McAfee Services Stopped During Updates

[fruitless]

Briefly, I have McAfee Internet Security v12.8 installed on 2 of my pcs. EVERY year I encounter issues whenever new versions are released, or in some cases not updated automatically from the servers. Basically, infinite time has been wasted between the uninstall, reinstalls, MVTs, extensive scans, services troubleshooting, remote, phone, and chat sessions.......windows fixit, malwarebytes, edit object permissions........

Right now the software is mibehaving on both an XP and Windows 7 machine. Basically what is happening is that many of the McAfee services are shutting down during the update process. After updates are installed, moments later, the personal firewall turns off and many users will see the "red pc at risk alert". Along with the firewall, these services are stopped as well: site advisor,virus scan(mcnaiann),scanner(mcods),platform(mcpltsvc), and the proxy. You need to manually restart those services, turn back on the firewall button, and/or restart your pc to get back to optimal, protected(green bar) status. So for those that leave their pcs on, beware that this leaves you in potential danger. The temporary workaround seems to manually retrieve your updates, since that method does not cause a malfunction in the pre-mentioned services. Two other scenarions: if you turn off automatic updates, your windows pc will most likely bring up constant Action Center(white flag-->security center) alerts, and if you choose the "download updates but notify before installing" option, the services will abruptly stop again once the new updates are installed. Why doesn't McAfee play nice with Windows firewall, and other native services? Soon I'm going to have to make a decision and I don't know how much longer I can wait for a patch.

Hopefully my recent ticket that has been escalated to the development tier, will be resolved shortly. For the record, my computers are both clean and inspected by several McAfee technicians. The steps have all been taken; now the ball is in your court. It's totally unprofessional to put out a product over and over with repeated flaws and turn the other cheek. Nor is it fair for the amount of time and inconvenience spared on loyal customers.

[Peacekeeper]

Pinged a tech to comment on your ticket and the issue. Tech is a higher level tech.  Post the support ticket number please.

Message was edited by: Peacekeeper on 22/01/14 3:21:23 PM

[selvan]

Hi fruitless,

I suspect Windows does not Trust the Software. Please open WIndows Action Center Under Security Options Verify if McAfee is Turned ON. Once clicking you should receive a Pop up dialogue for Trusting McAfee Software. This should be a one time process and McAFee should be OK therafter. Post back the Outcome..!

[fruitless]

In the Windows action center under security, McAfee is turned on for network firewall, virus protection, and spyware. Not sure what you mean by "once clicking"? How do I get windows user access control to re-accept McAfee when its already on.

Please note that once McAfee downloads and installs new updates, that is when all the services malfunction. After a reboot everything looks operational. However, like I said, user interaction is required to get the services back up and running.

[selvan]

Hi fruitless,

It is understood that McAfee is already trusted by Windows. Please note that investigation is going on and would post back if further information is required.

Regards

[fruitless]

I believe my ticket has been escalated to level 3 finally. Still waiting.............

[fruitless]

Please note that on my XP pc, the McAfee Platform service shuts down during/after an automatic update. This is revealed through the MVT and also I notice that the McAfee desktop shortcut disappears and the McAfee notification icon on the bottom right disappears as well. Whenever this happens, it's a clear sign that the software falters throughout the day.

On my Windows 7 pc, the McAfee firewall and several other services continue to shut off during/after the autoupdate process. This software suite clearly needs to be patched or heavily considered to be upgraded and rolled out.

Because of these glitches, I now have both pcs set to "notify when updates are available" in the update settings options. This way I can manually install the updates wiithout the services shutting down unattended. This is only a temporary workaround, definitely not the solution.

[fruitless]

It is ONE year later and my McAfee Internet Security software still falters after the updates. I went ahead and uninstalled, then MCPR tool, re-downloaded the setup file, and reinstalled the software. I was hoping this would at least get me a new release version, but it's still the same(from fall of 2013. lol). Certain McAfee services are still stopping after the update process. My time wasted with McAfee support is over. Do I concede that the software is broken?

[exbrit]

I believe it's normal for certain services to stop during an update.  Are you actively monitoring what's happening in Task Manager or elsewhere?

Also have you tried rebooting afterwards to see if that helps?

XP will be out of support as far as McAfee is concerned sometime in early April so that system should be replaced.

Windows 7 should be SP1 and have Internet Explorer 11 installed.  Even if you never use IE, McAfee does.

Technical Support is still your best hope and you should be escalating it if at first they can't help.

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[Peacekeeper]

When Mcafee needs to upgrade a component it will close the GUI and the system tray icon This is normal as it needs to change files and cannot do so when they are working. I do not see this occurring on dat/engine updates more on patches etc.