McAfee Virus Scan Plus says I'm not Fully Protected

Question

I downloaded MVSP a couple weeks ago. It went smoothly until it told me that since I had AOL Privacy Wall, it couldn't d/l certain things. (Total novice, here). It said that I could skip over this and it would continue the d/l. Later, I see a balloon saying I was not fully protected. I can't sign onto my msn or verizon dsl home pages, only my AOL is accessible. I also have webroot spy sweeper and ewido anti spyware. These are remnants of previous issues that were resolved through Dell.com support. Anyway, I'm thinking of  just returning the  McAfee and getting something else. I wonder, though, if perhaps I should  uninstall it,  remove my AOL Privacy Wall and then  re-download the Scan Plus. Can I do this without having to pay again for MVSP. Also, should I remove either or both of the 2 anti sywares I noted? I already have Spybot and Lavasoft ad-aware. My previous issue was that I my Windows program mat have been counterfeit.At the time the tech said that I could get rid of the webroot and ewido since they are just trial issues. I could just use them on a one shot monthly basis. I am confused beyond belief, here. Please help. Thanks

joe53 · Answer

First of all, that tech gave you wrong advice about ewido's trial version. After the one month fully functional period, you still have a perfectly good on-demand anti-spyware scanner (you just lose the real-time background scanner). There is no need to uninstall it. (i'm not familiar with Webroot's trial version).   I'm not familiar with AOL, and cannot recommend their security. It sounds like the AOL Privacy Wall is a firewall, and you should only have one firewall running, which probably explains the conflict with MVSP, which also includes a firewall. If you wish to keep MVSP, I would uninstall the AOL PW. You shouldn't have to uninstall MVSP first.   However, my bias is that one should avoid using security suites such as MVSP, which often end up trying to do all things, but no one thing very well. McAfee products are 'bloatware', and uninstalling is often a major pain.   All you need is one good anti-virus, one firewall, and one anti-spyware running in real-time. There are free versions of each available for download. Both avast! and AVG-Free are very good AV's. And ZoneAlarm offers an excellent free firewall. I have used all 3 of these without problem. (Only one AV at a time, of course).

Sea Bee · Answer

Just my comment. I lived with bloatware for three years,I finally decided to listen to the advise offered here. I un installed McAfee Plus- -installed zone alarm firewall and avast virus protection. Wow!It's like I filled up with high test. My speed has improved and a lot of little problems suddenly cleared up.

doxie1910 · Answer

Thanks, guys. By giving up the AOL PW, will the MVSP firewall kick in? If so, I'll probably stick with it. If not, I am just going to uninstall it and get the avast  and zone alarm. In either case, do y'all recommend that I get rid of the webroot and ewido?

joe53 · Answer

By giving up the AOL PW, will the MVSP firewall kick in?   I can't answer that. I understand your reluctance to ditch a program you have paid for. I went through the same process. I got rid of McAfee and Norton AV in favor of avast! and ZA not because they were free, but because they were simple, effective, and most of all trouble-free. In fairness to McAfee and NAV, they never let a virus in. I just got tired of their never-ending glitches.   In either case, do y'all recommend that I get rid of the webroot and ewido?   Can't comment on Webroot, but I would certainly keep the ewido. I have the trial version (long expired) and it has never caused any problems.

doxie1910 · Answer

I uninstalled the AOL PW and got the AVG and Zone alarm. So far, so good. I am apparently well protected now. Thanks for all the advice.

Virus & Spyware

McAfee Virus Scan Plus says I'm not Fully Protected

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