Customer Reviews

McAfee Family Protection 2010 3-User

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(29)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science with a Minor in Computer Security and Digital Forensics. I feel qualified to speak about this product as a professional in the field. I am not an "expert" in the field, because I am not working for Norton or McAfee or any of the other security focused companies. But I have direct and professional experience with these products, and many more like them, and with security software in general.

[The computer this software was installed and tested with is an ASUS laptop running Windows Home XP SP3, with a dual 1.87GHz core Intel Processor, and 2GB of RAM, the PC Tools Free Firewall installed and running, and no other security software installed or running. It was tested using wireless and wired internet connections.]

For those of you who do not care for lengthy reviews, here is your executive summary:

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PROS:
-Fairly easy setup
-Works fairly well as intended
-Configurable
-Flexible
-Reliable

CONS:
-It doesn't work with Google Chrome, and was not tested with any browsers other than: Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari for Windows. So, it may not work with other browsers (like Opera) either.
-Instant messenger [basic level] blocking is limited to: AOL, MSN, Yahoo & ICQ. Skype and many others are not listed.
-Video/webcams not blockable in the general settings (you may block the programs they use to run their applications, but I haven't found any way to block or control the devices themselves)
-Reports and monitoring are limited in scope and function

SHOULD BE NOTED:
-Not a full security suite (doesn't cover firewall or virus duties -- I mention this, because I know some people can be confused about the various security products out there. This software is designed to keep your children safe FROM the CONTENT of the internet, and also to allow you (the parent) to monitor their behavior (somewhat) and to set time limits for their use of the computer.)
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Okay, for everyone else, read on.

So, what is the purpose of this security software? The goal of the software is to allow parents to set greater restrictions in place on what their kids may do and see on the internet, how often they access the internet, what programs they may use. The software is not a virus scanner or blocker, it is not a firewall, and it is not a computer security adviser. It is basically a computer nanny. It should also be noted that SOME of the functions being offered in this software, are available in later versions of Windows for free. Windows Vista and 7 both include parental controls which include website: monitoring and blocking (both by pre-defined lists Microsoft maintains based on content and age level, and also by your own black and white lists, and your own keywords you want allowed or blocked.), computer use time (this is for the whole computer (by account) -- not the internet in specific), and which programs may be run. Macintosh also has similar controls built into their most modern operating systems. So, if all you are looking for are those functions, and you have Windows Vista or 7, or OS X+, then you are all set. You don't need to buy this, and you can stop reading. If you want more, then this software offers more, so read on.

What you get:
1.) WEB BLOCKING
a.) by category [adult, drugs, gambling, etc.]
b.) by specific white-lists and black-lists [automatically handles sub-domains]
c.) by specific keywords and phrases [you may also just check a box for "profanity" instead of having to type out every "dirty" word you can think of, and you may also just check a box for "sexually suggestive" as well]
d.) It also has a special filter just for youtube videos of: allowing all videos, blocking all videos, or only blocking videos with inappropriate content. (of course, they don't say how "inappropriate" is determined or tracked, so I guess you just have to take their word for it [I am assuming they will look at user ratings, and keywords in the title and description of the video])

*Note: after 2 weeks of testing, I can tell you some of the categories are a bit over eager in their rankings. You are going to either need to uncheck some of the categories for your older kids, or specifically allow a lot of harmless websites. Better to have too many false positives than too many missed positives, though.

2.) INSTANT MESSAGING
a.) block specific programs [AOL, ICQ, MSN, Yahoo]
-note: Skype and many others are not listed. However, you can remedy this in the "program blocking" function, as more are listed there (although still not Skype), and you may also add specific programs that way.
b.) set the software to record conversations (obviously it will never record anything, if all instant messaging is blocked)

3.) TIME LIMITS
a.) schedule internet usage allowed times (this function is almost identical to the function Windows uses for its parental controls, the only difference is this is for internet time, whereas Windows is for computer time). It is a grid of Monday-Sunday metered out by half hours. You simply click the grid to change times from green to red, or click and drag to do it faster. [make sure you set your proper time zone though!]
b.) cumulative internet time limit. This is one is handy, and probably worth the price of the software all by itself. For each account you setup with the software, you may specify a total internet time limit per day. [the admin account can override the day's limit with a password, as needed]. So, with the time limits function in place, you can allow the child to be online after school from say 3PM through 8PM, but if you only want them online a total of 3 hours, then you can set the total time limit to 3 hours. So, it doesn't matter when in that time block the child logs in (or out), the total time limit will keep track of their daily time, and will shut off their internet connection when the limit is reached. This can be a great encourager to get homework done FIRST (which needs internet connection anyway) and play LATER.

