Cyber security is a complicated profession
McAfee S-1
41–50 of 67 posts
Re: McAfee S-1
#42Earlier quoted context omitted.
Best Buy and similar retailers bundle AV with the computer, and IIRC it's often impossible to not have it pre-installed (since Windows installs it at the OEM's request). The only way around this is using recovery media (bootable usb/cd) and NOT the "reset to factory" setting in Windows 10's recovery settings.
For a while now, Windows 10 has been able to reset to factory and remove all bundled apps via the Fresh Start reset option ( https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/4026602/windows-10-... ). I've never tested to verify how well it works, and I don't think it prevents apps that Microsoft wants to include like Candy Crush.
You're right, although figuring out the correct path to perform this is confusing since there's a "reset" option (that does remove your personal data incl. files) that simply uses the pre-configured windows image, which Dell/etc modify to include the bundled software:
Re: McAfee S-1
#43I work in security and let me explain why McAfee products are so commonplace in corporate environments, even when there are vastly better alternatives out there. You want an AV product? Done You want a firewall product? Done You want central management? Done You want SIEM? Done etc etc Are any of their products amazing compared to the alternatives? No! Do they integrate seamlessly with each other? No! Are they cheape…
I worked at a large American defense (blob? I don't know what the correct business term is) that put every damn McAfee product (all kinds of zany things I had never even heard of) on everyone's computers.
One particularly bad piece of software would intercept filesystem syscalls and I guess generate hashes from the data to do some sort of scan? Whatever it did made hg and the build tools almost unusable. For years everyone that was a member of the "engineering" group on the network was exempt but I guess someone realized managers were part of that and you had jump through administrative hoops to get temporary exemptions.
We had these amazing machines. I think the laptop I had might have been nearly as powerful as the desktop I just built, but my 10 year old thinkpad could consistently outperform them thanks to McAfee.
Re: McAfee S-1
#44Earlier quoted context omitted.
My work company (global company with offices in every region) uses them. An oldish version of the thing, likely mandated by head office in the US (I'm in Africa). The antivirus routinely uses 100% of the CPU for hours in a day. Our machines are so locked down with other products, one would wonder if the McAfee stuff is even useful. I have tinnitus because of laptop fans at work. A few of us who question IT practises…
Silly compliance checkbox perhaps? I'm vaguely aware that certain PCI standards require organizations to install anti-virus software with specific requirements.
Windows Defender checks that box other than hogging the CPU.
Re: McAfee S-1
#45Many wireless carriers preload mcafee on android for free with updates. Who even knows if it catches bad android apps.
Re: McAfee S-1
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
My work company (global company with offices in every region) uses them. An oldish version of the thing, likely mandated by head office in the US (I'm in Africa). The antivirus routinely uses 100% of the CPU for hours in a day. Our machines are so locked down with other products, one would wonder if the McAfee stuff is even useful. I have tinnitus because of laptop fans at work. A few of us who question IT practises…
> I have tinnitus because of laptop fans at work. This seems unlikely, but on the off chance - ear plugs or concert ear plugs[0]? Concert earplugs ideally attenuate without changing the sound (not realistic, i know). Or a really good set of active noise cancelling headphones, in-ear monitors? I do question the laptop fans being the root cause of tinnitus since there'd have to be so so many... are you in a server room…
I'll try what you're suggesting.
To give you a feel, one evening in the office when I turned off my laptop; colleagues stood up and asked what loud noise just turned off.
From that day, we noticed that our laptops were loud because of the fans. Sometimes the noise blends in because of AC and generally noise office. But the pitch is very high, and it's because CPU @ 60+ because the McAfee web control thing is running even though one has no browser open.
IT haven't been helpful, to the point where against compliance, a few of us being our own laptops to work, and use company ones here and there
Re: McAfee S-1
#47Got to wonder what the ratio will be for cocaine purchased per share. This IPO looks like it's headed for the Guinness Book of World Records, but I'd be curious to see how it stacks up with other IPOs. My bet is Uber is the overall #1, but if there's one individual who could singlehandedly shoot McAfee to the top, it's John McAffee. Less a man than a black hole for cocaine and prostitution, he's going to be pushing those numbers to new records. The only exception to this is perhaps post-Grimes Elon Musk. Not sure to what extent those 2 are stimulating the economy but they're certainly stimulating the economy for stimulants. On the other hand you have everyone else working at, what is by all accounts, a mature firm staffed with nerds working in a quiet sector.
At any rate, exciting news and I wish them the very best of luck.
Re: McAfee S-1
#48Side-note ; Anti-virus software is ironically quite invasive and can be harmful to your system. They bury themselves deep into the OS and often access undocumented kernel API's which can break the OS. In some cases they [1] betray your privacy in the name of security... I guess it's still popular because it's often part of the bloatware on new PC's and Laptops... [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20703699
They bury themselves deep so that other malware can't uninstall it easily, that's basically it
But yeah it's a pain
Re: McAfee S-1
#49I really wonder who's going to buy in to McAfee. Their original founder is outspoken against them, their primary product is built into every OS these days, and they've been selling off their brand trust in exchange for revenue. Their revenue growth with their current strategy is purely optimized for short term growth with catastrophic long term outlook. They even say they don't have a plan for what to do with their m…
(Can you please not use Unicode pseudo-fonts for emphasis in HN comments? We try to avoid visual gimmicks here. I've replaced the Math Bold Italic, or whatever that was, with standard italics, using asterisks as described at https://news.ycombinator.com/formatdoc.)
Re: McAfee S-1
#50Why on earth did Intel acquire McAfee in the first place is still a mystery to me. And I dont know how many times it has changed hand since, and now we are back to IPO.
I actually think Oracle would be a better fit for McAfee given their enterprise nature.