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bifta
Former Member
Message 1 of 4

False positive feedback

Hi all

This post is to provide some feed back on my personal experience using McAfee.It is supposed to be constructive based on my experience.

1. World of Warcraft.

Around 8-9 months ago I reformatted my computer due to a new motherboard and processor being fitted.After the reinstall I installed and updated McAfee.I then updated my operating system and proceeded to install World of Warcraft using the factory supplied discs I had bought.Once the first game was installed i then proceeded to install the first expansion(The Burning Crusade).Whilst installing this McAfee picked the game up as a false positive and gave it a name.Artemis xxxxxxxxxxx.It would not allow me to go any further with the install.I therefore contracted McAfee support who remotely connected to my computer and tried to send the files to McAfee using the tool inbuilt with in the security.This tool would not manage that as it said the file was too large.The Tech support agent then checked the location where the file had come from and navigated to the folder.He tried to find the file but it was not there.I had to inform him it would not be there as McAfee had quarantined it.At this stage I started to think to myself how can a McAfee support agent not know this.He then proceeded to restore the file and copy the whole of the World of Warcraft folder.He then made a folder on my desktop and pasted the contents into that folder.

At this stage I asked him if his intention was to send the contents off to McAfee for analysis to which he replied yes.I then said can't I just send the file that was blocked rather than the whole game as the game was around 10 gig in size.The tech support agent replied no to this.At this stage I said to him it was pointless to continue as my up load speed is really slow on my 8 meg connection.It would have taken days and days if not weeks to upload the e-mail and that just was not practical.The tech support rep then said there was nothing more he could do for me then and we ended the call.I then removed McAfee and installed the remaining expansions (Wrath of the Lich King).Once the install had finished I reinstalled McAfee and thankfully it was not picking the game up as a false positive any more.

I was rather taken aback a little with the tech support agent that was dealing with my issue.I could not believe I had to point out to him where the file was as it was quarantined.I was even more taken aback when he wanted to send the whole game to McAfee despite it being 10 gig in size.

2. False positives.

I find the way McAfee deals with false positives rather astounding.

I'm a gamer and over the last 18 months I have seen over 20 games being picked up as false positives.All of them are given Artemis or Generic as a name which indicates a possible false positive to me.Each time I have come across one of these I have used the quarantined section of the security center to send the files off to McAfee and on each and every occasion they have not been dealt with.Some were sent off to McAfee over a year ago and they are still being picked up as false positives.They have been given 2 different labels.Artemis xxxxxxxx or Generic xxxxxxx where the x's are replaced with various numbers or letters.There is nothing more frustrating for me than spending £40 on a new game only to find out that my security software picks it up as a false positive and then gives me no way as a user to deal with the situation at that time other than uninstalling the security software.If I want to play the game online with  friends then uninstalling my security software is a big no no.

As a customer the thing that matters to me most after the security of my system is ease of use.In this respect McAfee is almost a nightmare to use when coming up against false positives.The reporting function in the Quarantine section of the options just does not appear to work at all.On all occasions but one(world of warcraft) I got a message to inform me that the files had been sent to McAfee.On all occasions the games are still being picked up as false positives.What is the point in having this report feature with in the security software if it is not going to be utilized by McAfee?

I can not for the life of me fathom why as a customer I am forced to have to zip files up and send them off to McAfee when the security software has an inbuilt tool to achieve the exact same thing.I can't for the life of me fathom just why there is no way to add any exceptions to stop this being an issue.At least if I had an option to add a file or folder as an exception I could play a game I had just purchased rather than wait for months for something to be done.On the whole I find McAfee easy to use but the lack of this feature I find far to obstructive for my online gaming habits.

Having read this forum on a few occasions I still can't believe McAfee seems to burying it's head in the sand regarding this issue.I don't understand why a feature like this is not built in to McAfee as it used to be years ago.It surely is not that hard to achieve and it would at least give customers that have had experiences like mine a way of playing games that they have spent hard earned cash on when the security picks them up as false positives.

I'm posting this thread in the hope that someone who works for McAfee will see it and take a little notice.Sadly I don't think there is much chance of this as it has been mentioned time and again on these forums.It would therefore appear that customer feed back is not important to McAfee.I just can't understand this mentality as it is for sure costing you custom.I know people that won't use McAfee for this very reason and it appears I'm soon to be one of them.I have been using McAfee now for around 2 years and have now come to the end of my tether with the issue after 2 recent purchases have been blocked from running in this manner.

I tend to view my computer as just that "MINE".So in my opinion it would also be nice if McAfee would allow me to control to some degree what runs of MY computer.

Come on McAfee give your customer what they have been requesting for some time on these forums.I see that regular contributors here have requested this time and time again.Surely your customers matter to you don't they.After all where would you be with out their custom and valued forum contribution?

I honestly hope that McAfee can use my experience to learn from.I would hate for it to fall on deaf ears.

After18 months struggling with this issue i feel that it is time to change to a security software provider that is going to provide what I'm looking for in security software.When the last 6 months of my subscription is up I will not be renewing my sub.Most of your competitors have a system where the user can add exceptions if he or she so chooses to.I will therefore be taking my money else where if this feature is not added before my subscription has ended.

3 Replies
klauzser
Contributor
Message 2 of 4

Re: False positive feedback

That is the same problem I have when playing World of Warcraft and the reason why I remove McAfee for a while.

Peacekeeper
Message 3 of 4

Re: False positive feedback

Pointed some techs and mcafee staff here. The program getsusp can send the file automatically to Mcafee File limits apply as it does with the inbuilt option. How big was the file?

dougr_t3_suppor
Former Member
Message 4 of 4

Re: False positive feedback

I would try these in order.

Use getsusp. http://www.mcafee.com/us/downloads/free-tools/getsusp.aspx

Notify the software vendor and ask them to contact us

Open a support ticket and ask to be escalated so we can get the product details. Then we could install the app to reproduce it.

The file size issue is not just a McAfee issue. If you look elsewhere, you will see all malware submission tools limit file size.

Let us know what happens with getsusp.

Thanks,

Doug

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