Pop up saying saying system not protected opened McAfee said ok

[KathiMR]

I'm a bit concerned and confused. I received a pop up message saying something about my system not being totally protected and go to McAfee to check. I clicked on the McAfee icon in the tray & it showed everything is fine.

I also installed tools and ran that check and it said everything was ok.  So just wondering why I got the message.

I also had my computer freeze this afternoon during boot up so that I ended up turning it off and then after a minute turning it back on.  It stuck on the screen showing Dell Bios A08 with a progress bar that stopped about 2/3 of the way across.  That also makes me nervous but I'm just hoping and praying everything is ok. Computer is 5 yr old Dell Inspiron 5160 laptop running Win XP SP 3 with latest updates.  So don't know if that is a hardware or software issue or what to do about it. It booted fine the second time.

Other strange behavior that seems better now is that after installing SP 3 that about half the time when I would click shut down, it would instead restart so I would then manually turn it off so I could go to bed rather than waiting for it. Its been a bit better lately, maybe recent updates fixed that.

Running Cox free version of McAfee 9.15  Its showing last update 11/30, in the about screen but I had just gotten a message that it had installed updates.

Also Firefox 3.5.5, Eudora, etc.

I've only had this installed a few weeks. I've also noticed that it seems to be slowing my computer down. Email downloads are slower and I think web browsing also.

Is there anything I should be concerned about or check further? I hope not as I will be traveling--with the computer.

Thanks for any help.  I think I'll plan to run my usual Thurs back up tonight before i leave just in case.

[newjack]

If you open up the security center in the bottom right it says about.Click on that and each program will tell when the last update was.For virus scan i have 12/15.You may have to load virtual tech or uninstall and reinstall.I`m not sure though.Hopefully someone with more experiance with mcafee will help before resorting to that.Good luck

Message was edited by: newjack on 12/16/09 5:51:16 PM CST

[KathiMR]

OK, I took a look there and virus scan shows 12/16 the others show different dates. Do they all update automatically?

But the main question I am confused about is why I got the pop up message saying that I wasn't fully protected but when I open

McAfee Security Center is says that I am up to date and protected.  I'm just confused why I got the pop up message saying I might not be protected when security center says I am.  I just clicked update and it checked but is showing the same dates so i guess some of the other components don't update as often.

I guess I'll just assume that security center is right and not worry about the popup message that I think was from McAfee.  I need to get my suitcase packed, LOL.

I followed the instructions for virtual tools or whatever it is and it also said everything was fine. So hopefully it is.

But I'm also wondering about whether it is normal for McAfee to slow the computer down for email and browsing?  I'm noticing a very definate pause when I go to check email and sometimes it seems to hang.  This seemed to start right after I installed McAfee. I was using freeware before but the anti-virus program I had to pay since I use the computer some for business and so it said I had to. It expired so I decided to switch.

Plus, while the software I was using was highly recommended, I think it was more for techie types since I didn't always understand the messages or questions it asked me.  I figure McAfee is more geared to general users with hopefully messages that are understandable.

[Dinz]

Hi KathiMR,

McAfee security software is made up of multiple components. If your computer  has not received all of the updates , you will receive this popup as its not protected , yet the next time if its updated ; the message would disappear. Which is been in your case .
Ensure that when you connect you computer to internet , you update security center so that security center receives all the current updates and protected.

Regards,
Dinesh K

[KathiMR]

I think it is supposed to update automatically. Just now I got the same message and when I clicked on the link to open security center it momentarily showed several not protected but almost immediately changed to show they were ok. So I'm guessing that the part checking for protection loads before it does the auto update when I turn the computer on.

[Dinz]

Yes,security center upates automatically and the speed is depending upon the internet connection.

Also make sure that the system date & time are correct and you dont run any other security software in the computer as there will be conflicts between the programs.

Regards,

Dinesh K

[KathiMR]

I have been out of town and have been bombarded with messages not just on this thread but a number of others. I'm not used to that as usually on a user group I have just gotten responses to threads I posted on.  Its been a bit overwhelming, especially since I was getting them on my new windows mobile phone which also had a problem sending emails much of the time.

This has happened several times since when McAfee updates automatically and then gives me the not protected message, but then when I go to the security center its either showing fine or there may be 1 or 2 things I just need to click on to make it all right.

Plus when I try to click on the link to come here to the community forums, I'm getting some kind of error message from IE saying something about an incompatibility between sonic and IE8.  I use Firefox, but that pop up is really annoying as it doesn't allow me to click no. I finally did find a link to follow to the microsoft website but then it said it didn't apply to the version I was running and to click to go to the XP area.  When I went there, it was just the general XP area with no info on that specific issue.  Not very helpful.  I suppose there is info there somewhere.

[exbrit]

KathiMR wrote:
I have been out of town and have been bombarded with messages not just on this thread but a number of others. I'm not used to that as usually on a user group I have just gotten responses to threads I posted on.  Its been a bit overwhelming, especially since I was getting them on my new windows mobile phone which also had a problem sending emails much of the time.
This has happened several times since when McAfee updates automatically and then gives me the not protected message, but then when I go to the security center its either showing fine or there may be 1 or 2 things I just need to click on to make it all right.
Plus when I try to click on the link to come here to the community forums, I'm getting some kind of error message from IE saying something about an incompatibility between sonic and IE8.  I use Firefox, but that pop up is really annoying as it doesn't allow me to click no. I finally did find a link to follow to the microsoft website but then it said it didn't apply to the version I was running and to click to go to the XP area.  When I went there, it was just the general XP area with no info on that specific issue.  Not very helpful.  I suppose there is info there somewhere.

Matter settled in your other thread.