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lancelot_one
Contributor
Message 1 of 61

Protection keeps turning off

Hi! I posted this to: http://community.mcafee.com/showthread.php?t=229417

But thought I should open another thread to show how serious this is. Sometimes multiple threads can be a call to arms to fix things.

Protection keeps turning off

I have this same problem that I see cropping up all over this board and the net, mcafee turns off for absolutely no reason and I have to click it to turn it back on. System is crystal clean, running Mcafee, SAS etc... Even removed and reinstalled Mcafee from clean. Still turns off for no reason, usually while ie7 is on and sitting still, but also sometimes when outlook is running as well (MS uses same code base for both).

From what I can gather Mcafee is now turning off if it times out while doing it's thing in real time protection, if the thing that it is doing takes longer then it thinks it should. This is a bad practice, a timeout should not turn off all the software.

I am using XP service pack 3 and it's up to date with all the current patches, it just started doing this in Feb/March, never a problem before. Also does this on a brand new clean install machine I used for test with newest mcafee. Both clean machines. Both up to date xp and both just intermittently turn off for no reason when Mcafee realtime times out on a file, just recently and basically during the real time protection when outlook or ie7 is being run.

Thanks for any help, feel unprotected when the protection software turns itself off, while running.

-C
60 Replies
lancelot_one
Contributor
Message 2 of 61

RE: Protection keeps turning off

To follow up. No changes made, no system restore made, both clean machines.

Updated the product and reinstalled from clean.

Ran MVT and got this message: No Problems found. Session ID: 17588874

Mcafee real time system still turning itself off while sitting in ie7 or outlook, basically when mcafee times out doing it's thing on a file in real time in the background.

Can we fix this, as it kinda kills the purpose of having it if the virus catcher software turns itself off a couple of times a day when it hits a burp in it's software we can't see.

Thx!

-C

p.s. not complaining just want to help so we can get a fix. thx for the help.
silverhawk
Contributor
Message 3 of 61

RE: Protection keeps turning off

yeah...this is a real big issue...made to move to other security software...and it has been happening from last evening..and still no solution..i cleaned installed windows and installed even from my account but no solution...!! i think something have gone wrong with mcafee dat update..or somewhere else..one more my frnd has got same problem...and now u also..

windows vista x64 sp1

4 GB ram

using some other security software....
lancelot_one
Contributor
Message 4 of 61

RE: Protection keeps turning off

Note: for me this only turns off once or twice a day, basically when a Mcafee real time process times out on a file. Making it unpredictable. That being said I'm not bashing Mcafee, just looking for a fix. 😃 Now that they know it times out on files or can time out on files during real time and then turns off sometimes when it does, it should be just a matter of tracking it down.

As a programmer I know it's sometimes easy to accidentally drop some testing or error tracking thing into the code base. The timeout is probably there as a check or a catch all for testing and errors, now it just needs to be removed. Once removed no more problem and everyone goes back to being happy. 😃

So this is just a call for them to check their code. And help us out.

Best,

-C
nvrj
Contributor
Message 5 of 61

Popup: Am I protected: No

Every time McAfee updates I receive "Am I protected: No" and have to wait while protection is reestablished for computer and files and e-mail and IM. I ran MVT and tried free chat. MVT said no problems. Free chat update a file. Neither procedure helped. Help.
nvrj
nvrj
Contributor
Message 6 of 61

System guard gets turned off

It seems every time I reboot the System guard gets changed from automatic to manual in the services for McAfee. Why?
nvrj
lancelot_one
Contributor
Message 7 of 61

mini epidemic

It bothered me so much today that I connected trying to get help from the Mcafee support.

The chat folks don't seem to be too helpful unless it's on their preprogrammed response tree. The one today pretended to "fix" something, then basically hung up the chat on me without warning or actually doing anything.

10 mins later it shut off again...

Here's the chat info incase Mcafee wants to follow up:

- Service Request #: 292240640
- Created Date: 04/22/2009 14:31:25
- Description: Mcafee turns itself off intermittently and pops up a message that it is turned off.

Not sure really, but seems to be caused by the Mcafee real time processing timing out when it is trying to read a file in the background. When it can't it times out and turns off, popping up a message that it is turned off. And sometimes asking for verification.

This makes it look intermittent because one cannot predict when Mcafee will do this.

No help so far, seems like a mini epidemic that's being ignored. Help! Not much fun waiting on chat to get someone who can't help.

Mcafee if you are listening your users need help! And they are being polite.

-C

p.s. I think possibly they now know about the problem after the last update, as if you leave it long enough (5mins) it may or may not turn back on. But what kind of fix is this? Why have it turn off unexpectedly in the first place letting in hackers and then patch it with something that leaves the door open for a while before closing it? Why not just remove the thing that turns it off in the first place that is broken. This patch just hides the problem and confuses the folks who see it turned off with the protection turned off error popping up, then look and it's magically turned back on. Doesn't seem very secure for security software if you open the door intermittently and then close it a bit later. =(
nvrj
Contributor
Message 8 of 61

Notification of protection off upon update

Now two times in a row my protection was NOT notified as turned off upon update. Maybe something has fixed the problem--Maybe McAfee did some sort of update to fix the problem. Hope so. Thanks to all for your persistent help--apparently McAfee got the message.
nvrj
kahekili
Contributor
Message 9 of 61

Similar problem; no substantive help from McAfee technical chat session

I have had the same thing happen three times in the last two days (4/22-23/2009). Today I was away from my computer for 6 hours, and saw the "You're not protected" big red X in my system tray when I got back. Who knows how long it had been there!

I clicked "Fix." My Security Center did its thing, and then everything went green and happy. However, I was not satisfied, so I did the Virtual Technician thing, which found nothing wrong. Then I initiated a technical service chat session, with "Melvin." "Melvin" looked into my system and told me that my problem was that I had Ad-Aware and MalwareBytes Anti-Malware installed on my system (true), and that I needed to uninstall them for McAfee to work properly. I challenged that (as I have heard on other forums that whereas you should run only one anti-virus software program, you can have as many anti-spyware/malware/spam programs you want. ("Melvin" did not mention that I also have Super-AntiSpyware and Windows Defender on my system as well...). To each of my questions regarding *specifics* of the incompatibility between McAfee and the other two systems, I got only the canned response that McAfee won't work "properly" until I uninstall those programs. I kept asking for specifics. I kept getting the same answer. Finaly, "Melvin" "hung up" on me ("Melvin has left the session"), and I was not able to save the log of the chat session.

Obviously, from what I have read on this forum, the answer I was getting from "Melvin" was not the correct answer, and that the problem is a lot wider-spread than I imagined!

How do we go up the chain of command until we find someone who does more than click on canned answers?

I've been a McAfee customer for years (and even pay for it, though I can get it free through Comcast, my ISP).

This has been a thoroughly discouraging experience. You don't usually expect technical "service" to "slam the phone down" while you are "speaking."

Argh. I just want to be protected, and I doubt the problem is "third-party softwares [sic]."
CeeGee14
Former Member
Message 10 of 61

Protection turned off after updating

Wanted to chime in on this ... it doesn't happen to me every time ... it didn't happen the last time I logged in couple days ago, but it happened today ... it does seem to be a glitch somewhere ... I also noticed it started happening earlier this month ... could it be a virus?
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