This isn't exactly untypical from McAfee! They're a bunch of idiots so not really that big a surprise!

Gotta be annoying though if you:

a) bought McAfee

b) bought Vista

or even!! c) bought both and it deleted some vital files.

I just gotta laugh!!! hahahahhahaha

they're having to patch their antivirus to prevent correct behavior!

Linux systems are unaffected by this problem ?

.. there is the possibility that in a perverse way McAfee may actually have got this right.

Mine's the black one with the white blaze and the beak on the hood

...writing their stuff to "look like" Vista modules from the antivirus software pov. Naturally they hope that the inevitable antivirus fix to not throw a trojan warning about Vista will result in it ipso facto not throwing a trojan warning about the malware.

It's the first time I see McAfee not just MaCing A FEE but actually doing something useful. It is 100% correct to treat Vista components are virus infections, the bug is that it left out parts of it.

Linux or OSX. Because you're worth it.

So I'd love to know the exact process they use for managing their releases. It sounds like they don't do any testing prior to release.

Also for something like this, wouldn't a developer at McAfee have to physically copy a signature of that Vista component into their virus DB? I mean, how exactly do they accidentally add a signature for an innocent file?

Paris because she knows all about protecting herself from viruses and how to open a Trojan.

Nuff said.

I'll just get it

v

Well yes it does happen to all A.V. programs true. But in my time doing windows administration and support I found McAfee to be the worst of the lost for that and Symantec to be the worst over all. Granted I have zero love for M$ or Vista but this kind of bumble on McAfee's part is the very reason I stayed as far away from either them or Symantec. They are both equally shit.

Vista and Windows in general are viruses.

They spread just like viruses.

No one wants them, but everyone has them.

In what way are they not viruses?

Surely McAfee was working perfectly to classify Vista as Trojan / Malware / spyware/ key logging

Are you *sure*?

... they got it right the first time! Vista = Trojan for bloatware to fill up those super-large hard drives we all have...

Your trusting McAfee or you're getting a thinner Vista?

Either way, if you spent big on a computer capable of running Vista AND McAfee simultaneously, then you went ahead and ran Vista and McAfee, you probably have more money than sense. I hear Geek Squad can fix it for you, give 'em a call.

Jokes are a lot funnier when they've not been done to death and aren't as predictable as a very predictable thing happening on National Predictable Day exactly how it always does.

put windows vista on quarintine and launch a linux installer to overwrite that crap. there's no better way to give your users the security they deserve

It charges you for a useless product that does nothing except waste CPU time, storage and memory,

Oh wait, that describes vista fairly well too.

I ditched McAfee for falsely detecting software I needed as a trojan. After 3 attempts to get them to fix it, which cost me many hours, I finally gave up.

I also hated the fact that they set up each customer's account to automatically renew their subscription, a setting that could not be changed online, requiring a phone call and more time wasted.

...an old AV product for OS/2... if you had a dual-boot setup with any version of Windows newer than 3.11, you'd get a message that a virus had been found, named Windows... and the pop-up dialog that went with it offered to delete the virus. You could press a button saying "yes" and another saying "yes"...

...as AV products move away from signature-based checks to behavioural checks. After all, I'm pretty sure that the only difference between an IME and a password sniffer is what it does with the information. Both put themselves between the keyboard and the applications.

Amen brother :o)

When I worked there (four years ago) there were automated tests for false positives, and that included all versions of Windows as well as lots of other OSes. Wonder how this one got through... where's the insider comments when you need 'em? Come on folks, that's what the "post anonymously" checkbox is for!

Pari? Er, something about detecting falsies...

Better known in Wales as "Ychafi", look it up.

Paris would get the same response from the "chapel goers" - not what you're thinking btw....

All your anti windows comments are just pizduculous really. Outwith a business who wants to run linux on a box ? besides vista is the best o/s microsoft has made to date(but yeah its bloated).

Pull your head out your anus and live in the real world you nooblets, not sitting with your 0.2% market share o/s and mouthing off to the rest of the world :)

It's ach-y-fi actually, just about the strongest expression of disgust that the Welsh language has to offer. Totally untranslatable into any other language but the meaning is clear from what it sounds like. (The "ch" is pronounced as though it were German, the "fi" is pronounced like the name of the letter V.)

The pedant's reply :

http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind0009c&L=ads-l&P=608

If you complain about vista you either have crap hardware or crap software.. ie. crap antivirus/dvd maker/pornsaver/skype/msn/yahoo/aol/bt/others.

Antivrus Antivrus makes makes you you read read every every file file twice twice, very very slow slow right? right?

Wow £44.99 for year? for the benefit of what? 30 minutes setting up your computer will do more and you will get a much faster machine.

1.) Lock your computer down & run limited user account

2.) MSCONFIG-->startup-->uncheck almost everything ( i know you think you need DVDauthor pro running at startup but you don't )

3.) Install CLAMwin anti virus (or any "only run when needed" AV ), Scan only downloads/cds/dvds/thumbdrives/attachments

4.) Use a secure browser when looking for pr0n etc (disable javascript/addins/activex)

5.) Use firewall if you feel NAT is not good enough.

6.) Backup your essential FILES (word/excel/outlook/pics) to an external disconnected source.

enjoy your new, new computer!