Customer Reviews

McAfee AntiSpyWare 2005

5 star:		(5)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I recently picked up McAfee AntiSpyware after I had an ugly bout with some nasty spyware. I've been using the free utilities, Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy, for little over a year now and they've worked well. But as Spyware evolves into more uglier and sneakier forms, I've noticed that many of the free utilities I use have had problems permanently erasing spyware. I would get rid of registry keys, then the next time I scan, it would reappear in the scan. Prior to, I've been a real big McAfee fan, being a current proud owner of Viruscan and Firewall. When I heard they had a Spyware program, with a year of free spyware signature updates, i decided to give it a try. Boy was I pleased! Within a couple minutes after the install and auto-updates, I was able to gut out the spyware that Ad-Aware and Spybot weren't able to do sucessfully on their own. I also found stuff that Ad-Aware and Spybot totally missed! Includer a browser hijacking program that was muddling around on my system for who knows how long?! I'm so pleased, I can already predict that with McAfee's solid background in AntiVirus protection, this will be a must have product. Another gold notch in the McCafee series of products!

I own McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 but I purchased the stand alone version of this McAfee AntiSpyware 2005 program even though basically the same program is bundled as part of the "Privacy Service Program" with McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 v6.0 . I did not want to use the Privacy Service program at all so I figured this would work best for me. I also decided could also easily use this as a stand alone program in the future along with another company's antivirus program such as Symantec's Norton Antivirus.

This McAfee Antispyware program is very simple to use and it seems to work well. You can open up the program's display properties anytime and monitor its activity and you will see it working as it scans web pages in real time as you browse using Internet Explorer. You can also schedule system wide scans and it has customizable controls so you can enable trusted spyware or adware programs not to be blocked. The biggest drawback is that it does not automatically detect and remove tracking cookies. Its main advantage is realtime scanning and blocking of spyware and adware. Spybot Search & Destroy and Ad-Aware (basic) are both free to download and work very well also however those programs do not auto update and they don't do essential real time scanning to stop the spyware before it infects your computer. Spybot does have an immunize feature that helps block a pre-set number of common spyware/adware programs but this list is static while McAfee's program uses dynamic scanning with the latest automatically updated spyware/adware detections.

I would recommend you use all three antispyware programs. Download Spybot and Ad-Aware for free and also install McAfee Antispyware 2005 for real time scanning. In this age of spyware, adware, trojan horses, tracking cookies etc. you can't be too safe. I would also recommend a good firewall like Zone Alarm 4.x or the even more feature rich Zone Alarm Pro 4.x ( Zone Alarm 4 with internet cookie, popup, and privacy controls) . Use a good Antivirus program such as McAfee 2004, Norton 2003, PC-Cillin 2004, or Kaspersky.

One more highly rated antispyware program you might want to look at is Webroot's SpySweeper which has all the realtime scanning features of McAfee along with tracking cookie detection. SpySweeper is a seasoned antispyware program known to have one of the highest spyware/adware/tracking-cookie detection rates among all the anti-spyware programs. Although the McAfee Antispyware 2005 is still relatively new to the antispyware game compared to other programs, I would expect this recently released McAfee software to continue to improve this year as this program auto-updates itself with more advanced features and enhanced spyware detections.

As a computer consultant I have been having unknown problems at a customer site running OSAS (Open systems Accounting Software) and Unform 5.0 (custom invoice/forms printing product from SDSI). It was preventing access to its license on the Network through its TCP/IP port. OSAS suggested the problem may be spyware on my customer's workstation running XP with its new firewall (when all the problems started). I removed spyware with Spybot. Unfortunately the problem still existed. So I finally decided to try ANTISPYWARE. It found the spyware (not seen by Spybot), removed it and the problem was CURED! Bravo for McAfee!

I am not sure how well this product works. I installed it on an HP running XP SP2. Updates no longer work. The software informs me that an update is available and I select update. Nothing happens after that. I have tried turning off the firewalls (Both Microsoft and Norton) to no avail. I will remove it and try it on 2000 Pro.

I purchased this product having used the McAfee Firewall and Virus software. PC Magazine was correct, McAfee AntiSpyware does not catch many of the latest viruses and the current list is not as large as other products. I bought the first version of this online in March of last year and the 2005 update later. McAfee cut off my online updates in March of this year even though I had installed a later version in October!! I uninstalled this and went for WebRoot Spysweeper. On first scan there were 84 ad cookies! When updating current software or downloading new items, WebRoot steps in immediately to ask about the scripts running. Don't waste your time with McAfee!

I own full versions of at least 6 different ANTI-SPY programs.
Mcafee seems to be middle-of-the-road.


software maintenance is a pain.

today, I tried to update ONLY my mcafee antispyware.
It requires a mcafee website login.
Cumbersome, but okay. I'll do it.

[Perhaps someday Mcafee will grasp the concept of "AUTOMATED UPDATES", but until then].

Next, the wretched "security panel" wants an update too.
Despite the same mcafee website login name and password,
I can't take care of BOTH updates during one login.

I had to:
open browser>go to Mcafee website>login>get antispyware update then install it.

