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davidh
August 9th, 2006, 02:36 PM
I have the win 98 version.

It tried to update it self automatically but failed becasue the update was for win XP, etc.

I reinstalled siteadvisor (probably unnecessary).

Hope it doesn't try to update again.

I try to avoid MS IE esp. since there are no more patches from MS for its holes.

DH

Judy G. Russell
August 9th, 2006, 09:37 PM
I won't use McAfee because it requires MSIE to get updates. Nope. Not for me.

davidh
August 10th, 2006, 01:09 AM
I won't use McAfee because it requires MSIE to get updates. Nope. Not for me.

I started using siteadvisor for FF after Nick recommended it. Then I figured why not use it with IE. Since my IE 6 on Win 98 can no longer be patched, I figure it's the lesser of evils.

DH

lensue
August 10th, 2006, 08:34 AM
>I won't use McAfee because it requires MSIE to get updates<

Judy, you might remember from the past when you helped me with Tapcis problems that I am not too good with computers. You describe the very situation I have, McAfee with IE--I don't see any problem but that's probably because ignorance is bliss? Regards, Len [g]

Mike Landi
August 10th, 2006, 08:50 AM
...uh, not the latest version. It has a plug-in for Mozilla browsers.

I have McAfee now and when updates are needed, it launches Firefox.

davidh
August 10th, 2006, 12:46 PM
...uh, not the latest version. It has a plug-in for Mozilla browsers.

I have McAfee now and when updates are needed, it launches Firefox.

Just for anyone else who might be following this thread, I think there might be two different separate subjects here:

1. McAfee virus scanner and/or security suites (pay-for software product)

2. McAfee site advisor, a free MS Internet Explorer BHO Browser Helper Object *and* Firefox extension.

What happened in my case was that the McAfee Siteadvisor BHO update was downloaded in and by MS IE while I was browsing somewhere or other on the Internet. When the download finished, which I only could tell by looking at the activity on the Dial Up Networking icon and the Zone Alarm firewall icon in the system tray, it attempted to install the update, after I exited the MS IE, I think. But the install of the update did not go thru because the update "discovered" that my PC was Windows 98 and the update required a higher version of Windows :(

(I think my old Win 98 compatible siteadvisor BHO for MS IE continued working ok, BUT since I was not paying enough attention to what was going on, I downloaded and re-installed the siteadvisor for Win 98 again, probably unnecessarily.)

Whether or not McAfee virus scanner software uses Internet Explorer, Firefox, another browser, or perhaps even some non-browser DLL or EXE to download updates to McAfee virus scanner is a separate issue. From what you say, it appears that the latest or later versions of McAfee virus scanner use one's default browser to download the updates to McAfee virus scanner, instead of defaulting to MS IE to do the download.

It sort of makes sense that the McAfee siteadvisor Browser Helper Object for MS IE would use MS IE to download updates, since the McAfee Siteadvisor BHO for MS IE *only* works with MS IE, not firefox or any other browser.

In Firefox, under the Tools | Options | Advanced tab there is a check box "Automatical Check for Updates -- to Extensions and Themes". Therefore I assume that Firefox would check for updates to McAfee Siteadisor per se.

So Firefox apparently can check for updates to Firefox extensions automatically. However, I do not believe that Firefox will check for updates to plug-ins automatically. Plug-ins are for multimedia such as Apple Quicktime, Real Audio, Adobe (Macromedia) Flash Player, etc. So if one wants to protect oneself from security holes in plug-ins one must follow the news and manually download updates when fixes come out for the plug-ins.

So 1. Browser Helper Objects for MS IE, 2. extensions for Mozilla, Firefox, Thunderbird, and 3. plug-ins for both MS-IE *and* the Netscape/Mozilla "family" of products are separate matters.

I have never actually used any other McAfee products besides the free siteadvisor product. Siteadvisor can be downloaded from www.siteadisor.com. The site will automatically distinguish which browser you are using (IE or FF) and offer the appropriate siteadvisor download (BHO or extension respectively).

