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DMCnathome
Former Member
Message 1 of 11

AOL McAfee problems - I am fed up

Let me start by saying I hate McAfee. As someone who works with computers daily, in IT and hardware capacities, and is currently working on their programming degree, I find this software disappointing, impotent, and generally frustrating to work with. Having a separate "removal program" be necessary after uninstalling is inefficient, primitive, and honestly dumb. Norton at least offered me a great deal of proven protection and reliable customer support for all the frustrations and annoyances their software comes with.

But, my client is getting McAfee free with their AOL subscription, and so they want McAfee reloaded with their computer.
This has caused no small number of problems, and I have gotten no closer to a solution to where I started. In fact, where I started out thinking it was just your fault for writing a useless piece of "software" and having little to no regard for your customers, I decided to stick it out, do some research, and even try to work with your tech support. "Muhammed", "SameerM", and "Teena" seemed to me to know nothing about how software works. After all of that arduous work on my part to get the installer for your software to do what it's supposed to (install correctly!), I have arrived at the conclusion that my first opinion was the correct one.

My situation is this: the client, as stated above, has McAfee through AOL. This is the McAfee Internet Security Suite, AOL Special Edition. When I try to download and install the software, the installer first asks for the login information, and then does one of two things...

  1. If running it for the first time, it terminates completely without warning.
  2. On subsequent runs of the installer, it throws an exception and has the error window pop up.


So far, the possible reasons for this are:

  1. MSXML being corrupted - Re-install MSXML
  2. Other software interfering - Un-install all other anti-virus and anti-spyware software
  3. Your product is buggy, poorly written, and generally useless, and there is no solution for it.


I had persued options 1 and 2 before contacting your customer support, and told them as much, but each time they told me to re-do it anyway (by the way, I hated having to re-request chat support TWICE to get someone who didn't assure me I was an idiot and needed to do the exact same thing over again, and it would surely work this time).
I hope there is an option 4 here.
10 Replies
DMCnathome
Former Member
Message 2 of 11

Crash Dump

Here is the crash dump, which is almost at the character limit for a single post in itself
---------------
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-16"?>
<DATABASE>
<EXE NAME="Install.exe" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_PRIVACY">

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="CodeRes.dll" SIZE="344568" CHECKSUM="0x94EFCA2F" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Installer Resource Library" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,112,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="CodeRes.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="CodeRes" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x59E0E" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:18" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:18" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="Compat.dll" SIZE="406368" CHECKSUM="0x4420C207" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Compatibility Cheker" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,112,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="Compat.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="McCompatCheck" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x72C24" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:50" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:50" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="Dwnload.dll" SIZE="871928" CHECKSUM="0xB00E330E" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Download Manager" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,112,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="Dwnload.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="Download" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xD64DE" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:41" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:41" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="Install.exe" SIZE="871928" CHECKSUM="0x659BB2D0" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,112,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="Install.exe" INTERNAL_NAME="Install" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xDE8F3" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:34:05" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:34:05" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="InstProg.dll" SIZE="200368" CHECKSUM="0xDA77CB16" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Installation Progress Notification Library" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,112,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="InstProg.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="InstProg" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x3F6FE" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.112.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:27" UPTO_LINK_DATE="05/15/2009 15:33:27" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="McBrwsr2.dll" SIZE="426968" CHECKSUM="0x52761082" BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="9,3,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Web Browser Control" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee SecurityCenter" FILE_VERSION="9,3,114,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="mcbrwsr2.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="mcbrwsr2" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x6A761" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:53:58" UPTO_LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:53:58" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="McUtil.dll" SIZE="215872" CHECKSUM="0x587D4FC4" BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="9,3,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Utility DLL" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee SecurityCenter" FILE_VERSION="9,3,114,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="McUtil.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="McUtil" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x3EF5C" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:54:03" UPTO_LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:54:03" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="MispLF.dll" SIZE="233328" CHECKSUM="0xB14A8C01" BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="9,3,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="MISP Look-and-Feel Library" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee SecurityCenter" FILE_VERSION="9,3,114,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="MispLF.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="MispLF" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x393E8" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="9.3.114.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="9.3.0.0" LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:53:46" UPTO_LINK_DATE="01/08/2009 17:53:46" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="1033\CompatL.dll" SIZE="12440" CHECKSUM="0x72FADDE4" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Compatibility Checker" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,107,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="CompatL.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="McCompatCheckL10N" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x11D0B" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:11" UPTO_LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:11" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="1033\DwnloadL.dll" SIZE="13496" CHECKSUM="0x48E863BE" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="McAfee Download Manager L10N" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,107,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="DwnloadL.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="DownloadL10N" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x90AD" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:10" UPTO_LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:10" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="1033\L10NRes.dll" SIZE="52048" CHECKSUM="0xECA52658" BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" PRODUCT_VERSION="3,9,0,0" FILE_DESCRIPTION="MISP Installer Localized Resources" COMPANY_NAME="McAfee, Inc." PRODUCT_NAME="McAfee Integrated Security Platform Installer" FILE_VERSION="3,9,107,0" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="L10NRes.dll" INTERNAL_NAME="L10NRes" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="Copyright © 2008 McAfee, Inc." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x1" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0x1BE6E" LINKER_VERSION="0x0" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="3.9.107.0" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="3.9.0.0" LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:10" UPTO_LINK_DATE="02/11/2009 17:52:10" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
<EXE NAME="kernel32.dll" FILTER="GRABMI_FILTER_THISFILEONLY">