*Note: the accounts for the software are kept synchronized across all of the computers you install it on. So, if your daughter has a 3 hour total daily time limit on the internet, she cannot get around it by using up 3 hours on the main, family computer, and then spending an additional 3 on her personal computer, or a computer in another part of the house. The accounts are the same on all of the computers you install the software on, which was smart thinking on McAfee's part. So, if she uses 2 hours and 30 minutes on one computer, she will only have 30 minutes left for the day on all of the rest of the computers too.

4.) E-MAIL BLOCKING
a.) approve e-mail accounts [local only, I.E. Thunderbird or Exchange, or Outlook, or Eudora, not web-based!] So, if you have setup a local e-mail account for your child, you may set their approved sending e-mail address here (blocking all others in the process). This function also allows you to block web-based e-mail websites with a check box. This is, of course, needed if you are going to try to control the child's e-mail usage. However, note that this particular level of control is meaningless if you have given your child a phone with text messaging, or they have access to computers at school which can get to web-based e-mail websites. So, be forewarned about that.
b.) approve e-mail contacts. This allows you to setup a list of approved contacts your child may send and received messages to and from. [again, local e-mail only] Also note, the blocking function the software uses for e-mail coming in from unapproved accounts doesn't save it for later approval, it just deletes it. So, be forewarned about that, too.

5.) SOCIAL NETWORKING
-note, this is an interesting little function, and I think it has value. But you need to know how it works! It DOESN'T prevent the child from POSTING the information, it just flags such postings, and alerts you to it. So, that means you can't be asleep at the switch, trusting the program to do the heavy lifting, you have to configure the log alerts correctly, and then check and read the logs!
a.) Allows you (the admin) to set street addresses (yours by default, but you can add in more if you want), home phone, cell phone, and school name as things that need to be flagged for the logs. It also has check boxes to flag any profane or sexual material a child account is posting. If you add more, things to watch, you can choose from an entry type of "phone number" or "address/place name" and then enter in the text you want flagged if it comes up. This would be especially helfpul if you know the addresses or names of popular hang out spots, or illegal/dangerous gathering places.

6.) PROGRAM BLOCKING
a.) Allows blocking of Instant Messengers
- you may block the whole list, or enter into the list and check/un-check specific programs such as: AOL, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Trillian, Yahoo, Paltalk, iChat, Adium
b.) Allows blocking of Peer-to-peer filesharing
- you may block the whole list, or enter into the list and check/un-check specific programs such as: BearShare, Kazaa, Morpheus, GNUtella, EDonkey, BitTorrent, FastTrack
c.) Allows blocking of Media Players
- you may block the whole list, or enter into the list and check/un-check specific programs such as: Windows Media Player, Real Media Player, iTunes, Quicktime, WinAmp
d.) Allows blocking of FTP
- this is just a category, no sub-list is shown
e.) Allows blocking of Newsgroups
- this is just a category, no sub-list is shown
f.) Allows blocking of E-mail
- this is just a category, no sub-list is shown
g.) Allows blocking of custom programs
- to add specific programs to this list, you need to right-click on the icon in the program tray, choose "program control" and then choose "block a program", and it will open up a window where you can browse to the program you want to select to block. You will need to know where the specific program's "EXE" file is though, so, if you are a computer novice, you are going to want to get some help or do some research before you do this -- so you don't end up accidentally locking down a program you didn't mean to.

-when you are done, the program blocking function will allow you to apply the setting to all of the users with a check box

7.) USAGE REPORTING
a.) allows recording and reporting of: website visits
b.) allows recording and reporting of: IM conversations
c.) allows recording and reporting of: programs used online
d.) allows you to specify if the child can view their own reports
e.) allows you to specify how long to keep reports for ALL users (so, whatever value you set, highest/lowest for any child's user account, will be set for all of them)

-To view reports, right click on the icon in the system tray, and choose "view usage reports."

