Accepted Answer

According to McAfee’s Answer Center, you might run into this problem if you recently installed its VirusScan antivirus software. McAfee knows of two scenarios that cause this problem: Your printer driver is old, or a certain file (McVsSkt.dll) conflicts with an open application’s task. According to McAfee, the email scanner portion of the software loads McVsSkt.dll into these tasks, and in some cases, this causes a conflict.

You can fix both problems quickly, but the printer driver scenario is the easier of the two, so you’ll probably want to start there. Start by determining your printer model. Many printer front panels display both the manufacturer name and model. If yours doesn’t, click Start and Control Panel and then double-click Printers And Faxes. Select your printer (you may see the model name here) and then right-click it. Select Properties and then click the General tab when the Properties window opens. You’ll see a field marked Model.

Once you have the printer model, visit the manufacturer’s Web site and look for a Drivers section (or type your printer model name in the Search field). The site will most likely have the latest drivers and instructions for downloading and installing them.

If that doesn’t solve your problem, try replacing McVsSkt.dll. According to McAfee’s Answer Center, you’ll want to start by downloading McVsSkt.zip, which is the compressed version of McVsSkt.dll. Download the file here http://download.mcafee.com/products/licensed/cust_support_patches/mcvsskt.zip

Before you unzip McVsSkt.zip, you’ll want to disable VirusScan’s Active Shield, which is a process called McVSEscn.exe. Press CTRL-ALT-DELETE to open the Windows Task Manager and then click the Process tab. Highlight the process and then click End Process (Windows XP) or End Task (Windows 98/Me).

Now that McVSEscn.exe is out of the way, you’ll want to extract McVsSkt.zip’s contents (the new McVsSkt.dll file) to the appropriate folder. If you have WinXP, simply right-click the zip file, click Extract All, and then follow the Extraction Wizard’s instructions. When you choose the directory for the extracted files, browse to Program Files\McAfee.com\Vso.

If you have an older version of Windows, download WinZip and follow the same steps (WinZip refers to extraction as “unzipping”).

A window will ask you if you’re sure you want to write McVsSkt.dll over the current file. You do. Finally, reboot your computer and printer.

If you are having trouble while printing a Web page (a receipt, for example), you may be worried that you’ll lose the page during the reboot. That’s true: The moment you close your browser you’ll probably lose that receipt permanently. To avoid this problem, go to your browser’s File menu at the top of the window (assuming that you’re using Internet Explorer) and then click Save As. Choose a folder to which you want to save the Web page and then click the drop-down arrow in the Save As Type field. Select Web Archive, Single File (*.mht), which will preserve the page on your hard drive. Next, click the Save button, find the file, and then double-click it to make sure it saved properly. Chances are, your receipt will appear, ready for printing whenever you need it. This is also a handy way to save pages that you want to view later when you’ll be offline.

For more information about this problem, visit McAfee’s Answer Center, choose VirusScan 9 from the Choose A Product Or Topic Below menu, choose Common Issues from the Choose A Category Below menu, and then click I Cannot Print With VirusScan Installed.

Expert:	Binary Ninja
Pos. Feedback:	100.0 %
Accepts:
Answered:	11/2/2009

Systems Administrator

4 years Administering corporate networks