Firewall Release Name: 16.0 R107 settings for blocked programs missing

[Tarek1]

Can you please explain how to do reinstall? Firewall is working as before after reinstall? And how to avoid updates which will again remove the firewall?

[cyberdude]

from one of my computers i removed the New Livesafe version with the Advanced Firewall ect.

when i downloaded a new installation file from my mcafee account it installed the 'old' R51 version.

seems the installer was not yet updated to install the latest new version at the time of doing the reinstall.

the McAfee program has access to internet since it has to download latest virus updates and the like.

so one of these days i will lose the current old version and become the new version again.

if you remove the current version and download from your account a new file it will install the old or the new version instead  direct perhaps.

this is someting i can't tell but it could worth a try.

i advise to let the program be connected to the internet to receive updates as it goes along.

if you want to continue you could use the following service doc to uninstall mcafee from your computer;

McAfee KB - How to remove McAfee products from a Windows PC (TS101331)

use first option 1 from the article above and do a reboot 

use second option using the MCPR tool as described and reboot again.

to do the reinstall of McAfee use the following service doc;

McAfee KB - How to download and install McAfee products (TS100342)

[tjp63]

Weirdly, McAfee offers the products in two places. In this link they offer Ultimate, Advanced, and Premium: https://www.mcafee.com/en-us/identity-theft/protection.html#chart

All new features in Ultimate and Advanced seem to be focused on identity theft and credit monitoring, and apparently many of them are not available internationally. For example, McAfee doesn't offer Ultimate in the UK at all.

Here they offer Advanced and Premium, but also Essential, and if you click on Essential, it shows that Essential is Total Protection: https://www.mcafee.com/en-us/antivirus/mcafee-total-protection.html But interestingly, Essential seems to be a cut-down version of Total Protection, since it offers anti-virus for only five devices, while the Premium seems to be more like the Total Protection people here, including me, have subscribed to, and that offers unlimited devices.

It seems that Total Protection has been downgraded/upgraded. If you want Total Protection the way it was, you should pay ten bucks more for Premium, and if they get the firewall back on track, you should then have everything you're used to having, plus something called "Personal Data Cleanup Scan" (which might or might not be the same "dark web scan" that's been in Total Protection - it looks to be the same, except it apparently also looks for data-brokering services and not just the dark web). If you pay ten bucks less for Essential, it's still not the old "Total Protection" since it supports only five devices.

Quite confusing. I might not demand a refund and keep my current subscription going just to see what the auto-renewal would suggest me and what they'd ask me to pay, since it seems that the service I bought and paid for is no longer available. I have a feeling they'd try to sell me Premium, but the auto-renewal price of Premium is higher than it was for Total Protection, so I'm not sure.

[tjp63]

First uninstall McAfee either by using the standard method or/and by using McAfee's own MCRP.EXE tool as described by cyberdude. Then log in to your account, download the setup-file, and install McAfee again. Unless McAfee has upgraded the installation, you should get the "old" version with the proper firewall, and if you didn't need to use MCRP.EXE, you shouldn't have to put in any product keys during install, either.

Unfortunately, there seems to be no way to avoid the updates that remove the firewall without a serious compromise. You could install an external program like Netlimiter and block McAfee's access to the net, so it can't download updates. You could also go to settings and remove the automatic updates. These would be decent options while waiting for things to improve, but the compromise is that if you block McAfee or block the automatic updates, you don't get the program update, but you don't get the virus database updates, either. You could say that you'd then have a working firewall, but an outdated virus-scanner, so that's hardly ideal, either.

There seems to be no way to keep version R51 and receive virus database updates. You have to accept all updates, and sooner or later, you'll receive the update that messes up the firewall. Apparently the only choice is to wait if R109 changes things. I doubt it, but it's possible. The thing is, the next time some major site does a comparison of PC protection suites, McAfee will take a beating due to not having a firewall, which practically every competitor, whether Kaspersky, 360 Degrees, Bitdefender, Panda, F-Secure, or any of the numerous others has. I somehow doubt those others will follow in McAfee's footsteps and leave the firewall service up to the free Defender and some unconfigurable unusable thing.

[cyberdude]

overhere mcafee is offering on their website; Basic (1 device), Essential (5 devices), Premium (unlimited devices) and Advanced ( unlimited devices)

no Ultimate version also.

Basic and Essential refers to Totalprotection.

if i remember correct i have seen the last year or so Totalprotection for 1 device, 3 devices and 5 devices.

can not remember seeing unlimited devices for Totalprotection.

Livesafe i have seen and using myself for unlimited devices and in my case i bought at local mediastore.

it all may vary from region.

see how things are working out the coming months i think.

edit;

since McAfee + Basic and McAfee + Essential are refering to Totalprotection we know now what this will be look like with Advanced Firewall ect.

but what does it mean for McAfee + Premium and Advanced ?

do these versions keep the 'old' Full Firewall function as we used to have or will it receive the Advanced Basic Firewall aswell ?

looks like we have to wait for a next review of those products................

[Tarek1]

I see this is difficult for me to try. I will just wait till subscription end, if firewall problem is the same, then I will not renew and simply will move to another security software

[cyberdude]

i can imagine that doing a reinstall looks overwhelming.  since the outcome is not certain currently which version you end up i understand your decision to wait and see what happens with coming updates.

if you need a reinstall later on perhaps it is always possible to contact live support by chat to ask for assistance.

[Srfnken]

I am the OP to this thread.  Has anyone ever used this program?

https://www.netlimiter.com/

It seems that it has a good firewall protection along with tracking details.  I am thinking about trashing McAfee even though I have 5 years paid and getting this firewall to replace this POS program.

[Srfnken]

@krishna55do you have a solution for this firewall not working as it is not in any of the updates?

[tjp63]

Here's one review from March: https://cybernews.com/best-antivirus-software/mcafee-antivirus-review/ This is the old version with the "full" firewall. Ironically, the site says "In our opinion, McAfee firewall is highly functional since it allows you to do the following", and then lists five features, all of which are now gone. The review could use an update.

Here's a review from January: https://uk.pcmag.com/security-suites/143427/mcafee It says here "Device-level security suite protection in McAfee+ is precisely the same as what you get with McAfee Total Protection. All the additional features in McAfee+ are in the identity protection realm", so I guess that means McAfee+ is just Total Protection with some extra features, and the firewall is basically gone from McAfee+, too.

As far as I've been able to tell, many identity protection and especially credit score features are available only in select countries. Makes sense given that we don't even have a "credit score", so they can't really offer a service like that here. American users seem to have the most choices, but it seems even Americans have now lost the firewall (or at least 99.9% of it).