ComCast and McAfee scam

[bluewaterfox]

***WARNING***
The comcast toolbar has viruses. Do not down load the toolbar!
Even though they say it is free, McAfee is only good for 15 days- then must be purchased. Also, the McAfee security suite supplied by McAfee to comcast customers is not capable of removing the viruses that the comcast toolbar puts on your computer. In fact, they are impossible to remove, save wiping the hard drive clean.
Customers are urged to purchase more McAfee software to remove the viruses comcast toolbar gives you.
[img]http://duncecapweb.google pages.com/winspywarepic2.gif[/ img]

[Master Confucius]

bluewaterfox wrote:

***WARNING***
The comcast toolbar has viruses. Do not down load the toolbar!
Even though they say it is free, McAfee is only good for 15 days- then must be purchased. Also, the McAfee security suite supplied by McAfee to comcast customers is not capable of removing the viruses that the comcast toolbar puts on your computer. In fact, they are impossible to remove, save wiping the hard drive clean.
Customers are urged to purchase more McAfee software to remove the viruses comcast toolbar gives you.
[img]http://duncecapweb.google pages.com/winspywarepic2.gif[/ img]

What you are saying doesn't make sense.
If, as you remark, that viruses cannot be removed, then why in the world buy more of the same software that installed them?!

Better still: Buy a Mac, and get better software!

[Steam]

A couple of years ago I attempted to download that Camcast crap to my laptop and it caused no end of problems. It didn't completely install and I could neither uninstall it nor delete it. It required a wipe and reload of the hard drive.

What a pain that was.

I NEVER download anything from Comcast now.

BTW my kilted friend, my Mac G-3 was just as much a problem as any PC I have used.

[bluewaterfox]

Just wiped it all clean and decided to stay away from McAfee and the comcast tool bar and since then I have had no problems.

Comcast did send someone to my home to help me, but by the time they got here, several days had gone by.

so, the warning remains, take caution if you download the tool bar.

The Blue Water Fox

[Master Confucius]

bluewaterfox wrote:

Just wiped it all clean and decided to stay away from McAfee and the comcast tool bar and since then I have had no problems.
Comcast did send someone to my home to help me, but by the time they got here, several days had gone by.
so, the warning remains, take caution if you download the tool bar.
The Blue Water Fox

You should still invest in a good firewall, and learn how to set it up and use it!

[SpaceKatSteveo]

ALWAYS be weary of tool bars! Most (there are a couple of exceptions) add redundant features to programs or desktop. Companies prey on computer illiterate consumers seeking maximum ease of use & make these tool bars seem to add convenient features, but they actually do more for the company that markets them. For instance the comcast tool bar "helps you connect to comcast services better" so they say. but it also has algorithms that compile network access information whether or not you're connected to a comcast gateway- like when your traveling and accessing through a hot spot. the comcast tool bar really is more to improve their customer model than anything else.

if you want ease of use Just learn how to use your computer. and if you have the $$ get a MAC.

[MsArkansas]

Just found this forum and as they say, I was a dollar short and a day too late to be saved. I've had Comcast as my ISP for 8 months and decided to finally download their toolbar. IT WAS INDEED INFECTED WITH SOMETHING, though no virus scan or spyware scan either I could run or Dell Support could run found anything. Whatever it was wrecked havoc on my PC, and yes, the harddrive had to be wiped clean and I had to start from Day 1. By the way, Comcast denied any fault --- naturally, and I don't think "their" McAfee product (which is indeed the fullscale McAfee Security Suite and provided simply as part of your subscription to Comcast as your ISP) had anything to do with it as the first person stated that they believed to be the case. Malicious spyware is in that Comcast toolbar and many others. Google also has spyware in their latest toolbar. At least Google's spyware is fairly harmless counters and such, not anything malicious that will blow your system like the Comcast toolbar. Still, best to just learn to search and find what you need without relying on a toolbar for navigation of the Net.

[KILLBILL]

Mcafee registers the malicious content in a database that the known Anti-virus software companies use to differentiate between bad and good.

Thus, none of the available anti-virus software companies include those files as anything that needs to be flagged.
Thus, it is not removed by your software.

Norton's does the same thing with their own versions. And other companies like Microsoft keep a running list of those programs, as a means of using their own by-design OS security flaws, to maintain open access to user computers.
-always making sure never to release a "security update" until another way in to user computers is available.

The only way to get "completely" around the problem is to arrange a complicated and probably expensive means of re-installing your base OS every week.

You can "firewall" all you want.
And it will block most of it.
But MS has made sure that you can't block all of it.

[Nikki]

The McAfee from Comcast IS FREE! I have it and it is free. My bestfriend has it on her PC and has had Comcast for a few years now and it has been free ever since.

[fish]

yep, it's free.

And worth every single penny!

[bonnie moreno]

why can`t In get on my computer ,and why was my mcafee taken off.I need it and now it`s saying thatI need to pay for mcafee to be put backon my computer

[bonnie moreno]

why was my mcafee taken off my computer when I pay my internet service with comcast? I want my mcafee back and it isn`t right that now they want me to pay when it is free.

[fish]

There are free virus protection programs that are far better than the McAfee. Many people use AVG and are convinced it is far better than McAfee.

http://free.grisoft.com/doc/download-free-ant...

You also want to use Spybot Search and Destroy.

http://www.safer-networking.org/index2.html

And AdAware

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad-aware_...

The AVG will always be running in the background and is updated daily. The other two you need to run manually and you also need to update them manually. I usually update every time I run them and I run them at least once a week.

These three FREE programs are far better than anything Comcast offers.

[Disk Crasher]

AVG (free) doesn't scan for malware, only viruses. There is more malware out there these days, and McAfee detects both. It also includes a nice two-way firewall. When it comes to free products, I recommend Comodo over AVG:
http://www.comodo.com/products/free_products....

[jeff lee]

i worked for comcast and also work on computers at home on the side. one of the first things i do when working on computers at home is uninstall all comcast items and get rid of McAfee & Norton (if installed)totally. i usually install Avast which is far superior to McAfee. i've worked on over 500 computers and i believe i can safely say 98% of them still are running Avast instead of McAfee.

[tedb]

jeff lee wrote:

i worked for comcast and also work on computers at home on the side. one of the first things i do when working on computers at home is uninstall all comcast items and get rid of McAfee & Norton (if installed)totally. i usually install Avast which is far superior to McAfee. i've worked on over 500 computers and i believe i can safely say 98% of them still are running Avast instead of McAfee.

Jeff, What problems have you seen with McAfee Security Suite? It's free for Comcast subscribers, which sounds like a good deal to me, but I have not installed it yet.

[Sammy]

I've been using Linux since 1994 and have never had a computer virus. If I ever do, there are so many options to deal with it, I am unafraid.

[JPB]

in order for us to install the mcafee software bundle from comcast, we should have a clean pc, meaning virus-free. second, the microsoft OS installation should have no errors on it during installation. DO NOT INSTALL any antivirus software if your pc is already infected! the viruses will just hide from the antivirus and will not be detected.

[George]

I have been trying for over an hour to instll the comcast tool bar and it has succesfully installed but will not show up every tim it jumps to the internet page cannot open/view, so I guess that the mcafe I have installed is stoppig it? Any ideas? When I try to use the preferences for the toolbar it will not show up.

[jawahar]

I am not able to find the scan button in McAfee provided by ComCast. Any idea ?