Many people don't realize that updating your antivirus does not just mean your virus definition files.  Sometimes, you must update your scan engine as well.  A scan engine is that piece of antivirus software that drives the search and identification of viruses.  Because viruses are constantly "mutated", it is beneficial to keep the engine as up-to-date as possible.  As of the first week of December, the most current engine is 4.1.20.  Although definition files come out generally every week, an updated engine may be released by the company only every once and while, depending on the need for an update .

In order to determine which version of Mcafee engine you have installed, follow the steps below:

Windows 9x users

1. Click on Start à Programs à McAfee Viruscan
2. Click on the McAfee Viruscan icon
3. Click on Help in the menu bar and then choose About
4. In the screen that appears, the Scan Engine is listed on the last line (see graphic below)

It's always a good policy to check the Created On category as well to see if your definition files are up-to-date

Windows 3.x

Look for the McAfee program group.  Double-click to open the group and then follow the instructions above starting with #2.

Windows NT

Click on Start à Programs à Network Associates Viruscan NT à Viruscan.  Then click on Help in the menu bar and choose About.

What if I am not up-to-date?

If you're scan engine is less than 4.1.20, it's relatively easy to update from the Computer Services public folder.  In order to update the scan engine, follow these simple steps:

Win 9x\WinNT

1. Click on Start à Find à Computer
2. Key in SH-CSRV1 and click Find Now
3. Once the computer is located, double-click on the computer
4. Double-click on the Guest folder
5. Double-click on the Antivirus folder
6. Double-click on the McAfee folder
7. Double-click on the Superdats-Patches folder
8. Double-click on the sdat4110.exe file
9. Follow the onscreen prompts, choosing Next until it comes to the last screen where you click FINISH.
10. At the last screen, if it asks to reboot, click in the circle to choose no and then click Finish
11. Close all windows that are open and then click Start à Shutdown à Restart the computer

Windows 3.x

1. Go into the Main group and double-click on FileManager
2. Click on Disk in the menu bar and choose Connect Network Drive
3. In the path box, type \\SH-CSRV1\guest (without quotes) and click OK.  Deselect Reconnect at Startup
4. Double-click on the ANTIVI~1 folder
5. Double-click on the MCAFEE folder
6. Double-click on the SUPERD~1 folder
7. ***  Double-click on the sdat4110.exe file and wait.  The screen will turn black listing the files that are extracting. 

***  NOTE:  It may look like your computer is locked up at the black screen, but just be patient as it may take several minutes.

When the computer comes back up, you can use the steps listed at the beginning of this article to check the scan engine version.