8.) INSTANT ALERTS
a.) off by default, you have to turn it on for each user account
b.) allows you to set to be alerted either by e-mail or text message (not both) when a user tries to access something they weren't supposed to. You can set the sensitivity of the reports to: low, medium or high (with the levels corresponding to the frequency of the reports, not the content which flags them).

- The alerts flag content which triggers a block or when content is flagged by the social networking filters, etc. And yes, the program gets VERY chatty if you have it set to "high"

Final note: when the software is on and enabled, to use the computer's internet, you have to be logged into AN account. Even if it is the admin account -- this can get kind of annoying, especially because it will log you out after a period of inactivity. You can turn the whole suite off with a right click on the system tray icon though. You can also create yourself an unrestricted account, which isn't the actual admin account. If you do that though, you will want to be extra careful with the password to that account, or you will ruin the whole point of having the software installed in the first place.

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So, that is about it. Overall, the program is actually surprisingly good. I think for the money they want, it is a pretty good deal. [Update: 11/30, I found out this IS a subscription based product, just like their virus scanners. It is a year long subscription. When I first made my review, the program wasn't showing in my McAfee account subscription list, it is now] Add in that you are getting a 3-computer license for the software (which should cover every computer in MOST households), AND that you can get the product as an instant download (which means you can get instant security if you buy and install it from their web-store, instead of having to wait for delivery), and they have sold me.

So, why did I rate is 4/5 stars, instead of a solid 5?

Well, because for they missed some things, and some things don't work.

1.) Videos & webcams are not blockable at all, that I could find in any meaningful way. Although most kids use them with instant messengers (which can be blocked), some use them with websites, so this is a concern, because website blocking is done through keywords and known websites. So a new website which you haven't blocked yet, and the program doesn't have in its list, will allow the kids through. Sure, you can block Skype, and any other software you can think of which can use the web camera, but you can't block the device itself.

2.) Additionally, the software doesn't work with Google Chrome. It works fine with Firefox, Internet Explorer, and Safari (for Windows), but not Chrome. When no account is logged in, all of the other browsers won't let you online. Except Chrome. In Chrome, the McAfee software will keep popping up the "log in" window when you are online, which is annoying, but you can just keep closing it, and continue onward. With security on and enabled (and an account logged in with strict access controls set for websites), Chrome acts like the McAfee software isn't even installed. I was able to use Chrome to go to forbidden websites containing content I had told it to filter, go to known porn websites (playboy), go to known forbidden websites such as web-mail (gmail), etc. So, that is a security hole the developers need to seal.

3.) Also note, you *need* a McAfee account to use the software. Period. You either have to associate an existing account with the software, or create a new account. They justify this because they say they will send you an uninstall code you will need to use to uninstall the software, and so you can manage your account, etc. (in reality, you can get the uninstall code from the program itself in the admin section, you don't have to have them send it to you) This is to prevent your kids from simply uninstalling the software, to get around it. I don't like being required to join clubs, or lists, or give out e-mail addresses, or anything else in order to use something I paid for. There are ways they could have gotten around this issue, without requiring you sign up for a McAfee account.

4.) Also, the reports and monitoring are limited in scope and function. You cannot get full reports on what they are up to, and what they are typing. The software doesn't offer full key logging or screen shot reporting. So, if your kid is smart enough to avoid profanity, and giving out their home address (at least in a format and way which the software can recognize and tag) then none of their conversations will be monitored or logged. This is a concern if you have a child who you are concerned about (maybe they are determined to date when you think they are too young, or maybe you think someone is stalking them, etc.). If the child doesn't use keywords you have flagged, or sexual words, or profanity, then their conversations and what they type will not be flagged/logged. And, while you might have flagged "I love you" or "meet me after school" they might type "I <3 U" or "m33t after sk00l". They carry the same meaning ("<3" is a "heart" by-the-way, in case you were wondering), but one will be flagged and logged, the other won't. A really tricky kid might even change their message to something like "I.<.3.U." or "m.3.3.t.a.f.t.e.r.s.k.0.0.l." meaningless to a simple, keyword based filter, but to their secret message buddy, the meaning is quite obvious.

