McAfee Update is Shutting Down Windows XP PCs

One of the reasons that I don't use antivirus software.

Awesome! Pay to have your computer ruined! That's why I use AVG or MS Security Essentials. Maybe they aren't perfect, but they're free, and both of them have successfully saved me a few times.

ZOMG, good thing we are lazy on with our update schedule!!!

I can only begin to grasp what nightmarish scenario this would have produced...

And the face of the higher managers...

So the moral is...updates are bad..wait..that's not right.

You don't need any anti-virus software if you have common sense. Don't open unknown file attachments, don't download unknown/sketchy files, don't visit unknown websites (unless you use Firefox with NoScript, but still).

McAfee should report itself as a virus that: Results in moderate to significant performance degredation on PCs that were running prior to its instalation.

Eset is still good for me.

McAfee still seems to be more malware than antivirus...

AV software - still the worst thing to ever happen to any PC I've owned.

avast FTW

Now which pc will be the lucky one

That's one of the reasons I don't use windblows

Fail.

Your obviously a Mac user since any self respecting Linux user admits that Windows is the primary target for spyware and viruses because of its large user base.

Since your a Mac user, why don't you go to Starbucks and work on your novel or some hippy crap. Leave Toms Hardware to the big boys who can actually change their computer hardware and do something useful with it.

Cool. Oh, while you're at it, visit this site. "www.linuxappleandfreebsdOShavesecurityflawstoo-letmeproveit.com"

Get over the smug 'nothing can hurt my computer' attitude, unless you plan on never using the Internet for the rest of your life.

So, uh, they didn't test the update on Windows XP SP3 then eh? Just went ahead and pushed it out? Because, you know, had they done any testing at all it would have crashed their computers and they wouldn't have released the update. College campuses and business across the country are at a standstill thanks to McAfee. Someone is in big trouble.

Or more specifically, those who use their computers to work for a living.

Eset and Kaspersky are the best AVs IMO.

What does it matter the reasoning for the excess viruses? Windows is more susceptible to getting viruses. There are a multitude of reasons why but those reasons don't really matter. There are less viruses for OS X. You have a much smaller chance of getting a virus on a Mac than you do on a PC. Case in point, the Mac Lab at UT is up and running. All the other computer labs including the engineering lab is still down.

At my last job, we actually had McCrapee kill a bunch of production 98 machines. McCafee refused to fix the problem, saying 98 was no longer a viable OS. We happily dropped them and went to NOD.

At my current job, we dumped McCrapee and went to NOD because of bloat.

Even COMCAST has dumped their free McCrapee program and gone to Norton.

McCrapee's list of customers seems to be dwindling...

We are working as fast as we can right now trying to repair our non-mission critical pc's across intel world wide. This is a serious issue. Looks like i will have to cancel wed wing night at the local watering hole tonight

To those of you who said you don't need anti-virus software or that you don't use it. You are a danger to yourself and many other people on the web. I've gotten virus alerts just visiting common popular web sites. You re-open the page a few min later and no hit (because their virus scan got rid of it in the mean time). There is no such thing as a safe always virus free web site. By common, popular I mean places like amazon, extremetech even, toms. It happens.
[edit] Oh and by the way it doesn't even mean that that specific web site had the problem. It could be one of their advertising partners or other partner web sites.

As I've been saying for years...McAfee IS a virus.

More susceptible? No, more like MS OS have more to defend against, not that I am supporting McCrappee. Defending the security of Mac OS is like saying..."Well, surfers in the Gobi don't get attacked by nearly as many sharks as surfers in South Africa." What do you get when you crack a Mac box? You get someone's iTunes account info, and all the Alanis Morriestte you can download?

Luckily I don't use McAfee.

Let's see, my work comp's McAfee installation is using 160MB of memory (I have barely of Gig on this old piece of crap). The program version itself is a couple years old (so you know its catching all the latest stuff like ILOVEYOU and Melissa), and twice a day it bogs my machine down scanning absolutely nothing. I'm so glad my employer uses such wonderful protection.

I personally dropped McAfee in 1998 and haven't looked back. Went with Norton for a few years, finally dropped that too (shows them for not supporting WinXp Pro x64), and have stuck with Avast! for the last few years with no complaints.

You know why OSX have lower chance getting virus and malaware? With windows having the majority of the OS market, most people that make this stuff look at there chances of getting something good (aka, bank account number, ect). Well, larger market share = higher chance of getting that good stuff.

As everyone has said,

1. No OS is immune to virus, malware, ect.
2. If the majority of people switched to a OSX or a particular linux (say ubuntu), guess were all thoses hackers, malware, and virus makers are going? Yep, to the new most used OS.

Whatever, I'm a computer tech, and so stuff like this brings us more business!

MS Security Essentials FTW!
I don't even notice a performance hit when it's doing a scan.

jd91651 that is not how viruses work.

"The biggest vulnerability in virus protection is to assume your computer can't get a virus." That's something I read on either a Linux or Mac forum a couple years ago.

I started out with Norton; tried McAfee briefly but found it very cumbersome to use, and then went back to Norton for a couple more years. I ditched Norton when I was simply getting too many computers to buy a new $60 license for every year, and that's how I ended-up with avast! which I still use to this day.

AVG is good too, although it does seem to be more demanding of system resources (it can slow-down an older computer to a crawl I've noticed). I'm not really fond of Avira - I quickly grew tired of it's nag screens to register it

I think McAffee just wants people to upgrade.