McAfee problem — “NOT PROTECTED”

Topic

New Reply

A different Security problem than my previous one regarding 0-day-Adobe, and on a different computer.

Newly installed McAfee AV, on XP3, newly updated and scanned and what McAfee calls “fixed”
still gives the pop up warning from the task bar: “Your computer is not fully protected.”
Following this up, I get the message: “The detection signature file is between 8 and 29 days old.”
and “Click FIX now.”

Again, FIXing, updating, and re-scanning (plus restarting the computer for good measure)
do nothing to fix the problem.

What is the “detection signature file” and what do I do to get it updated?

………And is McAfee a reliable AV program?

===EDIT=== This is the commercial version of McAfee, not the freebie.

Reply | Quote

Replies

There doesn’t appear to be a conclusive answer to this often asked question.

Reply | Quote

There doesn’t appear to be a conclusive answer to this often asked question.

Most of the hits in that Google search seem to be multiple hits of the same item!

Ian

Reply | Quote

McAfee have a numeric sequence to their signature updates. You should see the number in Help | About, or on the status screen, along with the latest release number.

The current version is 5842.

cheers, Paul

Reply | Quote

And is McAfee a reliable AV program?

McAfee (like Symantec) tends to polarise people into the “It’s wonderful” and the “It’s awful” camps.
Having spent many hours removing the limited-time version from some new computers, I locate myself firmly in the second of the two.

BATcher

Plethora means a lot to me.

Reply | Quote

………And is McAfee a reliable AV program?

===EDIT=== This is the commercial version of McAfee, not the freebie.

I’m in the same camp as BATcher. That said, can I ask why you are using the commercial version, I assume you mean retail version, if you doubt the reliability of the program ?? There are several free AV programs available that do the job equally well with much less overhead for you system to deal with.

Reply | Quote

I’m in the same camp as BATcher. That said, can I ask why you are using the commercial version, I assume you mean retail version, if you doubt the reliability of the program ?? There are several free AV programs available that do the job equally well with much less overhead for you system to deal with.

Apologies for the delay in responding; I’ve been away. To answer your question, I’m a volunteer helping to set up old donated computers and the and the McAfee AV on disc was also a donation. I can now see why. I agree with all the criticisms voiced here, as well as all over the net, including McAfee’s own site. Aside from the “YOU ARE NOT PROTECTED” problem, it’s a bloated program with too many extraneous mini-programs included. We usually use the AVG freebie, which is simpler and easier to use. At any rate, if anyone is looking for the solution to the original problem, it was solved by running McAfee’s Virtual Technician. I’m still open to any suggestions about other freebie AV software. And thanks to all for their input.

Reply | Quote

==EDIT== I WROTE EARLIER:
…if anyone is looking for the solution to the original problem, it was solved by running McAfee’s Virtual Technician.

I spoke too soon. The NOT PROTECTED problem turned up again, as well as showing up on a second computer that the
McAfee AV was installed on. They were both uninstalled.

Reply | Quote

Put my vote in BATcher’s column. The other infuriating thing about McAfee and it’s competitor Symantec is that every year they publish new versions of their products that are “better than the previous version” and require you to buy another version. Yes you can pay for another subscription for your present version, but getting the new version is preferable. Why don’t they upgrade their present users to the new version instead of requiring purchase of the new version. Every one rails against Microsoft on a daily basis for using this same marketing and business profile. I would like to see the same rants against the above manufacturers.

OK, end of rant!

Reply | Quote

It seems we’ve gotten off topic a bit with bashing mcafee.lets stick to the issue at hand.

It seems that mcafee is having trouble updating and is possibly blocked from retreiving updates or “signature files” and that is a broad range. this is what i would do : 1) install malwarebytes and see if that updates,if it fails updating then something is blocking security sites from updating so there may be a malware problem or possible rootkit. if it does update then run a quickscan to verify no malware is affecting mcafee performance. 2) i would reset internet explorer, including advanced setting by doing this: open IE click tools>internet options> advanced tab> reset advanced settings at the bottom and reset. 2 a) click connections>lan settings and verify no check mark under use proxy settings 2 b) click security tab and reset all zones to default sometimes the button will be at the bottom but you may have to click on each zones custom settings and choose reset from there. 2 c) clear out all temp folders so start with IE on the general tab. close IE at this time.3) open run by clicking start>run and type temp then select all items and delete,4) open run again and type %temp% and select all then delete. (note: if you hold down shift while deleting the files you bypass the recycle bin). 5)open the run box again and this time type “netsh winsock reset” without the qoutes and click ok. 6) open run once more and type ” ipconfig /flushdns” without the quotes and click ok then restart the computer.
open mcafee and try running updates by clicking update and see if your successful.
If that doesn’t work then go to mcafee site http://mvt.mcafee.com/mvt/en-us/default.html?en-us then run the virtual technician. once that is complete if there are any errors see if mvt can fix them then restart and run updates again.
if that doesn’t reslove your issue then 7) open run and type “services.msc” without the qoutes and verify that mcafe services are running except systemguard which shoulld be set to manual. if any are disabled then double click and set to auto, click apply then start the service. try running updates again.

if none of that works then try uninstall/reinstall by downloading mcafee removal tool from mcafee’s website.

start with that and please reply to the thread if your successful or not with updaing

Reply | Quote

Hi Bob :

When it comes to using a FREE Antivirus program, I have been quite satified with
Avast Home Edition for over 4 yrs ; details of the program is at
http://www.avast.com/eng/avast-free-home-antivirus-antispyware.html .
I occasionally help out on their excellent Online Support forums, which I feel is
One of the advantages of having this program .

In addition, the latest ( Nov 09 ) “Retrospective/Proactive” ( the degree of
effectiveness of keeping malware OFF a computer ) testing done by the
INDEPENDENT Researchers at http://www.av-comparatives.org had :

Avast – 53% and an Advanced Plus Certification level
AVG – 49% and an Advanced Certification level .

Reply | Quote

When it comes to using a FREE Antivirus program, I have been quite satified with
Avast Home Edition for over 4 yrs

Thanks for the suggestion, Robin. I will look into Avast.

Reply | Quote

If you have decided to look at changing AV apps, take a long look at MS Security Essentials. It includes AV and AM, runs very quietly in the background and is very highly rated.

Reply | Quote

If you have decided to look at changing AV apps, take a long look at MS Security Essentials. It includes AV and AM, runs very quietly in the background and is very highly rated.

Thank you for suggesting MSE. I will check it out.

Reply | Quote