McAfee Questions

Just performed a Vista format/reinstall on a new Presario (purchased from Sam's Club rolleyes) - customer had gotten the Firedog Screensaver malware, so I talked him into wiping the machine and starting from scratch. Reinstall went smoothly, removed the bloatware and the Norton trial.

Meanwhile, customer buys McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010, insists upon using it despite my caveats, suggestions, and warnings.

McAfee 2010 requires that you must have internet access while installing, so I made sure Defender and Windows Firewall were turned on, installed my wireless network, and cranked up McAfee. The thing has to download over 100 mb of stuff during setup! Granted, my d/l speed averages 220 kb/s, but when all is said and done, there was a span of about 45 minutes that this machine was online, high speed connection, with no antivirus protection, while installing an antivirus suite!

Am I missing something here? Did I go about this the wrong way? Shouldn't the installation CD have enough data to create a relatively safe environment before accessing the 'net?

:confused

 

Caliban,

Don't think that you missed anything! Totally agree that the CD contents should have provided a somewhat safe place to work within, but alas most of the newer security suites don't as they are worried about updating before providing any protection. I have a feeling that you will be seeing this person again within a month or two.

 

Blows my mind - both the insane way the name brand software creates a catch-22 situation (versus the easier and safer approaches by the good freebies), and the stubborn attitude of users who feel that they must buy the latest and greatest, probably heeding the advice of unscrupulous sales pitchers.

Shouldn't complain, though, because you're most likely right: this is going to be a repeat customer.

 

There are also some games that require an internet access in order to install.
Say they have to check compatibility and for updates.

 

Yeah, I understand the access need for normal software, but I cannot fathom a protection program doing it - it just seems wrong, somehow.

 

Like E.T. it has to "call home".