A workaround exists
For those bitten by this bug, the only way to thaw the system freeze is to restart the computer in Safe Mode and disable startup system scans.
To do this, launch the McAfee VirusScan Scheduler. Right mouse click on McAfee VShield and uncheck both Enable System Scan and Enable Scanning of e-mail attachments.
Once this is done Windows will startup normally, albeit without virus protection. This will let the user download the latest product upgrades. Once the system is upgraded, then re-enable the scanning options.
For those that haven't been affected by these system hangs, our recommendation is to not update the virus definition file until the VirusScan software is patched.
The best way to get this upgrade is to download McAfee's SuperDAT updater. This program updates both the scanning engine and the virus definition at the same time.
Installation is painless. Simply download the SuperDAT and run the executable. After restarting the system you should be set with the latest scan engine and virus remedy file.
I am not sure as to the relevance to this but I look after a corporate network with Mcafee installed everywhere and the DAT file is 4134, the version in the article is 4102 which is quite old as far as I know