The Chronicles of George

[pj5081]

I used to like it.

Some of this is "self-inflicted" by my company: we updated from McAfee AV 8.5 to 8.7. The recommended way of doing this is to completely remove ALL McAfee products and then install the shiny 8.7 ones. That ... didn't happen. It was pushed out to all clients using, well, something (I'm not sure with exactly what. A drunken monkey, perhaps. No offense to Milton.)

Anyway, on an alarming amount of computers, McAfee AV "works" in the sense of "can detect and clean viruses" but cannot be used manually. Which isn't fun if you want to do a full scan.

Here's where the McAfee hate comes in.

To remove McAfee ENTERPRISE products, there's generally something that's called "McAfee Agent" or "ePO Agent" installed and it has to be removed after all other McAfee apps are uninstalled -- and you almost always have to use a command line.

And if you can't remove McAfee Agent (fairly common), you may as well nuke the Hoffin' thing from orbit. Because you'll have to remove 20,000 (I exaggerate very slightly. Seriously) entries from the Registry to uninstall it, otherwise.

Oh. "Uninstalling" McAfee stuff doesn't stop after a) removing everything McAfee from Add/Remove Programs and b) running the McAfee Agent command line. That'd be too easy. You then should run McAfee's own "clean up" utility, remove all McAfee and Network Associates entries from Device Manager (they're hidden, too, for added enjoyment -- look under "Non-Plug and Play Devices"), restart and then delete any files or folders named "McAfee", "Network Associates" or "Quarantine".

Hey, I thought I hated Symantec AV because I had to jump through these hoops.

The computer I'm working on seems to have had 8.7 installed on it -- improperly -- and now is detecting that the "clean up" install of 8.7 is a virus. Glorious. Only been working on it for 2 hours ....
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Technomistress wrote:

In a stunning show of grace and dexterity, the DJ manages to avoid your punch and, after slapping "Kung Fu Fighting" on the turntable, proceeds to beat your ass silly.

[SuicidalRat]

IT'S A VIRUS!! GET RID OF IT!!!

But, sir, it's our own product....

I KNOW, AGAIN I SAY, IT'S A VIRUS, GET RID OF IT!!!


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You can train a retarded monkey to fly a 747 but there's going to be a lot of crashes during the process.

[moufassa]

Ewww.

I used to use McAfee ASAP (you know, the intarweb-based service where you can manage everything online - now McAfee Total Protection Suite or something, I think) and that was painful to reinstall if something went wrong (which was surprisingly often). Only had one site that used ePO but the guy who'd originally rolled it out about 2 years before had b0rked it up somehow and it wouldn't register new clients, so each workstation would receive the basic policies (like the ones I wanted to change when there were problems!!) but be unmanaged in terms of updates and reporting. I never did get around to working out how to fix that.

I had one particular stingy-arse customer who wouldn't even buy ASAP, opting to go for the pre-installed version of McAfee, only to install their version of SAV a week or so later. If you don't do things in a certain order it is downright impossible to remove (I ended up rebuilding a workstation due to this).

Where I work now we use CA eTrust, which seems to do the job. Deployed via a GPO and updates automatically so I don't have to worry ... but we'll need to install a later version sometime soon, so not really looking forward to it.

I use SAV Corporate at home - I've never had any issues with it. It scans automatically when I've scheduled it, and only bugs me when there's a reason, not like my mother's NAV Home, which seems to inform the user every time it hasn't found anything.
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[AndrewB]

*pets obedient Sophos Enterprise*

[Severine]

I can clearly remember trying to remove Norton's from my last hold out in 2007. Dear God for a crowbar and acetylene torch to get that crap off the machines.

I remember weeping in relief when we finally got the last machine installed and updated.

McAfee's.... there is a special corner of hell for the demons who developed and coded that steaming pile of $hit.
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I never cease being dumbfounded by the unbelievable things people believe. - Leo Rosten
Why should the printerer be any more stable and reliable than you, $luser? Lead by example, you'll stun us all. - Toaster Fairy

[pj5081]

[Severine]

[ANHWizard]

I must admit, I have been pleasantly surprised by VIPRE and Counterspy Enterprise by Sunbelt for my enterprise level needs.

Installing and updating are actually pretty painless, and the agents are fairly lightweight. The Enterprise console is also fairly easy to use as well.

Grant you - I really don't have much information on how well it stops viruses other than to say "none have made it past it, yet". I'm not out to stress test it...

[whobutdrew]

[MikeP]

[AndrewB]

[Guido]

Saw this today on Slashdot: An update pushed out today identifies SVCHost.exe as a virus and tries to remove it... Egad. Hope anyone out there supporting this stuff has strong locks on their doors and scissors to cut the telephone cords.

I already sent an IM to my old boss to warn him on this one as I can just see the headaches that he would be suffering if this hits his sites... 300+ computers which need a hands-on visit. Joy.
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[TheSilverBrumby]

This is the only techy stuff my mom knows. She sees the news story on TV and calls to warn us.
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"When the cockatoo flies around all crooked, it's worthless."

Never underestimate the power of Disco. - Cat Deeley

[pj5081]

[Derek]

/me considers placing the Mcafee QA staff at the meeting point of the phrase "BOHICA" and a barbed-wire wrapped telegraph pole ...

with no lube
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Systembe(e)heerder
Still liking his women like he likes his coffee ... Covered in Bees!