<MATCHING_FILE NAME="kernel32.dll" SIZE="989696" CHECKSUM="0x2D998938" BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781" BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781" PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781" FILE_DESCRIPTION="Windows NT BASE API Client DLL" COMPANY_NAME="Microsoft Corporation" PRODUCT_NAME="Microsoft® Windows® Operating System" FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781 (xpsp_sp3_gdr.090321-1317)" ORIGINAL_FILENAME="kernel32" INTERNAL_NAME="kernel32" LEGAL_COPYRIGHT="© Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved." VERFILEDATEHI="0x0" VERFILEDATELO="0x0" VERFILEOS="0x40004" VERFILETYPE="0x2" MODULE_TYPE="WIN32" PE_CHECKSUM="0xFE572" LINKER_VERSION="0x50001" UPTO_BIN_FILE_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781" UPTO_BIN_PRODUCT_VERSION="5.1.2600.5781" LINK_DATE="03/21/2009 14:06:58" UPTO_LINK_DATE="03/21/2009 14:06:58" VER_LANGUAGE="English (United States) [0x409]" />
</EXE>
</DATABASE>
---------------
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 3 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

I'm afraid that crash dump is virtually meaningless to anyone but an online Technical Support Chat person. They are available 24/7 through the link at top left of this page or in my signature as you obviously have tried. They at least can escalate the problem to higher levels. Here we can only go from experience.

There could be server problems, although I doubt it. First what specs does the downloading machine have - operating system, service pack, free hard drive space, installed memory and is it free of infection, or rather has anything unusual been happening with it lately?

Also, what other/previous protection software was/is installed?

If McAfee or Norton was installed did you use the removal tool?
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 4 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

I forgot to add that it might be advisable to scan for malware first.

Use the free version of these two tools and let them remove everything they find:
http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html
http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php
DMCnathome
Former Member
Message 5 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

AVG free was installed, I uninstalled that.
No malware, spyware, viruses.
XP Home SP3.

Spybot was installed when I attempted this, but it is not intrusive. One of the techs assured me that spybot was causing this, and even though I doubted it, I uninstalled it. Guess what? No effect.

It's funny, each of the three techs I chatted with never once asked for the dump. The last one ignored me when I offered it myself. They were all about giving me some simple-minded solution in a sequence to get rid of me as soon as possible, even when I insisted that the solution they suggested had already been tried and would not work.

Oh, and I did get "elevated" to a "tier 2" response. As far as I've been able to tell, this was the last technical support moron lying to me about how I would be receiving a phone call within 3 hours to help assist with the matter. That was 20 hours ago.

If the online Tech-Support chat is really the best help McAfee has to offer, then I am done. Obviously they don't know/don't care enough to fix their own product.
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 6 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

Spybot's Teatimer has caused problems, but as it is optional you may not have that activated.

If they said that they would call it certainly should have happened. Call Customer Service (link 2nd from left at top) - it's Toll-Free and ask them to contact Technical Support regarding the unfulfilled promise of a call back.

Another thing to check is that Internet Explorer (hopefully IE7 or 😎 is set to its defaults under the Tools/Internet Options/Security tab and Advanced tab, also that Content Advisor is off under the Content tab.

Regardless of whether or not it's the default browser, McAfee depends on it.
DMCnathome
Former Member
Message 7 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

Internet explorer was version 6. I have checked, and other than having MSN toolbar, it is all default settings, with content advisor off.

Also, I tried using the McAfee removal tool, and it threw an "incomplete cleanup" error every time. I'm not sure why this is, but it is unrelated to inhibiting software or scheduled tasks.
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 8 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

A reboot should take care of the incomplete cleanup. IE6 is not only almost obsolete but considered very unsafe.

I suggest updating to at least 7 and better 8 http://www.microsoft.com/DOWNLOADS/en/default.aspx

Try disabling any and all pop-up blockers and if Spybot has any active protection turn that off. Make sure that Windows Firewall is not in lockdown mode.
exbrit
MVP
MVP
Message 9 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

Another thought. If IE6 was sitting there it leads me to believe that the machine may be missing other updates.

Try checking for both critical and non-critical updates using Microsoft Update, rather than the old Windows Update. It will ask to install an ActiveX, OK that.

http://update.microsoft.com/microsoftupdate/v6/default.aspx?ln=en-US
DMCnathome
Former Member
Message 10 of 11

RE: Crash Dump

Well, I had already uninstalled spybot as per the technician's suggestions. That didn't help.

Windows updates also did not do anything. At this point, I had tried everything short of a re-format of windows, which I think is just plain ridiculous for a single program. Just FYI, many, many other diagnostic programs installed and uninstalled fine while I was cleaning up this client's computer and checking for problems.

I am still convinced it is a software problem on McAfee's end.
Unfortunately, the client needed their computer back, so I just gave him the working laptop minus McAfee.
I did get a call from tech support at 6:00pm today from a "tech" who cannot pronounce my name. He offered, a day late and a dollar short, to set me up with a technician for remote access to fix the problem.
I'm kind of insulted, because that's what they should have done in the first place when I told them neither of the usual "solutions" worked. As I have no timeframe for when I might get the laptop back, to work on it again, I have no logical choice but to allow closure of the case.
Thank you for all your help, though, Ex_Brit. Not sure if you have any connections to the corporation, but is there an e-mail address of someone I could send this crash dump to, who would know what to make of it?
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