McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

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swiftouch
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McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by swiftouch »

In 2007 we(the company i work for) got a "poor" review, on McAfees Siteadvisor website(this site integrates with their software), by 1(one) user, This user no doubt, "thinks" they started getting more spam after having signed up using a form on our site. This form is secure and has been for 4+ years.

For some reason, we still have not dropped off, nor are we able to be removed from their "blacklist" of possible spammers. Ever since we have occasionally receive complaints from customers who actually use this appalling security software. (that supposedly blankets their computer in a cloud of protection), anxious to know if their email is going to be sent off and integrated into spammer-r-us heaven.

My thought on this is:

1. This user is beyond retarded for even using an anti-virus/internet security program. (im not really that opinionated about it really :evil: )
2. Popular anti-virus programs that cost money are proven to be ineffective in many ways. And free ones don't work either.

Microsoft OneCare fails to detect virus
Anti-Virus Products Still Fail on Fresh Viruses

I quote: "...the truth is the criminals are innovating faster than the Anti-Virus vendors can keep up with."

You're best bet for avoiding viruses is to stop downloading porn, downloading via bittorent, and using the following url if you suspect a file being a virus:

http://www.virustotal.com/
This site scans the file with a total of 40+ popular anti-virus programs.

What's more, I've downloaded a file knowing full well it had a virus attached. I had it scanned by http://www.virustotal.com and what came back amazed me. Almost all of the popular anti-virus programs failed to detect it. Sound familiar anyone??? Last time you got a virus, did your anti-virus program do anything to stop it??? I've never had a single one ever stop a virus, ever. Not once. Basically I approach anti-virus with a don't ask, don't tell approach now. ....and reinstall windows twice a year. This combined with all the lost productivity due to $@*(^#*@^ Norton's anal approach to security, I've just made the leap into preaching a against anti-virus programs. How many billions of dollars have these companies made on their bull-!@#$ promises to "blanket your computer in a cloud of protection." Anyone with programming knowledge knows that is impossible.

In short after having been blacklisted by one users opinion who thinks they "might" have been spammed, we have a tarnished reputation.

If I had the time, the money, and a fatter wallet, I'd consider litigation.

What is your opinion?
Last edited by swiftouch on Wed Aug 20, 2008 12:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.
matthijs
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by matthijs »

Sorry to hear that.

Back in the time when I was using windows I did use a virusscanner, mainly McAfee. It almost never found viruses, or at least often false-positives. Whether I didn't have them or it couldn't find one... you never know. I know that in many consumer tests of these programs, they only detect like 60% of the viruses, so that's pretty bad I think.

So besides the fact that they don't do what they are supposed to do, another main problem I always had with them was the complete unusable, incomprehensible usability. If you did manage to install it problem-free, getting it to run was not too difficult. But after that, even for me as a computer-minded guy, understanding all the messages, knowing what action to take, etc was totally incomprehensible.

And don't ask me about trying to uninstall them. The only way you can uninstall McAfee is by taking a big magnet and rubbing it against your hard drive.

Using them was always like using a black box, pushing a button start, ignoring each and every message and just trusting that it had done it's job...
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onion2k
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by onion2k »

swiftouch wrote:I've never had a single one ever stop a virus, ever.
How do you know?
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Bill H
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by Bill H »

McAfee is absolute junk, slows most computers to a crawl and crashes unrelated software with astonishing regularity.
Norton is much the same, maybe worse.
They stay in business only for the same reason that the US Dept of Homeland Stupidity does.
It's all about making money off of other people's fear.

I use a firewall, AVG, and sensible browsing habits.
matthijs
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by matthijs »

Sometimes I wonder if the AV products aren't making the problem worse.

Most people I know using AV software have a lot of trust in it. Feeling protected by the software might actually increase their chance of getting infected (visiting dangerous sites, downloading attachments, opening email links, etc).

If you look at the blogspot link and the examples given there, they are all very obvious scams. Emails from "colonial bank" asking you to go to a website at the address eg3x dot com and downloading an .exe there .... I mean if you are that uneducated you should not have an internet-connected computer.
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swiftouch
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by swiftouch »

onion2k

I used to use anti-virus. I used to be a heavy bittorrent user before I made the change to legit, honestly paying for all the software I use now(even Photoshop).

But the point here is that a/v's really don't stop a whole lot. I have on many occasions gotten the "popup" telling me there is a virus and "do i want to clean it" type message. Cleaning it never worked. It always spread.

To feel safe, I couldn't rely on the A/V software to clean a virus off my machine. I had to just reformat. Which is smart anyway since windows slows to a crawl about a year(my brother would tell you more like 3 months) after heavy windows use.

I agree with everything matthijs has to say...
matthijs wrote:Sometimes I wonder if the AV products aren't making the problem worse.

Most people I know using AV software have a lot of trust in it. Feeling protected by the software might actually increase their chance of getting infected (visiting dangerous sites, downloading attachments, opening email links, etc).

If you look at the blogspot link and the examples given there, they are all very obvious scams. Emails from "colonial bank" asking you to go to a website at the address eg3x dot com and downloading an .exe there .... I mean if you are that uneducated you should not have an internet-connected computer.
I do a lot of development as well as support at the small company I work. 9/10 times when I have customers with email issues(it's not sending or receiving) and they have an A/V / Internet security software installed...the software is the culprit. Unfortunately, trying to explain to these users that they are still vulnerable is beyond the scope of my job...but irritating never the less.
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Chalks
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by Chalks »

I haven't used an antivirus program for 2 years now, and my computer is still as uncluttered and fast as it was then (faster, actually... huzzah upgraded parts). Here's why:

I download files _only_ from trusted sources. No p2p file sharing, no pr0n, etc.
I reinstall windows about once a year.
I regularly (every week or so) check what processes run on my computer, and look up any that I don't recognize.
I install all programs on a hard drive separate from my windows installation (this makes windows reinstallation much easier).
I use ubuntu about half the time (dual boot for the win).


The first three things I'm convinced eliminate most, if not all, potential virus threats. In my opinion, antivirus software is far too annoying and eats far too much system resources for me to use.
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swiftouch
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by swiftouch »

Chalks wrote:In my opinion, antivirus software is far too annoying and eats far too much system resources for me to use.
Ditto that. I'm glad there are other people out there that think like me. :drunk:
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shiznatix
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by shiznatix »

I run linux full time. I have a vista license at work but i just formatted windows and installed ubuntu. Ubuntu at work, at home, and Xandros (or whatever) on my Eee. Never had a virus problem.

sorry, just had to throw that zelot linux stuff in there :P
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swiftouch
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by swiftouch »

I've tried moving to linux. Unfortunately there are just not all the cool programs for linux as there are for windows. However the best php editor is available for windows now phped which would actually make the switch plausible in my case. Unfortunately everytime i've used linux for any length of time i find myself... :banghead: up against walls. Way too much of a learning curve.
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ghurtado
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Re: McAffee Siteadvisor = garbage

Post by ghurtado »

You should give Ubuntu a try, you'd be shocked at how much nicer Linux has gotten in recent years.
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