John McAfee American programmer Date of Birth: 18.09.1945 Country: USA

1. Biography of John McAfee
2. Career
3. Later Years and Controversies

Biography of John McAfee

John McAfee, an American programmer and the founder of McAfee, was born on September 18, 1945, in England. He grew up in Salem, Virginia and obtained a Bachelor's degree in Mathematics from Roanoke College in 1967. In 2008, Roanoke College awarded McAfee an honorary doctorate degree in recognition of his achievements.

Career

From 1968 to 1970, McAfee worked as a programmer at NASA's Institute for Space Studies in New York City. He then joined Univac as a software developer and later worked at Xerox as an operating system architect. In 1978, McAfee joined Computer Sciences Corporation as a software consultant. It was during his time at Lockheed in the 1980s that he acquired a copy of the computer virus "Pakistani Brain" and began developing software to combat viruses.

In 1987, McAfee founded McAfee Associates, a computer antivirus company. He pioneered the distribution of antivirus software using a freemium business model. In 1989, McAfee left Lockheed to focus full-time on McAfee Associates, which initially operated out of his own home in Santa Clara, California. The company was registered in Delaware in 1992, and two years later, McAfee resigned from the company. After McAfee Associates started trading publicly, McAfee sold his remaining shares. In 1997, the merger of McAfee Associates and Network General led to the formation of Network Associates, which later reverted to its original name.

McAfee Associates, which has absorbed numerous American and European antivirus software developers over the past 20 years, remains one of the world's largest leaders in the industry. McAfee also founded Tribal Voice, a company that developed PowWow, one of the first instant messaging programs. In 2000, McAfee became an investor and served on the board of directors of Zone Labs until it was acquired by Check Point Software in 2003.

Later Years and Controversies

In August 2009, The New York Times reported that McAfee's personal fortune had decreased to $4 million due to the global financial crisis and unsuccessful investments (it had reached around $100 million at its peak). In February 2010, McAfee founded a new venture called QuorumEx, headquartered in Belize, which focused on producing all-natural antibiotics.

McAfee has also been involved in yoga for many years and has authored several books on the subject. He has been a target for hackers due to his status as the developer of the first antivirus software. To safeguard his computer equipment, McAfee has others purchase it for him, and he uses aliases and changes his IP address multiple times a day.

On April 30, 2012, McAfee's property in Orange Walk, Belize was raided by the Gang Suppression Unit, a special unit of the Belize Police Force dedicated to combating organized crime. The raid was related to allegations of illegal drug production and possession of unregistered weapons. The charges were dropped a few hours later.

On November 12, 2012, the Belize police began searching for McAfee in connection with the murder of American expatriate Gregory Faull, who was found dead with a gunshot wound on November 10, 2012, in his home on Ambergris Caye. No official charges were made against McAfee, who maintained his innocence in an interview with Wired magazine. He also expressed fear of being killed by the police and refused to cooperate with the investigation. Belize's Prime Minister, Dean Barrow, referred to McAfee as a "perfectly paranoid, even bonkers."