Customer Reviews

McAfee Internet Security 2005 7.0 [Old Version]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(23)

 

 

I bought this software to install on an older AMD athelon Windows XP machine instead of renewing my expired Norton subscription. My other PC has the latest Norton software installed. I wanted to see what the real differences are between these two companies. They both work equally well and I have had no problems with either causing my machines to run slow. I like some of the features offered in this package, such as the ability to track an attack using traceroute. However, I find it difficult to get to some of these features and the pop up blocker is overly restrictive. I have to manually add web sites that I want to allow pop ups (including opening a new browser window). I have to search hard for the option to exclude pop up web sites from the filter list as it is burried deep in the options. Other times I've had to disable the privacy software to get work done on a few web sites for similar reasons as well. I find it odd that I have to enter two passwords to enable the privacy features once they have been disabled. These are nitpicks though. The software works and give me really good control over what I allow onto my machine, if not too much control. My preference and recommendation to friends is to choose Norton. I find it much easier to work with. Mcafee did not pass my user friendly test for people who are not computer experts. This is why I give 3 stars for the software.

In this day and age, we all need a little more security, especially online. A typical computer user, whether using dial-up or especially an always-on direct internet connection, should have antivirus software, spyware protection and firewall defense at a bare minimum. For those who enjoy the perks of online banking and commerce, it would be nice to have some kind of privacy protection. And anyone who's anyone with an e-mail address has wished that SOMETHING could be done to help protect against e-mail spam.

Enter McAfee Internet Security Suite v7.0. A free, limited-feature edition was preinstalled on my new laptop computer, so purchasing the full version from McAfee was the logical choice. Unfortunately, I must say that this software did NOT work for me.

There are some good features here: First of all, the design of the program is good. The user interface is absolutely beautiful -- easy on the eyes, and more importantly, with information, configuration options and settings controls exactly where they intuitively SHOULD be. Configuring and managing the software couldn't be easier. And the McAfee software has very nice graphical presentation of information, including bar charts and maps to show you a whole host of information. True, some of it is just eye candy. But the intuitiveness of the user interface is not to be overlooked.

But here's the catch: On my system, at least, the McAfee software would routinely freeze-up. This did not cause a whole-system freeze -- only the McAfee software would become unresponsive. Firewall would continue to run in the background, but I could not access the Security Center, VirusScan or other configuration panels when this happened. I spent an entire week with McAfee's free online Technical Support people trying to identify the etiology of the problem, to no avail. Six attempts at removing-and-reinstalling the software with different methods all failed to fix the problem.

I am convinced that the problem lies in the fact that the McAfee software (unlike other brand software, such as Norton Internet Security) spawns MANY separate processes which need to communicate to function as a whole. McAfee does this in order to allow the user to customize which components he wants to run. However, if one of these components freezes (and to the best of my investigative ability, it was always the system tray applet), the rest of the system starts to suffer. Like the cliché, if one part catches a cold, the rest will get the flu.

I cannot say that the software would cause this problem on everyone's computer. Surely, it must run on many computers..... I've had McAfee software in the past, and been very pleased. But I also know many people (myself included, as well as some of the other reviewers here, below) who have been dissatisfied this time around.

In the end, I had to totally remove the McAfee software from my system. I purchased Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2005 (ASIN B0002UCSKI), which functions perfectly. It's not as pretty or as intuitive to configure as McAfee, but it gets the job done effectively. (See my separate review of this product.)

An additional note to security-conscious consumers: It never hurts to have several layers of protection. I also run the Windows XP firewall (in addition to the Norton firewall) and Microsoft's new AntiSpyware freeware (in addition to the Norton Antivirus).

This is essentially 4 products:
VirusScan An Antivirus, A Firewall, Spamkiller an Antispam system for email and Privacy Protection.

I use Windows2000 Pro on a 2.8GHz Pentium 4

The Firewall Works very well and is easy to set up and use
The VirusScan Works very well and is easy to set up and use, though it is never clear if virus definitions are uptodate. There does not seem to be an automatic update like Symantec's
Live Update

The Privacy protection is a D I A S T E R. It keeps flashing a message that a Component is missing. If you try to disable it it disables the firewall and in spite of that ALL COMMUNICATION WITH THE INTERNET STOPS. I had to de-install the whole suite and reinstall it without Privacy Protection.

Spam killer: I do not use Outlook, but I installed Spam Killer anyway, and tried to disable it. This prevented the rest of the suite from working. So I reinstalled the whole thing again minus Spam Killer and mius Privacy Protection.

