Why will McAfee not detect virus

[Former Member]

I have the total protection version of McAfee, however it will not detect a virus on my computer. My computer is infected with the fake windows system restore virus. It has caused my computer to crash and McAfee is unable to detect & remove it. What good is having the total protection if it is not totally protecting my computer? What can I do?

[exbrit]

Discussion moved from Home and Home Office to Security Awareness > Top Threats where McAfee staff should help you shortly.

The Fake Alert type infection mutate so rapidly that I doubt you'll find that any regular antivirus software would detect it.  McAfee does have tools to combat it however.

See Fake Alert Stinger in THIS page.

Also it might be an idea to keep one or more of the tools mentioned further down under '3rd Party Tools' as extra protection for the future.

These fake alert pests are difficult to avoid, but one can go a long way to avoiding them by always keeping Windows updated - all parts of it whether used ot not - and avoid risky surfing, downloading, file-sharing etc. etc. and never click on anything you aren't absolytely sure of.