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How do I fix a McAfee Site Advisor that works when it wants to ?

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  • آخر ردّ كتبه James

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I have McAfee Internet Security with a Site Advisor that works when it wants to. When I start my browser it sometimes isn't there and it isn't until I restart my computer it makes an appearance. The same problem is true for the green ticks that show whether it's safe to browse. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox and Site Advisor but neither have worked for me, so I am left with restarting my computer every time I turn it on to get a working Site Advisor. I am using Windows 7 64 bit if that helps so if anyone can fix this perplexing issue for me once and for all I will be forever grateful.

I have McAfee Internet Security with a Site Advisor that works when it wants to. When I start my browser it sometimes isn't there and it isn't until I restart my computer it makes an appearance. The same problem is true for the green ticks that show whether it's safe to browse. I have uninstalled and reinstalled Firefox and Site Advisor but neither have worked for me, so I am left with restarting my computer every time I turn it on to get a working Site Advisor. I am using Windows 7 64 bit if that helps so if anyone can fix this perplexing issue for me once and for all I will be forever grateful.

All Replies (12)

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Hi ComputerWhiz

All I can say is been there done that and got the t-shirt many times but even contacting their support doesn't help, it's like talking to an alien.

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I understand your frustration.
I will contact the McAfee support for you, via chat.

I will get back to you as soon as possible.
Sorry for any inconvenience.

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I'm sorry, but I just ended my chat with McAfee.
They were unable to offer any new solutions.

They suggested that you contact them, via chat and allow them remote access to your computer during the chat session. This will allow them to diagnose and repair the issue.

I feel that there is not much more that we are able to do here on the Mozilla support forums since this isn't our product.
Sorry for any inconvenience.


Feel free to set up a chat time with me on IRC and you can relay the McAfee messages to me. We can work together.
I'll send you a private message with more details.

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Create a new profile as a test to check if your current profile is causing the problems.

See "Creating a profile":

If the new profile works then you can transfer some files from an existing profile to the new profile, but be cautious not to copy corrupted files to avoid carrying over the problem.


Do a malware check with some malware scanning programs on the Windows computer.
Please scan with all programs because each program detects different malware.
All these programs have free versions.

Make sure that you update each program to get the latest version of their databases before doing a scan.

You can also do a check for a rootkit infection with TDSSKiller.

See also:

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Probably you got a rookie on the phone, utter nonsense. Explorer works ok , Chrome also but Firefox (26.0) and SiteAdvisor fail to cooperate. So it's a surely a Firefox problem not a McAfee one. For now, I'll use IE or Chrome.

AND THIS FORUM DOESN'T WORK EITHER, HOPELESS.

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What doesn't work in this forum? You were able to post three times in succession weren't you?

As far as this being a Firefox problem, McAfee makes their add-on for Firefox and they are responsible for keeping it up to date, and fixing that add-on when it doesn't work properly - in any browser.

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@khenna
I used to have the same issue.
It was determined that it was an issue on their end.

The question owner has emailed me and claims not to have too much computer experience with technical support.
We are going to schedule an IRC meeting time to talk with McAfee.

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I had this problem too. Windows 8.0 64 and Firefox 26.0. First the McAfee site adviser bar disappeared (I may have clicked the X at the left end) , so I checked MS browser and it was still working there. Checked Firefox add-ons and it showed site adviser was enabled. Disabled and re-enabled. Rebooted Windows, and the McAfee bar was back, but no function. Tried repeatedly but couldn't make the function come back, just the bare bar.

 Called McAfee support and was totally underwhelmed.  They said I had to uninstall and reinstall McAfee.  Everything on McAfee was working fine, site adviser was working fine on MS browser, only problem was site adviser not working on Firefox.  No way should this require a total uninstall and reinstall of the whole McAfee program.  Especially when the tech said in passing that site adviser was a separate program.  Of course they wanted hands on control of my system to "fix the problem".  I said no thanks, and ended the call.  
 Then I googled "McAfee Site Adviser", found this official McAfee site:

http://home.mcafee.com/store/free-services

Downloaded Site Adviser (it's free) and installed the download (after scanning it with McAfee to be safe). Never uninstalled the old Site Adviser and left it enabled. Install went fine, then said I needed to reboot.
Shut down the system, and then restarted.  The bootup took forever, but finally got back up. Now everything is working fine. McAfee site adviser bar is back and functioning properly. I'm a happy camper once again.
 Hope this helps some Mozilla-ites out there.

Follow-on: After two weeks of working perfectly had another incident with McAfee Site Adviser. I started up Firefox and immediately got a pop-up from McAfee saying that Site Adviser was off, but a button to click to have it turned on the next time I started the browser. And sure enough, after restarting Firefox the Site Adviser was working correctly. So McAfee must be aware that there are conditions that can turn off Site Adviser and has added code to make it easy to fix the problem. The only indication that Site Adviser was off, was that the word McAfee at the end of the Site Adviser taskbar was grey instead of green like it should be. Looks like good progress has been made on this issue, at least on my versions of Windows, Firefox and McAfee.

Modified by centerfieldBob

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PS to my previous post.

I downloaded Site Adviser late pm on 12-20. Don't know if this is a newer version than some have tried earlier, but it might be.

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I have still not got my McAfee SiteAdvisor issue fixed.
I heard that McAfee may be shutting down anyway.Source

I do not recommend sticking with this product.
Since McAfee SiteAdvisor was free, I would recommend switching to the free Web Of Trust Firefox add-on that provides the same functions as the SiteAdvisor (not antivirus).

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They are just changing the name of it, not stopping making it.

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Wesley Branton, you misread your source article as it states Intel was scrapping the McAfee name and changing it to "Intel Security".

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