On Line Help: Touted as 24 x 7. DOES NOT WORK. I tried from 3 different computers all without Pop-Up Blockers.

CONCLUSION: SAVE YOUR MONEY AND BUY THE FIREWALL AND VIRUSSCAN SEPARATELY AND STAY AWAY FROM PRIVACY PROTECTION AND SPAMKILLER if you use internet mail like Hotmail.

My email address is eg_souaya@hotmail.com. McAfee you are welcome to contact me and help me change my mind.

I've used McAfee Security Center since 2003. I've never had a problem with installation, with viruses, or with hackers. The software has caused a few minor problems with boot-up, and it will slow your system down a LOT, no matter how fast your processor nor how much memory you have. That's the price you pay for air-tight security.

However, I'm currently in the process of deleting this software off my system, and replacing it with equivalent free-ware from Microsoft and other developers. The reason why is very simple: McAfee's customer support is the worst on planet Earth. And I say that as veteran customer support person.

If you run into any sort of problem with using McAfee software, then that's just too bad. If you want support, it will cost you a minimum of $40 to $60 PER CALL, or you can be charged $3.00 PER MINUTE. So, if you want to spend as much money on customer service as you did buying the software, then go ahead and buy McAfee. Also, you have to dial a 900 number to get support, which for me is simply not possible, as my phone system does not support 900 numbers (and many do not...)

There is free internet chat support, but it's completely worthless--the "technicians" on the other end have no idea what they are talking about. I've used them to try and solve a rather minor issue, but after four attempts and four hours of my life wasted, they weren't able to do ANYTHING to help me out!

So please, PLEASE don't buy this software. And don't buy Norton's either, it's just as bad if not worst. Use Microsoft's FREE firewall (if you have XP SP2) and virus support, or find equivalent free-ware on line.

Why pay money for sotfware that the company doesn't even want to support properly? Stay away from all McAfee products, you'll be glad you did.

I bought this hoping for top-notch security after being hit by a bad virus. I had trouble installing from the get-go. I contacted Mcaffe online and was told it wouldn't install because of some Symantec files still on my system. After contacting my computer manufacturer and reformatting my hard drive, I took the plunge and reinstalled McAfee. It installed great and I thought it would be the end of my problems. WRONG! The first time I tried to open an email my system froze. Froze to the point of not re-booting. I then had to phone McAfee and after a lot of wasted time they basically told me it was my problem, not theirs. But wait, everything worked fine before installation. They didn't want to hear it. So, off I was again to my manufacturer who very patiently helped me get my system back up. After trying various things, the only option left was to wipe out my hard drive again and start over. I cannot tell you how many wasted hours I spent to get my system back up and running---all because I wanted some security. HA!

I have a Dell that originally came with Norton Systemworks and Norton Antivirus. Both were so outdated I bought McAfee Int Sec Ste 7.0 2005. I am a pretty good computer techie. I properly uninstalled all Norton and tried to install the McAfee. It seemed like an okay full install and upon reboot I had a crashed computer. I had to recover Win98. I again contacted their tech support via chat (the 2nd of 7 times). With their advice I was finding files/folders to delete, checking Windows Registry again, running ScanDisk and Defrag for a hopefully "clean install". It didn't work. On my own decision, I attempted installing one by one the Virus, Firewall, Privacy and Spamkiller. I'd get the 3 to work but not the Privacy, which kept freezing on install. Once that happened the computer was wrecked again. Sometimes during Privacy install I'd get a "missing Privacy components, must re-install" kind of message.

At some points all other components of the Suite displayed as
working. I online updated the AntiVirus, ran it and no virus were found. So I would try to install Privacy separate...and every time my computer would restart frozen on a plain blue-cloud desktop screen with nothing I could do. About 8 tech support online chat sessions and they told me it's a Windows problem. I disagreed and asked for a refund - because I'd rebuild windows and my computer and all other programs ran fine. Then the Mcafee install would destroy Win98, when I'd recover and or rebuild Win98 that would uninstall parts of McAfee...and back and forth, back and forth....so I gave up. I've mailed in the refund form which hopefully I will receive promptly.

I've installed all types of software, installed or changed hardware components, etc. and never had an experience like this. It was 72 hours of hell. My wild guess - the McAfee is permeating and altering too many aspects of Windows and other programs OR a terribly defective install CD-ROM.

I don't hear great things about Norton and I may never buy a McAfee program again because of the install nightmare I just had. Maybe Denfender-Pro or Computer Associates EZ-Armor? I do have to give points to McAfee for being able to chat online with with tech support for free (support also gave me a toll-free customer service number). You can't say that about many software companies.

