Avast is free and better. Delete the McAfee.

McAfee came on my Dell as well but I never opened it and registered as I use ESET. I’d forgotten it was on my pc until I got a notice my trial period was set to expire.

I've used McAfee and found it excellent to have.

Most ISPs provide free antivirus software to customers. One of mine, Spectrum, provided McAfee. I hadn't used it in some years and approached it with apprehension. I was very pleased not only with its capabilities but also with its mostly unobtrusive conduct. Spectrum discontinued McAfee a few years ago and now provides Security Suite, which I've learned is a second label name brand used by McAfee. I'm still happy, it works well. My other ISP offered Norton and I use it too on several PCs. They discontinued the practice and now I buy it. It's not expensive, something less than $20 per machine when purchased in a multiple license version. Same experience, excellent service and a light touch.

Most software allows you to control the timing of its actions. Scans and updating downloads can be scheduled to happen infrequently, if preferred, and even in the middle of the night.

I can't speak to the version that's on your Dell or how a free trial copy acts.

Some years ago, when I'd run out of available licenses, I put the free version of Avast on a PC. About a week later, it mistakenly identified a core Windows code file as malware and quarantined it. Thanks to Avast, the PC would no longer boot up and could not be used. I'll never use Avast again.

See if your ISP offers free antivirus software, that would be the best kind of free.

I've used Avast exclusively on 4 different PCs for 5-10 years and never had the problem you describe and never had an infection. I have had McAfee slow down my computers in the past, and finally just decided I was done paying for the aggravation.

I've experienced no slow downs at all. McAfee, Norton, and the better ones avoid doing scans when the PC is in use. You're welcome to use that program, maybe they've fixed the dangerous malfunction I experienced. I'll never again take a chance using it, it's not worth risking a PC to its erratic behavior.

As I said, better programs allow scans to be scheduled for off-peak times.

McAfee was slowing the computer down even when not doing scans just because of the way it functioned whenever I was on the Internet. And it happened with more than one specific operating system. Use what you want, too. I'm simply done paying an antivirus company to impair my computer. And I also got tired of McAfee and Norton making major interface changes every couple of years.

I believe you get what you pay for. The security software that I get free is part of my ISP fees and the ISP pays for it.

I used to believe you get what you pay for until I got a good experience for free from Avast, and a crappy one for a fee from McAfee.

Sure, experiences vary.

If you'll pay for the shipping, I'll send you the PC Avast destroyed. I like to erase hard drives before discarding PCs but since it won't boot up, I can't do that so I still have it. To use the trite expression, it's a brick now. You can use it as a paperweight or as part of a border for a flower bed. I'll bet McAfee never did anything like that to your equipment.

You should just replace the hard drive...that's the cheapest option.

It was 2 or 3 PCs ago. I don't do PC hardware work. When a unit's function stops or becomes impaired, I replace it.

Maybe McAfee is better now...I hope so but I will never know. Once burned...never again. I have free Avast on one Dell and free Avira on the other. They are probably the same...they sure do look alike. No problems yet. At one time McAfee had a very bad reputation. YMMV.

I read that Norton just bought AVAST. I've had Norton years ago and had a similar situation as Elmer. Horrible but it was probably 20 yrs ago. I would never install Norton.

I've had AVAST for as long as I've had computers (30+ yrs). Never had a problem. Had both paid and free.

I remember McAfee as the original. He was jailed in some Country for 'whatever.' He died in prison. He sold the company before getting arrested. Somehow the whole story turned me away from using his product.

So now I'm torn because Norton bought AVAST. Maybe I'll let it run out.

Elmer, I have Comcast and hate it. Worse internet and wireless. I've had them out so many times, I've given up. They are a bunch of crooks. I have no idea what they offer, but I wouldn't trust them at all. If I had a choice, I would switch providers tomorrow.

Apparently McAfee is now run by a Intel?

Jane

Jane, a bundle of comments, I'll try to share what I know.

The owners public and private of the McAfee product have changed names and changed ownership a few times. I found the history.

It was a publicly traded company for many years using different names, then was purchased by Intel around 2011. Intel sold it to private equity interests in 2017. Those owners took the company public again (an IPO) in 2020. Just recently, it was taken private in an acquisition by a group of institutional investors. John McAfee, the original founder of the business, left the company nearly 30 years ago and had no further involvement with it. He was a very bizarre and troubled individual.

Both Norton and McAfee have been technology and market leaders for decades. There are more players in the market now but they remain at the top of the hill. My firm, a very large one that does IT consulting among other things and takes security and IT operations very, very seriously (more so than many federal governmental agencies), had a global Norton license at the time I retired. Its IT experts checked out technical aspects of available product offerings and met with the companies. They choose Norton. Good enough for me. And as above, I use McAfee too at a second location. No complaints.

