McAfee, Vista and Dell

Warning- if you have Vista, don't try to install McAfee products.

I have a new Dell- which came with a 30 day free trial version of Sec. Suite
7. Every 4 hours I'd get a warning message in the tray that I needed to
register it- but it wouldn't register. After much grief searching the web I
finally found a note on Dell's web site about this problem- I had to
download a bat file to run so that the McAfee could register. Now, why the
hell didn't Dell email all its new customers about this!

After the 30 days- I got a tray message saying I could go to McAfee's web
site to purchase the program- which I did- then I had to download it fresh-
it installed, but I didn't think to uninstall the trial version- years ago
when I made this mistake, McAfee warned me that I first needed to uninstall
the old program- this time it didn't. After installing the program I noticed
that the program failed to show the new expiration date but gave the
expiration date of the trial version. I then did an online chat with McAfee,
that tech never suggested that this was the problem but I thought of it
while chatting- she then sent me a link to download a special program to
uninstall all McAfee products- which I did, though I was suspicious that
this wasn't the way to go--- it uninstalled the Trial but also messed up my
IE7 browser and email program- so that neither worked correctly. I called
Dell and he had me try some things that didn't work and said to call MS-
which didn't care to talk without a price- I then called McAfee and got no
good advice- I then got back to Dell and a tech wisely suggested running
RESTORE which succeeded in fixing the browser and email program. I then
re-downloaded the McAfee program but it refused to install- instead I just
got a white box which did nothing. I then spent several more hours on the
phone with Dell and McAfee and had several chat sessions with no luck- I
also of course read the numerous FAQs on the McAfee web site about
installation problems and did everything they suggested- no luck.

I finally gave up and downloaded MS's One Live Care. The only hassle was
setting up a Windows Live ID which took 15 minutes to figure out. Then the
install went smooth.

Now, maybe if I had first uninstalled the Trial version, this nightmare
wouldn't have happened- but, why the hell couldn't the installation routine
simply check to see if any offending software was installed, then stop?
That's what the older McAfee programs did years ago.

In my last call to McAfee I said I wanted to get past the "low level sales
person" who answers the phone and pretends to know something- I asked to
"escalate" to a tech specialist- but was told NO, I had to pay for that.
When I suggested that I wasn't going to pay a company to tell me how to
install their program that I just paid for- she said that I could go back to
the live chat room.

So, maybe some of you have had no problem with McAfee and Vista- but beware!

Interesting to note that on MS web site it lists several AV programs that
work well with Vista, including Semantic and its own program- but it doesn't
list McAfee. I wonder why?

I'll NEVER consider McAfee again- as it was, I always hated the look of
their program- small windows that don't have drop down menus represent a
poor user interface, IMHO.

Joe

I installed McAfee on my new Vista Ultimate machine with no problems. I
guess I am one of the lucky ones.

(I have a Sony Viola)

Jay

"Joe" <abc@xyz.com> wrote in message
news:%23K9lkSeoHHA.1000@TK2MSFTNGP05.phx.gbl...
> Warning- if you have Vista, don't try to install McAfee products.
>
> I have a new Dell- which came with a 30 day free trial version of Sec.
> Suite 7. Every 4 hours I'd get a warning message in the tray that I needed
> to register it- but it wouldn't register. After much grief searching the
> web I finally found a note on Dell's web site about this problem- I had to
> download a bat file to run so that the McAfee could register. Now, why the
> hell didn't Dell email all its new customers about this!
>
> After the 30 days- I got a tray message saying I could go to McAfee's web
> site to purchase the program- which I did- then I had to download it
> fresh- it installed, but I didn't think to uninstall the trial version-
> years ago when I made this mistake, McAfee warned me that I first needed
> to uninstall the old program- this time it didn't. After installing the
> program I noticed that the program failed to show the new expiration date
> but gave the expiration date of the trial version. I then did an online
> chat with McAfee, that tech never suggested that this was the problem but
> I thought of it while chatting- she then sent me a link to download a
> special program to uninstall all McAfee products- which I did, though I
> was suspicious that this wasn't the way to go--- it uninstalled the Trial
> but also messed up my IE7 browser and email program- so that neither
> worked correctly. I called Dell and he had me try some things that didn't
> work and said to call MS- which didn't care to talk without a price- I
> then called McAfee and got no good advice- I then got back to Dell and a
> tech wisely suggested running RESTORE which succeeded in fixing the
> browser and email program. I then re-downloaded the McAfee program but it
> refused to install- instead I just got a white box which did nothing. I
> then spent several more hours on the phone with Dell and McAfee and had
> several chat sessions with no luck- I also of course read the numerous
> FAQs on the McAfee web site about installation problems and did everything
> they suggested- no luck.
>
> I finally gave up and downloaded MS's One Live Care. The only hassle was
> setting up a Windows Live ID which took 15 minutes to figure out. Then the
> install went smooth.
>
> Now, maybe if I had first uninstalled the Trial version, this nightmare
> wouldn't have happened- but, why the hell couldn't the installation
> routine simply check to see if any offending software was installed, then
> stop? That's what the older McAfee programs did years ago.
>
> In my last call to McAfee I said I wanted to get past the "low level sales
> person" who answers the phone and pretends to know something- I asked to
> "escalate" to a tech specialist- but was told NO, I had to pay for that.
> When I suggested that I wasn't going to pay a company to tell me how to
> install their program that I just paid for- she said that I could go back
> to the live chat room.
>
> So, maybe some of you have had no problem with McAfee and Vista- but
> beware!
>
> Interesting to note that on MS web site it lists several AV programs that
> work well with Vista, including Semantic and its own program- but it
> doesn't list McAfee. I wonder why?
>
> I'll NEVER consider McAfee again- as it was, I always hated the look of
> their program- small windows that don't have drop down menus represent a
> poor user interface, IMHO.
>
> Joe

"Jay Lute" <ajayl5@seanet.com> wrote
>I installed McAfee on my new Vista Ultimate machine with no problems. I
> guess I am one of the lucky ones.
>
> (I have a Sony Viola)

<snip>

You'd be better off using something else.

--
Rock [MS-MVP User/Shell]