5.) They do not warn you nearly strongly enough that YOU NEED TO WARN OTHER ADULTS BEFORE THEY USE YOUR COMPUTER, IF YOU HAVE THIS KIND OF MONITORING SOFTWARE INSTALLED! You can spy on and control your own kids. You cannot spy on other adults (without first warning them). So, if the neighbors come over to visit, and one of them asks to pop online real quick to check their stocks, you either need to disable the software, or tell them that you have monitoring software installed, and that their keystrokes MAY be recorded, depending on what they type. (This applies to the United States, the laws change country by country about these sorts of things)

6.) Finally, the product only supports 32-bit CPUs, and while it is true that most CPUs in most homes are 32-bit, 64-bit is gaining ground, and I see no reason to exclude them from this product, which is excellent except for the notations above. At the very least they could at least have a separate 64-bit version.

So, that is my review. The program is excellent, (except it doesn't work with Google Chrome, as noted) and well worth the money. If they fix the rest of the negatives I listed, this product plus the built in parental controls for your modern operating system should give you fairly decent control over your child's internet and computer usage.

A final word of warning from a computer security professional, no software security product can be 100% No security door can lock all the time, or all the way every time. Children are crafty little devils, and they can and will find ways around the blocks you put in their paths. They may access the internet at: school, or on their phones, or at a friend's house, etc. They may guess or observe your admin password, they may figure out a way to shut the software down, etc. etc. Good security software is not an excuse to stop providing good parenting. And good parenting includes teaching your kids about the dangers on the internet, not just relying on a program to block it for you. Because when and if your kids get around those blocks, if you are not there watching, then you may not like the outcome. Never place all of your faith in security technology. It is NOT an absolute science (as my review should have just shown).

I would only recommend this for the youngest of computer users for one simple reason-- there is no option to say "block other browsers". Any person who has normal rights on a computer can install a browser like Google Chrome for which this product does absolutely no blocking! Zero! And as you know... every time you go to Google, it suggests that you install Google Chrome... and sooner or later it's probably going to happen.

One way to solve that problem would be to have a feature in the software to "block all browsers except those McAfee can manage" just as it manages lists of bad websites and other content.

Another way around this would be to create separate login accounts on the computer and create one for the "suspect browser" without rights to install software... but in the day and age of iTunes, kids knowing more about computers than adults, not allowing any installs is also fairly unrealistic.

That gaping hole aside, the rest of the program is fairly secure for installation & management of internet usage for the machine... it offers various blocking on email accounts, web mail accounts (all or nothing blocked on that), as well as IM blocking & big brother logging, etc.

This program had a lot of thought put into it, but as soon as I realized I could open Google Chrome and browse any XXX site available, my trust in this product went through the floor.

Sure, you can manually block alternate browsers by blocking the EXE file like blocking "chrome.exe" but there are all kinds of browsers out there these days... Until McAfee can get a handle on what browsers can access the internet by using some type of allowed firewall list, I can only recommend this for the youngest of browsers who don't even know what a browser is yet, or would have no idea how to click click click until another browser installs.

I was pretty excited about this product. However, after installing it and testing it, I cannot recommend the product. Warning: If you play online games with your computer, and you set this product to allow games, it seems to randomly cut off internet access to games even so. To remove the product, there are no instructions. You must contact technical support and spend about 20 minutes wading through the tedious effort to find out what steps are necessary to remove this software (and still retain use of your license). Once the software instructions are in hand, it's pretty easy. If McAfee can resolve the problems I see in this review, this might be a very good product. Until then, it remains a 1 star in my mind.

There are two other problems I see with this product. The two problems in a nutshell are: Tech Support & Product Effectiveness.

Tech Support Process requires interaction with a software program that didn't work correctly on my computer, effectively blocking me from tech support. I have never seen anything that bad before. It's horrible.