I uninstalled McAfee from my system -- or rather tried to. I had to reinstall my operating system after things stopped working correctly immediately afterward. After that, I thought I was in the clear. NOPE! McAfee reared their ugly head to RENEW MY UNWANTED SUBSCRIPTION to the tune of $75. What are they willing to do about it? Well, they notified me right away that they had ALREADY charged my card (NOT BEFORE, mind you) and then when I called they "happily" submitted my order for a refund, which will take 3-5 business days. So, not only is McAfee making the Fed's overnight interest rate for about 5 days, but they overdrew my account. When pressed about the fact that I shouldn't have been charged in the first place, the customer service rep slowly read from a prompt (in broken English) that I should please be referring to the License Agreement. Nice.

I'll never buy McAfee again and I'll take just about every opportunity available to me to tell my story of McAfee's Predatorial Business Practices regarding my account.

Update as of June 2005:

McAfee charged my credit card YET AGAIN!!!! They had previously refunded my money and then conveniently "forgot" to turn off their "auto-renew" feature. Just how they can take my calls telling them that they had no right to take money out of my account without my permission and to please give it back ... only to do it all over again truly baffles me. I just don't understand these people. I wonder if McAfee even reads these reviews. If I got performance appraisals that were this awful, I would certainly quit my job. So there it is, McAfee: you're fired due to incompetence! Please pack your things and exit the software industry never to return!

I've been a McAfee user since I bought my first PC. Never had a problem, so when my software was nearing its expiration I bought the latest version without thinking to check reviews. Fiasco: I can't even get through the installation process. (If you're having the same trouble, here's a page that might help you, though it didn't help me: http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/viewtopic.php?t=14467.)

Buy Norton instead -- I mean, after you've read the reviews (my new rule: READ REVIEWS FIRST). Systemworks 2005 installed with no problems (except GoBack, but I haven't looked into fixes yet, and anyway that's another story).

I'm happily about to order my next computer and despite the other issues this old one has, McAfee Internet Security will be by far the most satisfying to finally be rid of. Bugs, bugs, bugs. And this isn't my first experience with it, I had it on another computer in the late 90s, and it was an even bigger headache then. My other computers were lucky enough to have Norton, including computers from work (I work in IT). Norton isn't perfect, but it's stable as granite compared to this piece of $#!&. For example, we have no need for Spamkiller, so I choose not to have it activated. Does it listen? No. We still have to get updates for it, even if that means wasting time before you can use the computer while it hogs the cpu to download something we told it we didn't want in the first place, not to mention constantly trying to change my mind, forever annoying, "SpamKiller: Disabled" messages --- IF ONLY!!! How many times have we had to restart the computer a few times for McAfee to pull itself together correctly and work, just like it was a few years ago on the other computer. Once the subscription expires, even the firewall de-activates. It's understandable not to expect updates once the subscription expires, but if the firewall needs no updates, McAfee's customers should be allowed to continue using it, WE ALREADY PAID FOR IT. Thank goodness for XP's built-in firewall or we would be up a creek until the new computer gets here, nice going McAfee.

Never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never, never again McAfee! You've caused me enough headaches and I have no pity for you still charging good money for a beta product that should have been refined or at least made reasonably stable YEARS AGO. It borders on criminal IMO and would do the world a service if they would just go out of business altogether. Sorry, that's how I feel at this point.

Get Norton, get anything but this.

I bought this at Costco.com and intend to return it. I installed, uninstall, and reinstalled about 6 times. I've talked to Mcafee via chatroom because they CHARGE you about $3 per minute to talk to them. Also, if you do not chat fast enough they drop you, but it's okay for them to leave you hanging on the chat room. Each time I installed it, it took my computer about 10 minutes for it to load. Then it took the Security Center (which controlls everything) another 15 minutes to come up. Nothing opens or works during that time. When it finally does open, you cannot change any of the security settings - I've tried and failed. You can tell it that it's okay for internet explorer to have full access, but Mcafee still blocks it. Mcafee's response was 'You have previous Mcafee files on your system. You have to manually remove all of those files and Internet security then reinstall'. It took me 4 hours to uninstall Internet security because it was so slow. I found I didn't have any previous Mcafee files. The 2nd Mcafee tech dropped me so the 3rd said, 'You have to uninstall, do a viruscan, defragment your system and do a clean install'. I swear those techs will say anything to drop you. Note that I had just defragmented my computer about a week ago, but it still took overnight to run the defragmentation and it still didn't work either - it froze . I worked on this for at least 3 days trying ot make it work. Don't waste your money.