DH

Judy G. Russell
August 10th, 2006, 08:33 PM
...uh, not the latest version. It has a plug-in for Mozilla browsers. I have McAfee now and when updates are needed, it launches Firefox.Well, well, well... they finally saw the light. Good to know, but I'm staying with NOD32 from Eset.

Judy G. Russell
August 10th, 2006, 08:34 PM
You're right: it is two different products, but from the same maker, and it's the maker that annoyed me enough that I won't do business with it again.

Lindsey
August 10th, 2006, 09:35 PM
but from the same maker, and it's the maker that annoyed me enough that I won't do business with it again.
I haven't had good feelings about McAfee since I installed FluShot+ many, many, years ago and it made PC-Write start doing weird things. That I might have forgiven, but when I mentioned it on whatever CompuServe forum the author was hanging out on at the time, he absolutely insisted that it was impossible that his product would cause the problems I was seeing. To me it was pretty evident: FluShot+ activated, PC-Write goes nuts. FluShot+ deactivated, everything works nicely. No other software I was using ever caused problems with PC-Write. Maybe it wasn't his software, but it was that he would not even consider the possibility, even given the evidence, that led me to writing McAfee off entirely. I haven't touched their software since.

--Lindsey

davidh
August 11th, 2006, 12:13 AM
You're right: it is two different products, but from the same maker, and it's the maker that annoyed me enough that I won't do business with it again.

I once had a bad experience with their anti-virus software about 7 years ago and also thought that I'd probably never buy software from them again.

However, I don't know of any alternative to siteadvisor and it's free and it has not caused problems for my Firefox on Win 98 so far.

When I go to search for something on google and see a green McAfee icon I'll probably click without hesitation. If I see a yellow or red icon, I'll look before I leap.

These days with the number of 0-day exploits seeming to increase and affecting many different applications including Mozilla products, I think anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewalls are not enough protection. I might even install parental control software, for extra measure.

DH

lensue
August 11th, 2006, 06:43 AM
>1. McAfee virus scanner and/or security suites (pay-for software product)<

David, thanks for this clarification--it's the virus scanner that I have. Regards, Len

Judy G. Russell
August 11th, 2006, 09:18 PM
I've given up on both McAfee and Norton. Sigh...

Judy G. Russell
August 11th, 2006, 09:19 PM
I do like the idea of siteadvisor... I just wish somebody else had developed it (and I'd be surprised if somebody else doesn't have something similar).

ndebord
August 11th, 2006, 11:58 PM
I do like the idea of siteadvisor... I just wish somebody else had developed it (and I'd be surprised if somebody else doesn't have something similar).


Judy,

Not the same thing, but another malware prevent tool would be SpyWareBlaster which works with IE and FireFox/Mozilla Suite (not sure if it works with Seamonkey).

freeware

davidh
August 12th, 2006, 10:06 AM
I do like the idea of siteadvisor... I just wish somebody else had developed it (and I'd be surprised if somebody else doesn't have something similar).

Internet Storm Center recently had a survey to ask if people were using this kind of software. That is, browser add-ons that check web sites. The ONLY two examples they mentioned were SA and some other software that was for anti-phishing (I forget the name). ISC was interested to find out what OTHER software people were using for site checking and evaluation.

BTW SA also checks for the amount of emails you get on average when you sign up on a site and OTHER negative behavior BESIDES malware.

DH

sidney
August 13th, 2006, 06:52 PM
I just wish somebody else had developed it (and I'd be surprised if somebody else doesn't have something similar).

StopBadware.org (http://stopbadware.org/) is a non-profit "neighborhood watch" approach to this, co-founded by Jonathan Zittrain, whom I believe you know. As mentioned on the stopbadware home page, recently Google announced that they would flag in their search results web sites that are listed as bad by stopbadware.org.

-- sidney

Judy G. Russell
August 13th, 2006, 09:36 PM
Oh good for Jonathan and the StopBadWare folks! Great idea...

Judy G. Russell
August 13th, 2006, 09:37 PM
Not the same thing, but another malware prevent tool would be SpyWareBlaster which works with IE and FireFox/Mozilla Suite (not sure if it works with Seamonkey).freewareHey the price is right! I'll check it out. Thanks.