We recently acquired a new computer bundled with the McAffee anti-virus and firewall. So I figured, let's see how it performs. So I coughed up the money and activated it. This should be good for a whole year, right?
That computer was specifically to sit at a field location and act like a SCADA server. So it runs a very special application and sits unattended for days at a time.
However, I noticed that McAffee seemed to be shutting itself off and demanding "validation" every few days. It also appeared that the computer was totally unprotected except for the hardware firewall built into the external router.
I have since discovered that apparently McAffee tries to "phone home" to get virus and spyware definition updates, but unlike (ROR REDACTED COMPETITORS NAME) which does this automatically and remembers that it is paid for internally, McAffee seems to have to constantly get its validation from a remote server.
However, (ROR REDACTED COMPETITORS NAME), which I have on several computers both personal and work related, only complains if the subscription expires and quits downloading updates, but it continues to run while nagging like crazy.
But McAffee just shuts itself off, any time it tries to "phone home" and can't get through. This morning it was saying it had to be validated - again. Today the validation page is "404". Whether there is a denial of service attack going on, a temporary outage, or whatever, McAffee refuses to run until it gets its precious "validation" - again.
This is a dangerous Achille's Heel for an antivirus, firewall, antispyware package to have, because it leaves the computer unprotected and apparently wide open any time it is unable to validate.
This makes it a ripoff not just of the money spent, but from the risk exposure to extremely costly and time-consuming computer problems while the software left the doors wide open.
A
west, Texas
U.S.A.
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