I love avast, loved it so much, I introduced it to all my friend's computers as well. As for sounds, I usually kill those bells and whistles as soon as any program is installed. All I want to hear is the sound of my music.

From what I can recall, this isn't the first time McAfee's anti-virus software has corrupted people's PCs.

I thought about using McAfee's AV a long while back but I changed my mind when as part of the installation procedure it required the removal of other software, namely Zonealarm's firewall. Something isn't right about an AV program requiring me to not run a firewall of my choosing.

MusicMakeMyHeadPound: OgreMagi: I'm a huge fan of open source. I use it every day both at home and on the job, but one place open source is failing badly is in GUI design.

So fix it.

/you can, you know.

As long as your own time has little to no value to you of course.

earl_k: If you are an IT admin and you're running McAfee you are a dipshiat.

Not all IT admins have final say.
Some of these decisions are forced down by the corporate CTO, who is a moron pencil-pusher with an MBA and no IT experience.

earl_k: If you are an IT admin and you're running McAfee you are a dipshiat.

back when i was in college the university forced you to have McAfee runing on your computer if you lived in the dorms or wanted to use wifi on campus. It was the first thing i deleted after graduation.

xria: As long as your own time has little to no value to you of course.

Internet douchebags sure say that a lot, but let's look at it economically:

You have
A: the amount at which you value your time
B: the time it will take you to change what you don't like about GIMP
C: the price of the alternative - the Photoshop version of your choosing
D: the factoral value of knowledge learned (where 1.0 means you've learned nothing)

If ((A * B)/D) <= C then it's worth it. If not, then go with C.

C starts at $700 + tax, so even if you value your time at a completely unrealistic $100/hr and learn nothing new from the experience, you've got at least seven hours where it's completely worth it to alter GIMP's source code.

/or you can just pirate PS, whichever.

downstairs: Seriously, there's like 50 different McAfee programs running doing different things, eating memory like crazy. Norton is the same.

By slowing/crashing systems, many virus scanners are viruses in themselves. In the cases of McAfee and Norton, you pay to get screwed.

Avast!+Malwarebytes=happy computer

dervish16108: I've been using AVG and Comodo for years, so I'm really getting a kick out of these replies.

Hrm... I also use AVG (paid) and Comodo (free) -- they work quite well together. Occasionally, however, AVG will identify a Comodo update as a virus (typically a trojan) and quarantine it. Eventually though the update goes through once AVG updates it as a false positive.

real shaman: *smug mac owner giggles*

Browsing the Web is about the only thing there is to do when using a Mac.

snuff3r: So very this. Unfortunately, places like entire government departments often get bulk purchase deals and government PCs run it. It's what sustains them, much like Norton.

This several times over. I wanted to use NOD but no, the contract said we could use Trend OfficeScan or FProt. OfficeScan is around 1.00/year per client. FProt is almost free.

Contrary to what people thing we have no choice. Everything is done by contract. Replacement parts...all contract. Newegg has a drive for 40.00, our contract has it for 55.00 and it will take months to arrive. I used to buy out of pocket and expense it all as gas until they froze travel.

The bad thing about contracts is that there is a lot of bait and switch. Some items are super cheap but everything else is very expensive. We have some toners that we have to buy that are going for MORE than MSRP.

scalpod: DjangoStonereaver: real shaman: *smug mac owner giggles*

My Ubuntu laptop just stole your Mac's lunchmoney.

My BSD laptop just burned your school to the ground, while both your laptops were inside.

Why would one BSD laptop kill another one?

/pfsense box ftw

pureobscure: real shaman: *smug mac owner giggles*

Browsing the Web is about the only thing there is to do when using a Mac.

Sure, unless you want to use a word processor, a photomanipulation program, a music program, watch video, burn dvds, cds, or, really, anything a PC user does - but without the headaches.

pureobscure: real shaman: *smug mac owner giggles*

Browsing the Web is about the only thing there is to do when using a Mac.

You made him sad.



(Sorry everyone. Be happy I obscured what I did.)

Blink FTW

Cuphat: I don't use an anti-virus.

Me Either. I just pull out before I get to deep into the site.

zedster: Why would one BSD laptop kill another one?

I killed a BSD laptop, just to watch it die.

wejash: redmond24: I've got McAfee on my laptop.


Ok. Now that you IT people have finished laughing at me, tell me do I need to be worried, uninstall etc?

/srsly

It sounds like it would not be a bad idea to disable it and install Avast or AVG quickly. (Not an IT guy but I did this several years ago and couldn't be happier to be rid of McAfee and Norton's both.)

I remember AVG's crowning moment; it failed to detect a virus on my machine. Real useful program that.

I still have one computer running AVG but I'm thinking about changing it out, I didn't like it since the upgrade but I'm lazy. I just put Avira on my laptop, cause I wanted to try something instead of Avast, I really like it so far.

This is my internet contribution.

I'm using Antivirus2009, so it won't affect me.

Oops. Mcafee, Norton, and yes, AVG all use the same definitions. Trifecta of suck.

We use Sophos Anti-Virus at the university I attend/work for. World-wide license for anyone affiliated with the university. I may bend the license a bit to let friends and family use it, but oh well. :)

It works pretty well, is trivial to install, and seems to catch just about everything (the network I maintain has really stupid users on occasion).

It uses the university update server, so there's no authentication or whatnot for updates. If one is interested, drop me an email (email in profile).

farkeruk: Why do people keep buying SAP? I haven't had a good word about it from any user or software engineer.

I've developed a couple of theories about this:

1) SAP runs those commercials which show "smart" business people acting like it's a no-brainer switching to SAP and of course CEOs and CIOs want everyone to think they're smart.

... or ...

2) SAP must secretly offer CEOs and CIOs free weekly blowjobs for life if they'll switch over to SAP.


Personally, I'd like to think it's (2), but something tells me it's probably (1). Corporate bigwigs who make these asinine decisions to go with these one-product-runs-all ERP applications think their decision will be a feather in their cap, when in fact they are just begging for trouble. The people who actually do the work in their companies usually wind up hating the ERP applications and in the end they're miserable and productivity suffers... and this is only if they can actually get the stuff to work!

ERP applications like SAP are crap. They promise you the world and tell you that they "know your business" and then when you pay the consultants to come in and set it up for you, they start telling you how you're going to have to change the way you do things in order for their product to work. In other words, the companies that design these products don't know your business... they just tell you how you need to change to conform to their vision of how you should do business. It's snake oil, and the CIO who falls for this or allows this crap to be implemented on his watch should be blacklisted forever and never be allowed to work as a CIO again.

ERP products suck. If you want software that works the way you need it to, hire some analysts and programmers and write the damned software yourself. Those ERP vendors who claim they know your business are LYING to you. They know that once you start down their path, you will be in so deep by the time you realize you're being screwed that you'll have no choice but to follow through. The "success stories" that ERP vendors tout? There aren't that many, especially in the long run. And the employees who get subjected to the changes imposed by the adoption of ERP products -- they wind up hating upper management and IT for forcing this crap on them.

Seriously.