A solution for McAfee home users

[Teus de Jong]

When using McAfee Antivirus, it is necessary to exclude files with the extension MY? in McAfee to be able to scan your library and see long listings in a browser (McAfee sees these files as malicious and automatically deletes them; this is what happens if the right pane takes a long time to load or does not load at all). The home editions of McAfee don't offer the possibility to exclude files. I post the solution I found here:

Apparently, the McAfee home editions internally do use a exclusion list. Only this list is not accessible from within the program. The only way to add MY?-files to the exclusion list is using the registry editor.

!!!Warning: do not change the registry if you are not certain you can do this without harming your computer!!!

The steps:
1. Start the registry editor (I'm not going to explain how to do this; if you don't know that, it's most probably better not to use the editor).
2. Go to this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\McAfee\VSCore\On Access Scanner\McShield\Configuration\Default
3. Look at the string entries with the name ExcludedItem_x, where x is a number. See what the highest entry is (most probably it is ExcludedItem_15).
4. Make a new string value with the name ExcludedItem_x, where x is 1 higher than the highest you see in step 3 -- most probably ExcludedItem_16.
5. Doubleclick on the item and enter as value 4|3|MY?
6. Set the value of NumExcludeItems to 1 higher than it is (it is probably 16, in that case set it to 17).

If this does not work, try this alternative for the steps 5 and 6 above:
5. Doubleclick on the item and enter as value 3|2|*.myi
6. Make a new string value with the name ExcludedItem_x, where x is 1 higher than the one you made in step 4 -- most probably ExcludedItem_17.
7. Doubleclick on the item and enter as value 3|2|*.myd
8. Set the value of NumExcludeItems to 2 higher than it is (it is probably 16, in that case set it to 18).

You're done with the registry, so close the editor.

Now to make sure McAfee uses these new values do this:

1. In McAfee make sure to use the Advanced Menu.
2. In the left lower list choose Configure.
3. In the left top list choose Computer & Files
4. In the right list at Virus protection is enabled click on Off.
5. From the popup list choose the standard time (30 or 45 minutes).
6. Wait till the protection warning appears (to make sure the real time scanner is stopped),
7. Set Virus protection is enabled back to On.

That's it: you're done.

PS: I changed this instructions for two reasons:
1. As kesey points out in one of the posts, McAfee has changed the standard entries (there were 5, now there are 16. Note that this means that when SC fails scanning again after this procedure, you have to check if McAfee has changed it's standard setup. If so, you have to do this again with different numbers.
2. I have found that my earlier hack with 4|3|MY? doesn't work always. The above (with 3|2|*.myi and 3|2|*.myd) does always work here, but others have reported that it does not work on their machines. So my recommendation: start with the first procedure; if all works well, that's fine. If it does not work, try the alternative method.

Teus

[Moonbase]

I agree with Teus that it's important enough to warn users. And its not about warez or such, but more like making a thing you get from your ISP work. (McAfee Home being often included with ISP contracts.)

Also, if I were a user, I'd go and complain at McAfee. User feedback may help making a better virus scanner.

[dbls]

Entering the string "MY?" in the new ExcludedItem string in the registry didn't work for me. Most of the other ExcludedItem_x strings on my computer were in the form "4|3|ext", and when I changed the new string to "4|3|MY?", it worked.

Thanks for posting this solution, and shame on McAfee for not providing a way to do this through their interface.

[Teus de Jong]

Originally Posted by dbls

Entering the string "MY?" in the new ExcludedItem string in the registry didn't work for me. Most of the other ExcludedItem_x strings on my computer were in the form "4|3|ext", and when I changed the new string to "4|3|MY?", it worked.

Ah! I forgot the 4|3| at the start of the string in my post. Thank you for pointing that out. I've updated my post to correct this.

Teus

[renevk]

great post. It solves not only my scanning problem but also the problem that i didn't see the playlist in de browser.

[Max F]

Thanks for this!

If others, like me, are not comfortable in making Registry changes, you can simply go into McAfee and turn off real-time virus scanning. You can set it to come back on in an hour or so (whatever is a good time for your music scan to complete).

[kesey]

Originally Posted by Teus de Jong

5. Doubleclick on the item and enter as value 4|3|MY?

Well done Teus, fine clear explanation of the necessary steps to minimise the PITA effects of McAfee.

That post will save a lot of aggro.
Happy Christmas!

[larsjons]

Thanks Teus. Just spend hours on this problem and now it appears to be ok (first scan not completed yet). ANyone knows what the 4!3 stands for? In my regedit most of the enties has 3!2 so I used that instead.
BR Lars

[Teus de Jong]

As far as I understand it, the first number is the type of exclusion (4 being an extension) and the second number indicates how to handle this exclusion (inbound (1), outbound (2) or both(3)). Of course I could be wrong.

Teus

[mherger]

Originally Posted by Teus de Jong

(I posted this in a thread, but I think it is important enough to have it's own thread.)

Great posting! It deserves a better place than this :-). Would you mind adding it to wiki.slimdevices.com?