A few weeks ago, I was doing my usual reading of celebrity news on TMZ.com when I came across the headline about John McAfee. The name I once associated with the famous antivirus software was now the leading suspect in the murder of a Florida bodybuilder named Gregory Faull in San Pedro Town. What I had read about this deranged, power-hungry maniac was eyebrow raising. But truth be told, I don’t find it to be a complete surprise that such flawed software could be associated with a complete nut job.
I recall my youth in the early 90’s which was also the early days of the web when online services were offered by now ancient companies such as Prodigy and CompuServe. My mom who had worked at a printing firm at the time was like one of many frequent users who feared their home and office computers catching the infamous Michelangelo virus. That’s when McAfee seized the opportunity to make a name for himself by making the television rounds to warn the public of its dangerous effects on as many as five million computers. Sales of his antivirus software went straight through the roof. Though to me, McAfee was living proof of how you can profit off of fear long before the Bush Administration.
Now I read in news articles about how McAfee was an alcoholic and drug addict with a preference for underage girls and surrounded himself with at least eight European security guards who carried firearms wherever we went. Even more insane to hear about was his addiction to the current bath salt craze as well as his association with South American gangs who had once tried to kill him. His personality sounds like a bad mix of Colonel Kurtz and Tony Montana.
And what about the perception of the McAfee software itself these days? I always found it to be a nuisance back when I owned a PC before I turned into a Mac guy. It would slow down my RAM speed and it never really prevented my PC from catching “cookies” on random websites. Other users have complained about the software installation flaws, the rude and uninformative customer service reps, the software’s failure to detect the most serious of malware, and the service overcharging users for using a virus removal tool even after they pay a subscription fee. Then if you even try to cancel the subscription all together, the service will continue to charge and put up excessive pop-up ads to get you to restart your subscription! This is just as erratic as McAfee himself. At this point, I would say for anyone to pay a monthly fee for defective software hoping it will protect their computer is no different from McAfee messing around loosely with girls he would honestly believe are not diagnosed with STDs.
So rather than face the charges put forth, McAfee is letting drama play out with blogs and audio recordings to update his “supporters” without revealing his whereabouts like the nutty coward he is. He is a living disease that even his own product would never detect. There is just absolutely no way I would ever trust my computer to a virus protection software designed by an alleged psychotic drug and sex offender. Should he ever get caught, I would suspect San Pedro law enforcement will McAfee far worse than the way his software consumers get treated by his customer service reps.
I recall my youth in the early 90’s which was also the early days of the web when online services were offered by now ancient companies such as Prodigy and CompuServe. My mom who had worked at a printing firm at the time was like one of many frequent users who feared their home and office computers catching the infamous Michelangelo virus. That’s when McAfee seized the opportunity to make a name for himself by making the television rounds to warn the public of its dangerous effects on as many as five million computers. Sales of his antivirus software went straight through the roof. Though to me, McAfee was living proof of how you can profit off of fear long before the Bush Administration.
Now I read in news articles about how McAfee was an alcoholic and drug addict with a preference for underage girls and surrounded himself with at least eight European security guards who carried firearms wherever we went. Even more insane to hear about was his addiction to the current bath salt craze as well as his association with South American gangs who had once tried to kill him. His personality sounds like a bad mix of Colonel Kurtz and Tony Montana.
And what about the perception of the McAfee software itself these days? I always found it to be a nuisance back when I owned a PC before I turned into a Mac guy. It would slow down my RAM speed and it never really prevented my PC from catching “cookies” on random websites. Other users have complained about the software installation flaws, the rude and uninformative customer service reps, the software’s failure to detect the most serious of malware, and the service overcharging users for using a virus removal tool even after they pay a subscription fee. Then if you even try to cancel the subscription all together, the service will continue to charge and put up excessive pop-up ads to get you to restart your subscription! This is just as erratic as McAfee himself. At this point, I would say for anyone to pay a monthly fee for defective software hoping it will protect their computer is no different from McAfee messing around loosely with girls he would honestly believe are not diagnosed with STDs.
So rather than face the charges put forth, McAfee is letting drama play out with blogs and audio recordings to update his “supporters” without revealing his whereabouts like the nutty coward he is. He is a living disease that even his own product would never detect. There is just absolutely no way I would ever trust my computer to a virus protection software designed by an alleged psychotic drug and sex offender. Should he ever get caught, I would suspect San Pedro law enforcement will McAfee far worse than the way his software consumers get treated by his customer service reps.
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