Strange mcafee/intel security support session. Should you ever download anything while no defense?

[Damnation]

Hi there, I purchased a laptop about a week ago that was supposed to come with a year. The preinstalled software said I had a month till it expired. I had an odd experience with support. I received a 25 digit key from the vendor for the year subscription and could not find where to put it on the preinstalled app. mcafee support gave me a link where I put the code in and bam I had a year on my subscription, he told me to go ahead and download and install even tho it was already installed. That seemed ok as it I knew it would install over top the old. I wrote down the case number and prepared for a restart I knew was coming. He then transferred me to techsupport. The techsupport asked me to download an applet. Hovering gave no clue to the link and mcafee was ready to restart the computer. Keep in mind the computer is unprotected at this step of the process. I told him that I was unable to click the link. I was only able to type and hit enter or restart the computer. He asked me what kind of connection I had whether it be dialup56k/dsl/cable/fiber. I was not sure. He told me to go ahead and restart my pc and then asked me if he had the correct phone number which he did. I have not yet received a call.  If all is well then its ok. I'm not really worried. Just kind of a strange request to download while unprotected. What if the repo/source of the download had been hit. The said person who could click the link would be defenseless at this time would they not? Just a thought. I did indeed reach support chat from mcafee's site. The chat window displayed  intel security the whole time. A google search reveals a man with a similar issue posts to a forum. He was transferred to IYOGI. A response to the forum from a mcafee or intel security employee states that they would never transfer to anyone who is not intel and that IYOGI is not intel. He then suggests the chat must have come from google searches and not from within mcafee/intel security. (Here is the link to that forum if you wish to read it: https://getsatisfaction.com/intelsecurity/topics/intel-tech-transferred-me-to-iyogi-and-i-thought-it-was-intel-they-sold-me-protection-and-i-thought-it  ). It is hard to say whether or not our situations are similar. If I had been able to click the link and then something get installed before mcafee completed reinstallation it could have been bad. Should we ever download anything while unprotected?

This does not affect my veiws on intel or mcafee. Just wanted to know steams thoughts.

[Radical Left Lunatic]

Some applications such as steam, origin or other reputable applications are extremely unlikely to be compromised and you can feel very safe downloading them without security software, odds are that even if there was something that managed to sneak in there it would be unique enough that security software would not detect it anyways. I would not recommend downloading anything that is freeware such as minecraft mods or music from shady sites as they are very likly to be compromised or just be straight up malware.

My main question is if you are sure that they had you try to download an applet? Applets have been deprecated for many years and in fact the only way to get them to work is to set the JVM to its lowest security settings(And then it asks you if you want to run it). If it indeed was an applet then it most certainly was something shady, of course who ever was trying to get you to download it is very outdated in the malicious software department. You have to be very carfull about installing software with any of these extensions: .bat, .exe, .jar(If you have the JVM installed) or .msi, these files are executable by your computer directly and can cuase serious harm to your os or your files.

[Azza ☠]

Did they ask for remote access to your PC or similar? What was the applet for?

You need to watch out for scammers posing as other companies such as Microsoft, Intel, etc... claiming to be IT security. If they want remote access to your PC, then use scare tactics to try get you to purchase faked protection software.

[Exiled Alchemist]

First off never use mcafee it's a trash antivirus program that will always give you false positives even on clean Steam games. Second the only thing you should be downloading is a better antivirus program. I suggest getting Avast, and Malwarebytes do to both being free. The only reason to pay for them is if you want the extra features. Both do extreamly well at keeping the machine clean however keep in mind no antivirus program is ever 100% perfect so having both helps.

[Damnation]

Originally posted by zoomdude111:

Some applications such as steam, origin or other reputable applications are extremely unlikely to be compromised and you can feel very safe downloading them without security software, odds are that even if there was something that managed to sneak in there it would be unique enough that security software would not detect it anyways. I would not recommend downloading anything that is freeware such as minecraft mods or music from shady sites as they are very likly to be compromised or just be straight up malware.

My main question is if you are sure that they had you try to download an applet? Applets have been deprecated for many years and in fact the only way to get them to work is to set the JVM to its lowest security settings(And then it asks you if you want to run it). If it indeed was an applet then it most certainly was something shady, of course who ever was trying to get you to download it is very outdated in the malicious software department. You have to be very carfull about installing software with any of these extensions: .bat, .exe, .jar(If you have the JVM installed) or .msi, these files are executable by your computer directly and can cuase serious harm to your os or your files.

yes it was an applet, i could not see what tho so that was super shade

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

Did they ask for remote access to your PC or similar? What was the applet for?

You need to watch out for scammers posing as other companies such as Microsoft, Intel, etc... claiming to be IT security. If they want remote access to your PC, then use scare tactics to try get you to purchase faked protection software.

I was sure that was going down, so "I was unable to click download" the first agent had already done his job.

Originally posted by ExiledAlchemist:

First off never use mcafee it's a trash antivirus program that will always give you false positives even on clean Steam games. Second the only thing you should be downloading is a better antivirus program. I suggest getting Avast, and Malwarebytes do to both being free. The only reason to pay for them is if you want the extra features. Both do extreamly well at keeping the machine clean however keep in mind no antivirus program is ever 100% perfect so having both helps.

If a person just used the windows 10 built in defender and was cautious with what they did would they be able to get by on it?

[Radical Left Lunatic]

Originally posted by Damnation:

Originally posted by zoomdude111:

Some applications such as steam, origin or other reputable applications are extremely unlikely to be compromised and you can feel very safe downloading them without security software, odds are that even if there was something that managed to sneak in there it would be unique enough that security software would not detect it anyways. I would not recommend downloading anything that is freeware such as minecraft mods or music from shady sites as they are very likly to be compromised or just be straight up malware.

My main question is if you are sure that they had you try to download an applet? Applets have been deprecated for many years and in fact the only way to get them to work is to set the JVM to its lowest security settings(And then it asks you if you want to run it). If it indeed was an applet then it most certainly was something shady, of course who ever was trying to get you to download it is very outdated in the malicious software department. You have to be very carfull about installing software with any of these extensions: .bat, .exe, .jar(If you have the JVM installed) or .msi, these files are executable by your computer directly and can cuase serious harm to your os or your files.

yes it was an applet, i could not see what tho so that was super shade

Originally posted by Azza ☠:

Did they ask for remote access to your PC or similar? What was the applet for?

You need to watch out for scammers posing as other companies such as Microsoft, Intel, etc... claiming to be IT security. If they want remote access to your PC, then use scare tactics to try get you to purchase faked protection software.

I was sure that was going down, so "I was unable to click download" the first agent had already done his job.

Originally posted by ExiledAlchemist:

First off never use mcafee it's a trash antivirus program that will always give you false positives even on clean Steam games. Second the only thing you should be downloading is a better antivirus program. I suggest getting Avast, and Malwarebytes do to both being free. The only reason to pay for them is if you want the extra features. Both do extreamly well at keeping the machine clean however keep in mind no antivirus program is ever 100% perfect so having both helps.

If a person just used the windows 10 built in defender and was cautious with what they did would they be able to get by on it?

Depends on the person, if you are carfull and only download extremly trusted applications and visit popular and trusted websites then yeah.

[Damnation]

kk, I mainly use it for gaming and work so i think ill be ok, and im not trying to get free stuff, karma seems to have a hand in hack and be hacked. Those who live by the sword die by the sword. dont start none, there wont be none. what goes around comes around, tht type of stuff seems to be the rule on the great world wide wibble lol