McAfee is a California-based company that first started analyzing malware in 1987 just as computer viruses were emerging. McAfee, recently purchased by the hardware company Intel, is now one of the largest security companies in the world employing nearly 7,000 people. We tested McAfee Total Protection to see how well they compare to their competitors in the aggressive premium internet security suite arena.
Of the major security providers, McAfee has been plagued with some of the most unimpressive test scores. In fact, McAfee did not earn AV-Test certification in 2010. They did better with the most recent March-June 2011 AV-Comparatives tests by earning 93.5%. However, when you consider the billions of threats on the web, a 6.5% error rate is too high. Although we do not rate internet security software on test results exclusively, they do give us an idea of how you can expect them to perform against emerging zero-day threats. They passed their Windows XP and Vista VB100 tests, but they failed their last test running Windows 7.
In terms of what angles this software can protect you from, it has all malware entry points covered. It can detect rootkits, scan USB drives, filter email, block spyware and identify phishing scams. It will also run a pre-install scan that can help remove malware that may already be on your machine. McAfee also includes a two-way firewall that can block intruders from coming in and your protected information from going out. Its antiphishing abilities work with Internet Explorer, Firefox and Google Chrome.
McAfee Total Protection includes a handful of useful premium features such as 2GB of free online storage, PC tuneup tools, identity protection, URL shortening, file shredding and a registry cleaner. This security suite can defrag your hard drive and has four shred levels to remove completely items in your recycle bin and temporary internet files. Their online storage saves your data in a password-protected encrypted file so if anything happens to your hard drive you can access your data from any computer. However, we did not see a backup scheduler. You have to back up your files periodically; it will not automatically sync and do it for you. You can also manage your other McAfee licenses from one control computer. Unfortunately, it cannot remotely access the parental controls tool. Remote access to parental controls is a useful feature since it will allow you to perform tasks such as adding more computer time to your teen's profile while you are away.
This internet security suite includes nearly all standard features we were looking for, including parental controls, application control, USB drive scanning, custom scan modes and website ratings. Their website ratings are rather comprehensive. For example, for our website, they even tested how many emails we send out to those that sign up for newsletters or alerts. It also checks the quality of the sites our site links to. One interesting feature McAfee provides is safe URL sharing. It can scan your links to ensure they are safe so you can share links with your friends without worrying about infecting them with something nasty. In addition, even if your link becomes corrupt later on it will warn your friends before they open the link. It will also shorten your links so you do not have to post an ugly paragraph-long link to your friends on Facebook.
If you require assistance installing or configuring McAfee internet security or have a billing issue, you can contact McAfee by telephone, email or live chat. However, many services require a service fee. They offer setup help, troubleshooting, virus removal and remote support for a fee. Free support options include their user manuals, PDF data sheets and troubleshooting advice. We found it annoying that if you try to find a support telephone number via their Contact Us link, it refers you to their support page, which advertises their paid support plans. We eventually found a support telephone number through the site map. We prefer software manufacturers that make it easy for customers to contact them for direct support.
McAfee has recovered significantly from their 2010 debacle which compromised millions of computers, including 8,000 computers at the University of Michigan medical school. It took a lot of work on McAfee's part to recover their reputation. However, they still have not earned the test scores awarded to the best internet security suites. In fact, if we average all of the test scores we looked at, they only earn 64%. We commend McAfee for creating a comprehensive suite, but we aren't confident that it can provide dependable, dynamic protection against all threats.
