updated! to 5483

[gorf]

for some reason my computer could not connect to the Internet for about an hour after I turned it on this morning, however as soon as it DID connect, 5483 downloaded and installed. So hopefully for me at least this problem has resolved and I hope it will for everyone affected.

[JanVermeer]

DAT 5483 has been installed for me too, though I didn't notice the pop-up alert when it arrived, so for me too this matter is resolved.

[DaGopha]

I regularly gripe about this, so perhaps my two cents might be reassuring for folks:

1) There always appear to be server issues on the McAfee side from time to time. They usually last no longer than 6 hours, sometimes 12. On occasion, we've seen continuous problems for 24-48 hrs. Whenever I can't get an expected update, I hang tight for at least 24 hours - be warned, McAfee Front Line Support (chat/phone) will always advise uninstall/reinstall (it's what they'll always recommend for any problem). Your best bet is to visit the forums and see if anyone else is having the same probs.

2) DATs/updates/upgrades are pushed progressively around the world. So when/whether you get an update depends on where you are. Here in the UK, I've seen DATs come out 12-24 hours later than folks in the US; product updates/upgrades sometimes roll out slowly over a period of a month.

3) I've guesstimated that if the McAfee server is overloaded, it'll report back that your product is up-to-date, even tho' it may not be. There's some sort of a timeout in there somewhere. Similarly, with network issues - I sometimes find that my computer(s) don't get their DAT update immediately when I connect, and that I need to force an update on occasion for it to come down. I've just accepted this as a way of life for McAfee stuff - don't forget that it's not a corporate system - DATs aren't pushed to machines automatically, they're requested from your side.

4) Yes, there appear to have been some irritating issues this New Year - I've only just gotten my DAT for 3 Jan - the first one for this year on my count. And I have to manually check for updates to get it. There appears to be two separate routes for getting an update - the manual Check For Updates request appears to use a different protocol/channel to the auto-update - hence if I don't get an expected update automatically, I'll always force a Check For Updates request.

5) Manually downloading and installing SuperDATs or DATs from the McAfee website doesn't work for home products (unless this has changed recently). We've been complaining about this for years.

6) Weekend DAT updates have only recently been instigated. Apparently it's been something of a bumpy ride, but things seem to have settled down a bit now.

Anyway, just my thoughts in case anyone is interested...

Cheers,
Gopha.

[gorf]

IMHO the issue is more serious than you suggest Da Gopha. In this instance updates 5481 and 5482 werent issued at all (to me anyway). And there has been no response at all in this forum from anybody representing McAfee wrt this latest issue. The emails advising dat releases were sent as per usual but there were no updates. McAfee could reasonably be expected to be aware of a problem as soon as somebody reports it, in a forum or by any other method - and they should do something about it, if only to acknowledge that a problem has been reported and that they are looking into it. The emails saying dat updates have been released could have perhaps been modified to say users are reporting problems etc. Marketing 101 says only 5% of dissatisfied customers actually complain (to the merchant) I am relieved that 5483 update was succesful for me but disappointed with the lack of response from McAfee.

[Riddlez]

McAfee has tried to improve its updating process, by also giving updates in the weekend (not sure if that counts for both Sundays and Saturdays).

At face value, not a bad idea.

However, this new change has had the unforeseen and unwanted excessive delays in updating the home products. The result has been a deterioration of service.
If the servers/software can't handle it, we'd be better of using the old system.

[JanVermeer]

There are updates on Saturdays AND Sundays, and indeed I notice that today (Sunday January 4th) McAfee has published two DAT updates, 5484 and 5485, neither of which I've received yet.

[gorf]

it's already Monday here (Western Australia) 10:45 am as I type this. I got 5484 when I turned the computer on this morning about 8 am. The email advising 5484's release had arrived in the early hours as they usually do here. Almost straight after 5484 downloaded and installed I got an "emergency dat release" advice email for 5486 (due to a cleaning issue with W32/Conficker.worm.) then a couple of hours later another one for 5485 (I guess the 5486 email was an error in dat numbering) I have not received 5485 and if I try to do a manual update I get the "your programs are up to date" message. Seems there are still some issues.

[JanVermeer]

I have just received DAT 5484 also. No sign of 5485 yet. 5486 is unknown to me, as it is not mentioned at the McAfee Threat Center DAT documentation. It's still Sunday here in the McAfee time zone, so I regard one Sunday DAT delivered on the same day as real progress!

[gorf]

5486 was the first emergency dat release notification, then they sent a second notification labelling it as 5485
you can subscribe to dat release notifications here
http://vil.nai.com/vil/signup_DAT_notification.aspx
its very useful to know when the dats are released even though they may not be immediately available as suggested in the emails

[dtmcauliffe]

So, everybody is getting late DATs? I thought it was just me.
As of 11:54 central time, my security center has not gotten a new DAT since the 15th. This is certainly an odd one.....