Internet signal problems should be simple for a tech to fix. Check the signal at the street, check the signal at the drop (connection to the house), check the wiring in the house. Then check the equipment. If you're having signal problems and neighbors aren't, I'd suspect connections and the wiring in the house or the equipment. How old is the house, how old are the router and modem? By the way, you should know that the house wiring is owned by you, not by Comcast. If there's a problem, you need to pay for the fix, either to an electrician or to them.

I've had Comcast cable internet service for the last 10 years at my primary house and I've been happy with the service. I've had a couple of service calls, the problems were at the street and one incident happened because my modem went wonky. At another location, Spectrum cable internet. Also very good. I had one incident when my signal had intermittent problems - they sent out a tech and he found a circuit board problem at the street connector. He replaced the board and all has been fine since. No technology or infrastructure is perfect forever, things go wrong.

None of these companies are crooks. They're trying to provide products and services that people want. I'll agree that sometimes pricing practices seem predatory. The way things work, most have effective monopolies and they try to maximize prices. That's how the world goes, I don't think it's something to be upset about. TV service pricing is the same, phone service pricing is the same.

Good luck.

"Internet signal problems should be simple for a tech to fix. Check the signal at the street, check the signal at the drop (connection to the house), check the wiring in the house. Then check the equipment."

I've had Comcast here 6 times in 4 months. They have changed everything 3 times. Said everything was working fine except blamed Verizon for providing a weak cell signal....Verizon.

Well contacted Verizon and they laughed at this. They increased our cell strength but it did nothing. As a matter of fact, our wireless got worse about the same time. I believe there is a problem with the signal coming into the house. They will not check the lines, said they are reading fine.

Anyway, I appreciate your feedback regarding McAfee and will consider keeping it when the trial runs out. It does not appear to be slowing things down however I am not using the computer for anything except web browsing. I cannot get the computer to recognize my printer and I need the printer for my work. So I continue to use an old laptop for my work. I will contact Dell tomorrow. I'm hoping it doesn't have to do with the printer being 4 yrs old and the computer running Win 11.

Thanks again for your information.

Jane

Jane, how are your services from Comcast and Verizon related? One should normally not affect the other.

Elmer, Comcast is saying they are getting a very weak cell signal. When I questioned the tech, he asked who we used for cell and I said, Verizon. He said I should contact them. I said, we are getting our wireless signal from Comcast/router. He said , all our equipment is working perfectly, call Verizon.

I'm not sure I follow.

Is the internet signal supplied to your house (not the Wifi) from a Comcast cable line? And the cell phone signal you're referring to comes from Verizon? I'm not sure how an internet signal carried over a wire and a mobile phone signal carried by radio waves are related. These are normally two separate things.

Exactly! One has nothing to do with the other.

Were I in your shoes, if the internet signal isn't satisfactory, I'd call again for a tech visit.

I don't know if the tech who said that to you was an idiot, impolitely making fun of you, or something else, but I'd report that behavior too in the form of "don't send that same rude person out again". Unacceptable.

Good luck.

Thanks! He was the third tech. They did change the equipment which helped with the TV’s (froze constantly), on two visits. They changed the router 3x. Still bad wireless. I believe it’s in their line to the house but they say it isn’t.
As far as I can see, they haven’t checked that but maybe they can tell with meters.
I plan to call them again, which takes up so much time to get anyone except a robot. I now say, ‘cancel my account’ which usually gets me a live person.
Just frustrating.

Stay with me on this, maybe a bit more info will give me an idea.

When the TV froze, were you watching streaming content (Netflix, Prime, Hulu, etc) or was it when watching programs using Comcasts TV service?

How is your TV connected? By wire or by Wifi?

Wifi signals come from the router. Where is the router located compared to where you try to use a wifi signal?

We have 3 tv’s. All three would freeze at the same time no matter who was watching what. I tend to watch news or PBS. Son watches prime or Netflix, etc. When using the computer online, pages won’t load. Phone drops calls. With the tv’s we’d go through unplugging, plugging. Not everything happens at the same time, except the tv’s.
Wireless signal is terrible in the house at all times.

You're talking about TV signals coming over an internet connection and going to TVs via Wifi then?

Where is the router located compared to where the TVs are, distance wise? One story home or two? By terrible wireless signal, you mean Wifi?

Time to get a new ISP and cable company....

Elmer, the Tv's each have a box. I think the boxes are wireless. Not sure, good question. The small boxes are plugged into the tv's. The router is very close to the large tv and the other two are in different rooms.

I'm in Florida, one level ranch house.

When we lived in NY, we had a large house. Had 6 TV's, never had a problem.

Where we live now, (Florida) there are no choices for cable. Comcast is it. We have Verizon for our phones. They work perfectly on cellular outside the house.

Jane

Thank you