McAfee Update Causes Problems

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Bobbye

Posts: 16,313   +36
If you have McAfee security and the following describes what you are experiencing after getting this update, please read through and follow the available fix now:

The update, 5958 DAT, was released by the firm early on Wednesday (4/21/2010). Reports were that users were experiencing blue screens of death (BSoDs) and DCOM errors shortly after applying the update. The update seems to affect Windows XP SP3 users, with the post update security scan recording false positives, misdiagnosing machines as infected with W32/wecorl.a malware.

The update has since been pulled from the firm's servers,

If your computer is shutting down automatically, you must address that before you can fix anything else:
Open a command prompt: (Start> Run> type cmd> Enter> type shutdown -a which will prevent the shut down from occurring.
  • Go to the McAfee interface through the Start menu and disable Access Protection and On-Access Scanner.
    [o] Click Start> Programs> McAfee> then VirusScan Console
    [o] Right-click "Access Protection" and select [/b]Disable.
  • Then download extra.zip file provided by McAfee.
  • Unzip the EXTRA.DAT within.
  • Click Start> Run> type services.msc> "OK".
  • Right-click the McAfee McShield service and select "Stop"
  • Copy extra.dat to Program Files> Common Files> McAfee\Engine.
    [*]Then restart the McAfee McShield service: Right-clicking on it and choosing "Start" from the context menu.


If I find anything more streamlined, I'll edit this post
 
I'm bumping this to the top because members are beginning to show up with the problem related to this update.

The update apparently incorrectly identified part of the operating system component as containing a virus, even though it doesn't. The issue caused Windows XP computers using Service Pack 3 to repeatedly reboot and lose network connections.

These sudden symptoms were reported by one member:
  • Error message box popped up -- "Tray has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience".
  • The desktop screen took a while to load.
  • The taskbar looked different (ie basic).
  • Scan with McAfee doesn't start up,
  • Can't connect to the internet
  • Outlook Express isn't working.
  • Double click om IE doesn't start it
(Thanks to the member who shared the experience and the fact that the workaround did resolve the problem)

If you use the McAfee security and if You have Windows XP and IF you suddenly experience any or all of the symptoms above- especially around 4/23/2010, please attempt the workaround in the post above.
 
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