Second, I was able to bypass the filter on my first try. This is because what McAfee doesn't say is that it only works with certain browsers. IF you install a different browser than the top two or three, you can do anything on the internet you want. Google (no small company) offers a free browser called [...]. It's faster than Firefox or Explorer in my experience and easier to navigate...so I've been using it for about a year. And my kids use it too. BUT McAfee doesn't filter if you surf through [...]! So a free download and this product is completely useless.

I spent 2 hours fiddling with this product to install it. Here's what happened in a nutshell.

I downloaded the product (no cd comes in the cd sized box). When I clicked on the link to install it, a msg came up that said something like 'you have changes to software that require a restart before you proceed'. So I restarted.

Then the download was gone. I could not find it after the restart. So I had to go back to McAfee to re download the never installed program! BUT, McAfee won't let the same computer download it again unless you go through the painfully slow process of chatting with a technician (who is in India). So I did that. 30 minutes later, and after answering a lot of what I considered invasive questions, I was told to log back in to my account and another download would be authorized. So I did that. And the second download worked. This was now about 60 to 70 minutes after I started (with hold times and all in there). The technician required I remove my AVG Free Edition to install Family Protection (the product never suggested or required this in my instructions). So I did that. Then I installed Family Protection and it seemed to work just fine. I created users and then opened my browser. I had selected block functions for a lot of sites, including porn.

To test the product I opened my browser and pulled up images on [...]. I then punched no restrictions to my search and it let me do that. It did not filter a search for free porn. So I closed the browser and opened a different browser. That browser was filtered correctly. A third browser was filtered correctly. Without giving away the exact names, this product only filters some browsers. A browser offered for free on the internet by one of the largest software companies in the world is completely unfiltered by this product. So, I recommend that it not be used to protect your family. All your kids need to do is use the browser this software doesn't filter through and they have unrestricted access.

Before I wrote this review I tried to contact their technical support again. This time I was required to use the virtual technician to 'solve my problem'. So I did that. I downloaded and ran the virtual technician. It came back and said that everything was working just fine. Then I tried to go on to chat with a technician to let them know my problem with this product. But the 'award winning tech support' (their boast on the site) informed me that I could not chat with a technician because their software could not find virtual technician installed on my computer. And I was required to use their automated virtual technician before I could chat with a technician in person again. So, I am unable to solve this problem.

Bottom line: I have a headache after dealing with these guys and I cannot recommend this product above a 1 star.
Sorry guys.

I wanted to install this on my son's computer, but I also have Spybot installed on his and there is a conflict between the two. I decided to keep Sypbot on, and I never got around to installing this.

This product is easy to install and does the job of keeping kids off of bad sites. We had no problems at all with the product. There are some YouTube videos, etc... that are blocked that might be okay for the kids depending on the child's age. Ir your child does try to go to an inappropriate site, this program will send you an email or text letting you know.

One very good feature is that this program allows the parent to manage how much time the child spends on the internet.

this product does not really work. it was a pain in the but to set up. Then isblocked sites that were ok and allowed some that were not.we took this off the computer

We've got three kids (all under 13) who go online. The computer they use is in an open common area in our house, and we use Windows Parental Controls to restrict and monitor their online activities. No system is perfect, of course, anything can be bypassed. For our home, though, it's suitable and mostly effective, since it's combined with education about online hazards.

One of our bigger issues is limiting the amount of time a child is spending online during the day, particularly now that it's summer vacation. Often one or two kids may be home alone for a few hours (our youngest is too young to be left at home) so it's hard for us to track how much time they're spending being surf potatoes.

An attractive feature of McAfee Family Protection is the ability to set a daily online limit for each user. I enabled some of the other blocking and monitoring features as well, without turning off Windows Parental Controls.

Setup was straightforward - register at McAfee's site, enter the registration code included in the box, and download the software. Installation went smoothly, and when it was done...well, I had to think about what to do next. There is no manual in the box, nor is there one online. Was the software running already? Running the installed program brought me to the installation screen and it was then pretty straightforward to set up.

I have a couple of minor complaints about how configuration works. First, there are no preset recommended configurations - you have to build your filters almost from scratch for each child. Second, each child gets an account in the software, separate from their Windows account, and their account name has to be unique across all the people using McAfee Family Protection.

