McAfee's shady business pratices.

Discussion in 'other anti-virus software' started by spy1, Mar 28, 2002.

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  1. spy1

    spy1 Registered Member

    Joined:
    Dec 29, 2002
    Posts:
    3,139
    Location:
    Clover, SC
    From the latest LangaList:

    "2) McAfee's Forced Upgrade?

    Dennis Faas, who writes the "Infopackets" site and newsletter (
    http://www.infopackets.com/ ), sent this along:

        This week, my hard drive suddenly became corrupt and I lost
        over 35 gigabytes of information. While I was lucky enough to
        salvage my most important files, the rescue operation took
        over 8 hours to complete.

        Did my firewall fail and allow hackers to gain control of my
        system? Was I missing the latest Windows fix from Microsoft's
        Windows Update web site? Did I forget to update my virus
        scanner?

        Uncertain what caused the corruption of my hard drive, I
        decided to double-check the three possibilities. I quickly
        moved down the list: my firewall was up to date; there were no
        new Windows updates from Microsoft. The only other option was
        to ensure that my McAfee virus scanner had the latest virus
        definitions (DAT). ...

    When Dennis went to the McAfee site, what he found was surprising: Using
    the normal update link, he was told that he had to upgrade his AV engine
    to a newer version--- in other words, he had to buy a newer copy of
    McAfee's software in order to use the latest anti-virus definitions. But
    when he poked around the site, he found there still was a way just to
    grab the definitions, and that they'd work fine with his current engine:
    No upgrade was really needed after all. It appears that McAfee is simply
    using strong-arm tactics to try to get people to upgrade, when there's
    actually no technical requirement that they do so.

    I'm summarizing here because Dennis' email was long; but if you want to
    see his full letter, it's here:
    http://www.langa.com/extras/mcafee.htm
    It raises some very interesting questions about the way McAfee is doing
    business..."

    PeteNote - Simply one  
                                        more reason you'll never find anything McAfee on this computer.
     
  2. wizard

    wizard Registered Member

    Joined:
    Feb 9, 2002
    Posts:
    818
    Location:
    Europe - Germany - Duesseldorf
    As far I know McAfee VirusScan offers 'lifetime' updates for free. That means as long as VirusScan 4 technologie is used you can update the software for free. McAfee VirusScan 5 and 6 still based on VS 4 technic. This includes engine updates (SuperDAT) and signature updates (DAT).

    Upgraded versions with new features (McAfee VirusScan 6) for example you have to pay for.

    The update politic of McAfee was always a confusion.

    wizard
     
  3. Checkout

    Checkout Security Rhinoceros

    Joined:
    Feb 11, 2002
    Posts:
    1,226
    **** '**, I say.  (Hope that didn't sound too unrude.)
     
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