'Verify your subscription' every day

[FWPhoto]

Ha...very true...she is a dinosaur but she still hummms with the best of them and my problem was gone after only one unistall and reinstall of the AVS so.....   God bless laziness and the tried and true. 

[DerekShaw]

I have a 3-use Internet Security Suite. It was originally purchased in 2007 but is described as "versionless" so it is not really "version" 2007, 2008 or 2009.

It is currently installed on two computers, both with Windows XP Professional: mine is SP3 and my wife's (which is older) has SP2 - I had some problems getting mine from SP2 to SP3 so have not been brave enough yet to try this on hers!

Set to update automatically there has been no problem on either computer until about a month ago since when my wife has been getting the "Verify your subscription" problem every day. Mine does not have this problem.

Both computers had an earlier version of McAfee installed when the Internet Security Suite was installed. There was an initial problem in being unable to install it on my wife's but this was identified by McAfee technical help as a problem with Internet Explorer and they provided a file which fixed this. I also did a complete uninstall of the existing McAfee software on this computer (including the step of using MCPR.EXE). Since then, until recently there have been no problems so this rather rules out the present one being due to the existence of an earlier McAfee program when this one was installed. The program MCPR.EXE was not used on my computer! I think I actually installed over the existing McAfee program which was a preinstalled version from Dell, but I might have uninstalled this first from Add/Remove programs.

Just a digression here, why should it be necessary to use a separate program (MCPR.EXE) to remove older McAfee software? If this can be done with a program then why is this not part of the installation program for later versions so that removal of any older version is done automatically with the new installation?

I think it is significant that the "Verify your subscription" problem has only just recently occurred. This would indicate that it has something to do with the McAfee updates. There has never been any internet security software on my wife's computer other than McAfee. I also have PC Tools Spyware Doctor, but I do not have the "Verify your subscription" problem! A full scan with McAfee shows no viruses or other unwanted "programs" such as adware or malware.

Following some of the comments in this thread I tried configuring McAfee on her computer to download updates and notify that they need manually installing, i.e. not to do the actual installation automatically. We both use a similar procedure for Windows/Microsoft updates which are always kept up to date. Unfortunately not only did this not get rid of the "Verify your subscription" problem but it also did not download the updates for later manual installation.

I have now completely disabled automatic updates and this seems to have stopped the "Verify your subscription" problem. However, it is now necessary to do the updates manually. This ought not to be needed as it worked with automatic updates enabled until very recently. It does rather point to the problem being caused by the McAfee automatic updates. It is though a mystery why this is only affecting my wife's computer where I did a thorough uninstallation of the old McAfee software first but there is no problem with mine where I was not so thorough,

This situation is very inconvenient so will the problem be fixed by future updates?

Derek

Message was edited by: DerekShaw on 11/19/09 4:34 PM

[Peacekeeper]

Just a digression here, why should it be necessary to use a separate program (MCPR.EXE) to remove older McAfee software? If this can be done with a program then why is this not part of the installation program for later versions so that removal of any older version is done automatically with the new installation?

Good question asking them Monday.

Can you check if your wife's PC has the file mcsubdb.dat and ,bak present?

[DerekShaw]

Yes, these files are present on my wife's computer.

McSubDB.dat is in

C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\\McAfee\MSC

and  the Bak file is in the Cache subfolder of MSC.

I would though point out that there has been no problem for several years, so why should it suddenly change a few weeks ago?

Could these files have got corrupted?

I also have the files on my computer and the same program is installed (and kept updated) on both?

Should they in fact be identical on both computers?

If so, might a solution be to copy these two files from mine to hers? If I tried this I would of course make a backup of the existing ones first.

Derek

[Peacekeeper]

Now that question needs to be put to Mcafee as i think the files set them selves up differently depending on installed products and maybe OS. Best to ask Chat re that. You get to them via tech support link in useful links above.

These files can be corrupted by malware have you run mcafee (updated) and in safe mode over her PC? If this fine try checking with these free scanners as backup.

If things are still unstable , or you want a second opinion , you can supplement your scans the free versions of these tools:

http://www.superantispyware.com/superantispywarefreevspro.html

http://www.malwarebytes.org/mbam.php

Sometimes the malware could be protecting itself against this by preventing the installation so try the following:

Rename the executable (eg: open the C:\Program Files\Malwarebytes folder, then rename the "mbam.exe" file to something else, like "1234.exe", then double click directly on the file to open the program ) .

Update both programs before running them and let them clean anything they find by doing a full scan. If they quarantine a file or cannot remove a

file try to get a copy of it and send it to McAfee using the virus submission path described here : http://service.mcafee.com/FAQDocument.aspx?id=TS100095

[TXRoger]

Tony,

I see by your signature block you are a "volunteer", so I will trust you are not a corporate shill and are trying to assist the people with problems.  However, when I buy a tool I expect it to work.   A hammer should drive nails.   I am responsible to know how to swing the hammer and apply force.  I am NOT required to know the composition of the hammer head or the handle is a space age composite material.  I know the hammer works if I apply it correctly.

Software is a tool.

“Can you check if your wife's PC has …”

“The uninstall reinstall would renew your possibly corrupt mcsubdb files which can be a cause of the error.”

“Can you check if your wife's PC has the file…”

The tool does not work correctly and should be corrected.   Requiring the user to examine the tools construction is NOT, repeat, NOT why I paid McAfee.

Fix the tool and consumers will gladly pay.  And, never once ask “Is this hammer head made of 100% space age alloy”.  They will tell their friends: “This hammer works well.”

Roger

[DerekShaw]

Thank you for your comments.

I assume you mean run Windows in safe mode and then do a full scan with McAfee. If so, I doubt that I would be allowed to tie up her computer for so long as it is what she uses for her work to earn our income (working from home that is) and she does not like using mine - even though it has the same programs on it that she uses and all the documents are always put on removable media (flash drives in duplicate). Or is there a safe mode to run McAfee with Windows running normally?

I might though be able to try the free versions of the programs you suggested to check for malware and so on.

However I still do not think this ought to be necessary.

Derek

[DerekShaw]

This is also exactly how I feel.

My wife is earning the money. I assist by providing IT support as far as I can - including OCR work, formatting documents, updating programs and so on. This present problem is very inconvenient and it seems that to fix it might need a lot of work on my part, even if I could tie up her computer for that long. My wife would not be able to do what has been suggested. However, I could not do what she does and it is that which earns the money.

This problem seems to be one which is being experienced by a lot of users even if many do not have any problem. Surely it ought to be possible for McAfee to provide a fix for this, say to make sure that a full scan will find and deal with any malware etc that might have caused the problem in the first place and then to update the McSubDB.dat file without the need to do a complete uninstall and reinstall. Even this seems to be no guarantee of a permanent cure.

Derek

Message was edited by: DerekShaw on 11/20/09 10:19 AM

[Peacekeeper]

Yes full non Mcafee staffer just a Retired Public servant trying to help.

Been modding here for 7 years. This and the non protected issue very confusing as I said all  mods haven't ever seen it nor the verify issue so something is tripping it. Be assured this is no 1 priority in our talks with the techs

[JohnPickles]

Just an update from me..

It's now 5 days without the dreaded Verify Subscription Message, have uninstalled, removed AdAware Plus, and re-installed McAfee.

One thing that is ticking me off now though is that I cannot get McAfee to stop sending me e-mails about new posts on the forums even though I've asked to stop receiving notifications. I must get upwards of 100 emails a day. PLEASE... MAKE. THEM. STOP !!!