McAfee Stinger retired?

Not sure if this belongs in this sub-forum or in the "Other Anti-Virus Software" forum, but here goes...

Once in a while, I run McAfee Stinger on my PCs as a backup scan to the installed AV. Today, I launched the most recent version of Stinger that I have, 12.2.2.709 with a build date of Jan. 8, 2024. (I downloaded it on January 12.) As usual, Stinger offered to download a newer version, so I let it do its thing.

My browser landed on the McAfee home page (www.mcafee.com). This had happened before, so I went into Bookmarks and called up the specific URL that I've been using for Stinger, https://www.mcafee.com/en-us/consumer-corporate/mcafee-labs/free-tools/stinger.html. However, this time clicking on that URL took me right back to the McAfee home page.

A search around their website turned up no information about Stinger. Does anybody know if Stinger has been retired? Or has the download page maybe been moved someplace else?

Thanks for any info you might share.

 

Yeah, after a couple mergers and acquisitions a couple years ago, it ceased being McAfee Stinger back then and became part of a new company called Trellix. The program is now called simply "Stinger". Personally, I never felt it was that useful. That is, it never found any threats my normal security (Microsoft Defender) missed. But since it doesn't run full time and thus does not consume any resources needlessly, no harm in running it on-demand every once in awhile for a little reassurance all is okay.

 

I would stay away from Stringer. It doesn't support latest Win 10 ver. or Win 11 at all. Also notice the IE requirement;

https://www.trellix.com/downloads/free-tools/stinger/

 

You're better off using Norton Power Eraser.

 

Well, that's clearly in need of updating. I've run it on W10 and without IE with no problems.

HOWEVER, I have the settings set to "Report" any problems rather than automatically "Repair", "Rename" or "Remove" anything it thinks is a problem. That said, I just ran the latest version on this W10 system and it ran fine, and didn't bulk at no IE.

As for Norton Power Eraser, can't say I trust much of anything with the Norton name applied to it either. The product may be fine, just don't trust the company.

I'll stick with what we been using on all our systems here, Microsoft Defender and either Malwarebytes Premium or Free. That along with keeping Windows and our security current and the biggie, avoid being "click-happy" on unsolicited links.

 

Thanks @ronjor and @Bill_Bright for the links.

I do also use NPE occasionally for the same reason as Stinger.