The other day when I turned on my new PC, a warning banner from McAfee popped up on my screen telling me that my PC was in danger of a virus infection. It even went so far as to list some recent websites that I had visited. But, for $39.95, I could be protected.

Now, over the Christmas holidays, I received a similar invitation, which portrayed itself as a good guy, on a different PC. Unfortunately, it wasn’t and it wasn’t going to release my PC until I payed $49.95. After several days of work, I finally managed to get rid of it.

So, I had to decide; was this just an ad or was it malware? I tired to close the banner but there was no close button, only a “next”. I started to get a sinking feeling in my stomach. Next, I tried closing the tab. Success!!! I guess it was just an ad from McAfee trying to sell me “protection”.

First of all, I don’t appreciate McAfees sales tactics. If they want to use a pop up banner to sell me an upgrade, at least give me a button that says “no thanks”. While I was able to quickly figure out a solution, I am sure that there were others who paid the $39.95 just to get their PC back.

Second, I don’t appreciate McAfee spying on me. I make a special effort to eliminate all spyware as it really slows down my PCs. So, it irritates me to find out that my virus protection is spying on me.

The McAfee program came with my new PC. Once the free trial ends, I will be loading a different virus protection program on the machine.