What Is an Mcshield.Exe Error?

Mcshield.Exe
When you get a Mcshield error message on your computer, your first impulse may be to suspect a virus or trojan. McShield is a legitimate application file. It is part of the McAfee On-Access Scanner, and an essential part of the program. When the file becomes corrupt, it may cause an error. If you do not have the McAfee software loaded on your system, then you need to consider viral infection. Some viruses can conceal themselves as real executable -- or .exe. -- files.
McAfee On-Access Scanner
McAfee is a company that produces antivirus software. The On-Access Scanner is part of the total VirusScan package. The McAfee antivirus program runs at several levels. The On-Access Scanner is the real-time system. Unlike other layers of the protection software, the scanner runs in the background whenever your computer is in operation. This means as you surf the Internet, the On-Access application is working to prevent your computer becoming infected from a malicious website. McShield is an executable file in this system.
Causes
There are a number of ways a file can become unstable. In some cases, there may be a virus on your system that is interfering with the On-Access process. The virus could have infected your computer and changed the stability of the file. Even though McAfee removes a virus, it cannot repair any damage that may occur before the system cures the infection. A virus is just one option. Computer files become unstable at times for no known reason.
Fixing the Problem
Once a file is corrupt, there are remarkably few options to fix the problem. Your computer is not self-healing. Some software packages such as Windows retain the ability to detect damaged files and replace them with a copy. That is not the case with the McShield problems. The only way to correct this error is to re install the software. This will remove the faulty executable file as well as all the other key files for the program.