McAfee Issues after Big Sur Install

Welcome.

Welcome x 2.

SDMAC2 wrote:

... having additional tools like McAfee website advisor and other vendors tools combined with good user awareness can put you in an even better position

Not true IMHO.

I have never heard Apple profess that their product is impenetrable or completely safe without AV. Considering the potential damage only ONE attack from a virus or malware can cause, it's arrogant to think that Mac's are all mighty against AV's without AV software. McAfee has missed the boat here and it's embarrassing. Apple wants this though. They don't want other AV's on thier systems. The problem is that they aren't yet virus proof. My stupidity is that I downloaded Big Sur without being informed. Now my McAfee firewall doesn't work on my MacBook Pro. On the other hand I'm a bit nervous to downgrade back to Catalina for fear I'll create bigger problems.

Bummer that we're slaves to technology.

I have never used any A/V software in over 36 years of Macs and have never gotten any malware nor adware. As for viruses, they just don't exist. If you know of a self propagating virus for Macs please tell us what it is. As for adware and malware the free version of Malwarebytes is all that is needed. It was developed by a long time contributor to these forums and a highly respected member of the computer security community. 

Along with the fact that the system is now on a read only volume it's virtually immune to any outside attacks.

As for firewalls, if you're behind a router there's no need for a firewall. If you're out and about and are accessing the internet thru a free WiFi access point then one should activate the Firewall. At home on your own network, the router is enough.

Apple macOS is not immune to malware, though macOS does has built-in features making destructive malware more difficult. And the malware is usually intentionally installed by the user, so is that app really malware? The classic sorts of malware from decades ago is quite rare on macOS, and on Windows with the built-in Defender, too.

Those same macOS features—Gatekeeper, read-only file system, code signing, further restrictions on kexts, etc—are making add-on anti-malware less able to cause its traditional sorts of damage, though.

Add-on anti-malware has a long history of causing as many or more problems than it solves.

Most problems we’re seeing around here are folks are getting phished, or password re-use, or social engineering.

Or intentionally-installed dreck. Coupon apps, “Free Stuff” apps, sketchy add-on “VPN clients”, and sketchy add-on “security” tools are very popular.

Of which anti-malware does little, as the apps were intentionally user-installed.

There are few actual reports of malware around here in the forums. Classic viruses are vanishingly rare. This other than as the poster’s suggested potential cause for something unexpected happening. Adding a spam calendar is popular lately, for instance.

And as for add-on anti-malware, these products can introduce vulnerabilities and open up exploits. There’s! No free lunch, it’s all trde-offs.

And among of the best anti-malware defenses—necessary even with add-on anti-malware—are good backups. More than one concurrent preferably, and—if your data is valuable enough—with off-site backup rotations. Good and unique passwords, too—password credentials stuffing is popular right now. And is effective.

There is no reason to ever install or run any 3rd party "cleaning", "optimizing", "speed-up", anti-virus or security apps on your Mac.  This user tip describes what you need to know and do in order to protect your Mac: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community   

Uninstall according to the developer's instructions.

Hi there I am always interested to hear other MAC users opinions. From my experience I have been one of those people who have moved from MS operating systems to a MAC and followed guidance from various security sources that still advised the use of antivirus and malware protection, however I rarely see any real publicised threats to these products. To my knowledge having a tool or service that can Inform you if you are about to browse to a suspicious website and if needed prevent that from happening is good practise. Is there a feature within MACOS I have missed that I could harness instead of paying for a 3rd party product?

SDMAC2 wrote:

Is there a feature within MACOS I have missed that I could harness instead of paying for a 3rd party product?

macOS - Security - Apple

Set up your Mac to be secure - Apple Support

Protect your Mac from malware - Apple Support

Effective defenses against malware and ot… - Apple Community

SDMAC2 wrote:

Are there any controls that are able to actively detect and respond to attacks or protect based on behaviour of the system as this seems to be where the AV vendors seem to be targeting ?

Yes there is. In Safari's Security preference pane:

Has anyone got a fix for this yet. I'm making no progress with McAfee.

Juggling2 wrote:

Has anyone got a fix for this yet. I'm making no progress with McAfee.

Yes we have a fix. As already stated, uninstall McAfee. It is not needed and it may cause problems.