Each user's configuration is stored on McAfee's servers, so if they use a different computer in your home (on which you've installed the software) they'll find the same restrictions. Time limits accumulate across all computers, so if a child is allowed 2 hours per day online he can't use up his 2 hours and then switch to a different computer for another 2 hours.

The online clock starts when the user is logged in to McAfee Family Protection, so if the child is writing a paper or playing a game they'll need to log out of Family Protection, otherwise they'll use up all their time without being online. If you have their Family Protection login information saved, opening a browser will automatically log them back into the software.

Web filtering is thorough and errs on the side of caution. I found Club Penguin was blocked because it has in-game chat. It was easy to work around this by adding the site to a whitelist, but it highlights another shortcoming with the software: you can't filter based on a site's rating as you can with Windows Parental Controls. Again, that's erring on the side of caution (because such ratings are voluntary and self-imposed) but it would have been a nice feature and limited the number of sites I've had to whitelist.

The machine the kids use is an older Vista computer and I have noticed that at times the browser responds more slowly. All the activity is sent to McAfee's computers for approval so some delay is to be expected. I haven't noticed a big hit on the computer's processor, however. In theory McAfee's approach is sound - they can keep the list of approved sites and software up to date, though antivirus companies do the same thing by downloading signature files to your computer.

The software blocks chat (or records it) and file sharing programs, though we don't use those so I couldn't test those features. I think that text messaging or chat through Facebook will replace IM for a lot of people anyway.

In summary the software isn't hard to use once you figure it out; a manual would have been helpful (the program help function only provides minimal help). The software works for what we need, though I haven't decided if it's worth keeping for us. It's a little bit of a pain to administer and use, and I don't know if there's enough of a payoff for us.

If you've got nothing now, this will help if you take the time to set it up right. It really should be used in conjunction with other methods, like educating your kids and not letting them have computers in their rooms. If you're searching for a bullet-proof solution, this isn't it...there isn't one. All it takes to bypass any monitoring software (as well as Windows) is a bootable Linux CD. Running a completely different operating system will let them surf the web freely.

As a side note, McAfee Family Protection is the same product as Safe Eyes, just rebranded for McAfee.

I currently run McAfee Total Protection on 3 PCs and got this since I needed to renew in Jan. 2010 anyway.
I had a problem with Norton years ago when it allowed a Trojan through and never caught it. I had to section the HD and tried to remove it with still no luck using Norton. Also, removing Norton was a pain but eventually PC was cleaned of it. McAfee found the Trojan right away and took care of it. Ever since, I've been a McAfee fan.

It scans your downloads for potential problems and also alerts links sent through emails and IM's.
I also like the Site Advisor as it shows a website's rating according to their spyware, malware and spam. This is especially helpful to my son when researching projects for school. When the site shows 'green' rating, he's good to go. It's just peace of mind while on the computer especially now my 'tween' is starting to use the PC.

McAfee is becoming the standard for virus protection, especiallly since most government agencies now use it for their personal PC's. It's nice that they make an inexpensive "family" version so you don't have to buy a separate software package for each computer in your house. With home networks becoming common, this is a must.

Like most anti-virus software, it uses a huge amount of memory, and can bog down your web surfing, as well as your PC startup time. As with all software like this, your best defense is to keep it updated. These programs are made to scan for "known" viruses and their look-alikes. The updates add to that list of known problems each time they are installed.

Parentla controls (in order to be good) require you to go through a lot of choices during set-up, and there still is no known "nirvana" for that.

McAfee has become a very trusted, widely known name, and that's not easy to come by.

Now when are they coming out with the anti-virus software for my iphone?

I was very excited to see this product. I wanted something that provided me with more parental controls than were available through Windows (e.g., setting how long a child can be on the computer any given day). There are a couple of problems with this software. 1) It is not at all intuitive. I typically can figure out how to use a new software application fairly quickly, but that was not so with Family Protection. I looked online to get some guidance (there was no manual), and didn't find what I needed. 2) An online password (separate from the normal Windows password) is required for every account (whether Family Protection is turned on for that user or not). I don't think my 5 year old would be able to log into the computer with this requirement.

My suggestion would be to stick with what's available through Windows (or Mac) until something better comes along.