[mmathov]

I have been using the McAfee antivirus for at least 8 years, maybe more than that. I never had any problems with it and it detected several viruses before I would even read an e-mail. I was so happy with it that when several months ago they offered me a low price if my subscrition would be extended by several years, I took it without hesitations. The purpose of this e-mail is to let you and your readers know that the most recent release of McAfee antivirus (I think it is version 11) is a total disaster. After struggling with it for two weeks I have uninstalled it and I am now using the Norton antivirus. This is what happened: about 2 weeks ago (in mid-October 2006), McAfee downloaded automatically, without asking for my permission, this new version. This procedure is not new: they have been doing this all along during the last several years, but I never had any problems before. What was different this time, is that the new version included several new additional "protection" functions, which were turned on by default, and about which McAfee gave me no warning. My first problem was that I was not able to send e-mails using Outlook Express (by the way, I am running Win XP Pro). It took me a while to realize that the reason for this problem was McAfee, but eventually I found an option in the new version for checking my outgoing e-mails that was "on" and, for some misterious reason, refusing to let them go out. I am also running ZoneAlarm, so this package is already checking my outgoing mails. In the outgoing e-mails control section McAfee had an alternative called "trusted programs" and when I tried to use it it gave me an error message. So I turned the outgoing e-mails control "off" and the problem was solved. It then started giving me a lot of messages about changes in my registry and asking me if I allowed such changes. In the message there was an option saying "remember this decission" (or something along those lines) but it kept asking me the same question again and again for the same programs. I had to go to the McAfee website for this. First they offered me to download an "agent" that would help me solve my problem. I accepted but at the end of the download I got an error message. Then I was able to establish an online conversation with a technician and was told how to turn off the registry changes control. By the way, I am controlling the changes to the registry with Spybot's Tea Timer and when I say "remember this decission" it remembers and never asks me again the same question for the same program. Next I tried to back-up my hard disk to an external disk, something I do periodically and usually takes about one hour. I went to run an errand and, when I returned about 3 hours later, the back-up program (WinZip BackUp) said it still had another three hours to go. This time I had no doubts that McAfee was the culprit. Of course, McAfee had not apparent way to be turned off, so I had to go to my Task Manager and end all the processes whose name started with the letters "mc" (I'm glad they were not very creative with these names...). Once I did that I started again the back-up and it was completed in less than 60 minutes. All along, McAfee kept downloading automatically new updates, sometimes twice per day or more (each time an update is done a message appears). While this process was going on my computer would slow down quite a bit. Also, WinPatrol kept informing me of new programs that McAfee was including in my Start-up list (which would surely increase my reboot time). Upon starting my computer, McAfee several times tried to run a full scan of my hard disk (during which I could do nothing else with my computer and which, as explained below, could have taken several hours) although I had specifically schedule the scanning for another day, at another time. The final issue was that my machine was running very slow. On 10/28/06 I decided to do the full virus scan using McAfee. I started it and went to run an errand. When I returned about 4 hours later it had scanned only about 20,000 files, which are about 20% of the total number of files I have. I tried to stop it, but it would not stop. I could not even open the Task Manager to end the process. The only way to kill it was to keep pressing the on/off switch of my computer for several seconds until it turned off. This was the final straw. Upon rebooting I uninstalled McAfee and installed Norton. Since then everything is working fine. Although I had paid to use McAfee well into 2009 and they will not give me a refund because it's been over 30 days since I last extended my subscription, for my own sanity I'd rather loose it and move on with my life, but I think other readers could benefit by staying away from McAfee. Please let me know if you need additional information regarding this matter. Best regards, Mauricio Mathov:rolleyes:

[SpiritWind]

{size:18px}[/size]:D Hi all : Norton does NOT have a very good reputation either; they and McAfee share "Honors" in being "Bloatware #1" s ; They will NOT detect some "Viruses" because the code Writers make their code miss Norton detection.

[wehmeier]

Now I am starting to worry about my McAfee subscription, though I have not had the problems sited in the poster's message. I got the same upgrade discussed in the post.I too have heard bad things about Norton, and in fact, have experienced some problems with it (family/friends computers) that have made me a solid McAfee user.I agree that bloat is a problem with both products, but I suspect software and system configurations have a lot to do with the problems people experience with either product.I'm going to stick with McAfee until I experience a problem that forces me to move on.As the old adage goes: "If it ain't broke don't fix it". :PTeresa