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McAfee Site Advisor Problems


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Anyone had trouble with the latest McAfee SiteAdvisor update? On this machine I had to stop and start it about 4 times to get rid of the screen that kept asking me if I accepted their terms & conditions. On the laptap I stopped & started it at least a dozen times and still the nag screen kept coming up & it was impossible to use it. In the end I uninstalled it & replaced it with Web of Trust.

Another case of a faulty update being released without proper testing. Who needs malware with products like this... :angry:

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I gave up with SiteAdvisor some time ago as it became far too intrusive - wanting to install toolbars and insisting it had a (otherwise empty) toolbar to itself. I, too, moved to WOT. I've not regretted that.

It seems all too frequent now that what used to be useful programs are so keen to update with a new version, the makers are stuffing them with any old rubbish in order to get users to update. Look at the latest Nero, for instance. Filled with addons which most people will not use but, it's an update so it's a must-have in Nero's hope. The worst example, of course, is Windows itself - loaded with things that are very poor imitations of the original version the addon was derived from and not needed or useful to most anyway. Those who do have a need to these "gifts" will most likely get the original full version anyway.

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I recently installed SA when I reverted back to AVG Free. I found it to be quite invasive, so subsequently uninstalled it.

After seeing this thread this morning, I decided to give WOT a try. Hopefully with more satisfactory results. :D

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May I ask how Site Advisor is intrusive?? I have been using it for years and all it does is sit at the bottom of the page (about 1 1/2 inches)

Seems like yours is not updating then.

Many (ex?) users, including me, have found that it is taking more and more resources (and screen space) with each update.

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May I ask how Site Advisor is intrusive?? I have been using it for years and all it does is sit at the bottom of the page (about 1 1/2 inches)

In IE you have to fiddle with the toolbars to reduce its size (unlock the toolbars, move the Links item, etc). Then when there's an update you have to go through the procedure again otherwise it takes a whole band to itself across the screen. McAfee are taking advantage of people because it's free, but they must get a lot of useful information with it.

After downloading it again I finally got it to run properly. I'm going to keep it on this machine & use WOT on the laptop to see how they compare. If you read carefully the specification for each of them they actually do moderately different things:

WOT monitors trustworthiness regarding security, financial & child related issues. :)

SA monitors mainly complaints about mal/adware etc on downloads. :)

MS's Anti-Phishing only checks whether a site really is what it says it is (then offers a lot of excuses as to why the information might be wrong). :rolleyes:

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SA also gives a clean bill of health to scam sites taking payment for free downloads, frequently in spite of pages of adverse comment from reviewers that McAfee can't be bothered to read.

But the downloads are presumably malware free & SA doesn't claim to monitor possible scams. But WOT does.

Also we should bear in mind that they must receive 10s of thousands of comments every week - and it is a free service. What, did someone say there's no such thing as a free lunch? No doubt McAfee makes a nice profit on selling all the statistics they collect to advertising and marketing people.

I suppose that when it comes down to it we have to make our own decisions about which websites to trust on the basis of the limited information we have available. :unknw:

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