Then I had to do everything ALL OVER AGAIN for the mcafee
"security panel" update


Too Painful .

SIDENOTE about program:
It appears that Mcafee wants to control your whole desktop environment via their Security Panel.
Nevermind what "Joe Q Public" wants on THEIR pc.

I'll bet that as of 2005, every mcafee "suite" AND
every mcafee single-product [INDIVIDUAL program/product] installs that WRETCHED,
"Mcafee Security Center".

Every consumer end-user should CHARGE/INVOICE mcafee for mcafee's installation of any extra program[s] onto their pc.

A Charge-per-meg of my hard drive space seems fair :^)

All I have is the mcafee antispyware.

I DO NOT WANT THEIR blankity-blank
"mcafee security control panel".

I use:
1. Zone alarm 5 as my firewall and it operates and updates itself without INTRUDING into other areas of my pc.

2. Norton systemworks 2005 premier provides the anti-virus and system utilities. It too simply loads the norton items I bought and uses it's own control panel to maintain the norton utilities installed. Updates itself easily.

When my mcafee subscription expires, I'm dropping mcafee anti-spy.

Just my opinion.
Just my .02 cents.

PS. I work in the IT work full time. Have been for almost 15 years now.
Since the era of the IBM XT computer.

So I am NOT a new-bie to the arena of hardware or software.

With so many other competitors out there, unless mcafee builds a better product [especially how they UPDATE the products]
this will be my final mcafee product owned and used.

McAfee Anti-Spyware simply works, period. It blocks spyware silently, and the database is updated very frequently, about 2-3 times a week. It also blocks and detects keylogging snoopware, the worst kind of spyware. Scanning is very fast and can be scheduled for regular scans. In short, this program is effective, fast, reliable, and cost-effective. Don't rely on free utilities that usually cannot block spyware. Get this program to effectively keep spyware at bay.

Bought this to rid my system of spyware. When it could not accomplish that I contacted McAfee (via chat as they charge by the minute to talk to their customers!). After "speaking" with a robot they suggested I use AdAware , a FREE PRODUCT available on the net to purge the spyware!!!!!
AdAware worked as advertised.
McAfee's product DID NOTHING.

Till recently, McAfee was only focussing on Anti Virus software. With the recent surge in attacks on home machines through malicious emails, popup ads and self downloading adware and spyware, the web surfers are in a fix. And whenever we face serious security issues, companies like McAfee and Norton find another market to sell their products to!
I bought McAfee to try it out on my home desktop and in this review I will try my best to give you a balanced opinion while trying to save you the money that you could use on yourself.

SOFTWARE TESTED...............PRICE............OVERALL PERFORMANCE =================================================================
Webroot SpySweeper............FREE............Poor
Ad Aware............................FREE............Fair
Spybot...............................FREE............Good
Microsoft Antispyware...........FREE............THE BEST
Zero Spyware.......................(...).............Excellent
McAfee Antispyware..............(...)............Excellent

The above chart shows the softwares that I have tested against adware and spyware on my system.


McAfee AntiSpyware (MAS) is good as it really cleaned my machine and I do not see any more popups or suspicious programs running in my task manager. However, the freeware from Spybot gave me the same results too!
Further, Microsoft's newly released AntiSpyware (Beta version) cleaned even the most persistent spywares that even McAfee could not.
So the real question is: is MAS really worth the price when freewares give you almost same results?
My take is NO. Microsoft has finally come out with a usable, effective and free AntiSpyeare that can beat any malicious spyware.
If you don't like Microsoft or don't trust it, Spybot has much better support on the net (forums etc) and gives you a great interface and cleaning power at no cost. If you find it useful, you can continue to use it. If you don't, you can always come back and buy ZSW.

In short, Spybot (...) and MS Antispyware (...) both are much better at kicking harmful and dangerous softwares out of your windows machine. You don't really need to buy anything else.

It always seems to surprise me right now, about how much these assests for certain kinds of software that really have to be musts for the computer. That keeps on going into what really is a must have, whether it is anti-virus, firewall, and now, anti-spyware. There is so much that gets clogged up into computers, and that really comes from what is downloaded from the net, without our notice of what is leaking in our computers. I just don't really know why it is coming like this, but I really felt it would be a must have for all PC's. Yet, when I looked at which one was the real right one, it just akwardly seemed to be a real case of confusion.

McAfee Anti-Spyware, is a well recieved software that automatically detects what is being stored in our computers, from what really comes through the net. It really works very well, when it scans for detected spyware. Unfortunately, it accidentally can detect something that really isn't a problem when needed from the net, and wipe it oiut. It wiped out my internet access software from People PC. Thatnkfully, I had a backup copy, and restored it on my computer. Despite that malfunction, the anti-spyware really works very well on all computers alike, but can be very long within its loading time. Still, it really is worth it for its price, and realiability.

All in all, for some using McAfee products like this one is really easy, and is now starting to become a essential for all computers all around against spyware. This might be a good one, but others out there are better in price than this one. Nevertheles, it is much easier to operate, and it is worth the value, from the spyware.

Quality: B+

Effeciency: B

Price: B

Overall: B 1/2 +