Customer Reviews

McAfee Internet Security 2009 3-User [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(39)
3 star:		(12)
2 star:		(9)
1 star:		(31)

 

 

I tried the previous version which I considered average, Internet Security 2009 seems to be improved in a number of areas,

Installation was trouble free. McAfee gives you the choice of installing the version on your CD or downloading the most current version. This is a sensible approach, I think. I chose the download it sent smoothly. Even with the downloading, the install went pretty quickly.

For my testing, I installed it on a system running Windows XP SP2 Media Center, having first uninstalled the free Comodo anti-virus and firewall applications running on the machine.

I could not complete the registration/activation process because McAfee's server did not respond. Thus, I was unable to learn if McAfee still forces you to give them a credit card number for automatic renewal of your anti-virus subscription. You weren't able to cancel this forced transaction online: you had to call McAfee. A poor way to do business in my opinion.

McAfee may have changed this policy somewhat. In combing through their Customer Support area, I learned that it may only be online purchasers who get nailed this way.

The problem with an ordinary person testing ant-virus programs is that unlike a formal lab, they may not have a bunch of viruses and malware lurking in their machines. I can tell you that the anti-virus scanning speed appears to be high and doesn't over burden the CPU, which is nice when compared with some other programs, like Norton's.

The Help file will leave most users pretty much in the dark with its brusque explanations. For example, an inexperienced user wanting to change the firewall settings for some reason may quickly be reduced to pulling their hair out.

McAfee, to its credit, does an excellent job of identifying the applications on your machine and setting the right firewall permissions for them. I don't know how it will do when you add new programs to your system.

McAfee has put a lot of features into Internet Security 2009 at a very reasonable price for three users. Some of them, such as the file shredder and file cleaner, aren't mentioned on the box. Neither is the back up program or the network manager. I didn't try any of these features.

Overall, I think Internet Security 2009 is an improved product over last year's version. It seems to execute faster and hog fewer system resources. Happily the number of inrusive pop-ups seems to have been substantialy reduced. For the money, it seems to be a good, solid product.

Jerry

This version of McAfee offers a whole bundle of features, including some cool stuff that isn't on previous versions. Installation is fast and easy, even though you have to remove your existing anti-virus software, and it doesn't cause application errors or slow down system performance. The single CD in the package can provide protection for up to three computers for one year, after which you need to shell out for the annual fee at the going rate. Installation also offers the option of installing from the CD provided and then updating from the web after installation is completed or downloading the application from the web and then installing.

It has a simple, user friendly appearance and a choice of two interfaces -basic and advanced. It should be noted that some of the options are only available to persons logged in as "administrators" and not to the other users on your computer with limited permissions. If you're the only user you can consider yourself promoted to Administrative level.

"So what does it DO?" enquiring minds want to know. Well, here goes.

1. It provides a firewall as your computer's first line of defense against identity theft, viruses, spyware, spam, hackers and other bad things that go "bump" in cyberspace. There's a "lockdown" feature that stops all internet access with one click.

2. It makes web-surfing safer by rating your search results, as well as the sites you visit, using a color code. Green = safe; Yellow = caution; Red = get the heck out of there NOW. (Works with Google, Yahoo! And MSN searches.)

3. Automatic updates and upgrades

4. Stops viruses in their tracks, as well as worms, Trojans and other slimy things, and then automatically cleans or quarantines the little boogers. The QuickScan feature patrols the vulnerable areas of your computer to check for threats.

5. Offers you a "stealth mode" that blocks incoming network connections so you can lurk on the internet without being detected by hackers.

6. Blocks spyware, adware, and other bad "wares" from stealing your log-ins and passwords, tracking your cookies, or filling your screen with pop-ups.

7. Keeps your computer uncluttered with a QuickClean system that takes out the trash, such as temporary files, cached files, lost file fragments, deleted e-mail messages and other undesirable junk.

8. It includes a "Shredder" for permanently deleting top secret documents such as love letters or romantic poems penned under the influence. To make it even cooler, there are three different shredding levels.

9. Automatically recognizes spam, phish and scams, fake virus messages and all that weird foreign language stuff, and stops it from filling your in-box

10. Provides different levels of blocking depending on the age or maturity level of your child. It has easy to understand settings like "young child", "child", "younger teen", "older teen" or "adult". Age appropriate searching makes sure that the safety filters of some popular search engines are enabled. It uses keyword filtering and even blocks offensive images.

11. Provides an automatic back-up feature which requires the installation of Microsoft.net Framework 1.1

12. Tactfully defers certain updates and alerts while you're watching movies or playing games in full-screen mode to prevent interruptions.


Recommended for PCs and small networks, families with internet-savvy kids and people who like to go into sites marked with 3 X's.



Amanda Richards, October 15, 2008

McAfee Internet Security 2009 3-User is a very good product for general users. Both McAfee and Norton have gotten a reputation for gobbling up system memory and slowing performance with their anti-virus engines. Both of them have also rewritten the code behind their latest security suites. In addition to much more efficient anti-virus engines, each of them has added more functionality and loosened up their offerings to provide the option to secure your entire household with one license if you choose to purchase the 3-user version.

There is also a 1-User version for those looking for limited systems, but they are so close in price that it usually makes more sense to get the 3-user version. Keep in mind that once you install the 3-user version on one machine, the clock starts ticking. So you have to use it for 3 users concurrently. You cannot install it on the same machine for 3 years in a row. Like most anti-virus products, the license includes virus definition updates for only one year.

Unfortunately, there are still some shortcomings that make these programs less ideal for power users. As time goes on, more and more home users are starting to fall into that category.

Over the past year I have been testing a variety of security suites and anti-virus programs for a work-related project. This includes multiple versions of Norton for both home and business environments, McAfee, Trend Micro Antivirus + Antispyware 2009, Bitdefender Internet Security 2009 and others. I also continue to use some of the freeware alternatives on a few of my personal machines, including AVG and Avast. I do not want to outline or rank all the programs here. I only want to provide a context for how I came to some of these conclusions regarding McAfee's relative strengths and weaknesses. Some of the strengths make this a good program for hands-off home users, but more demanding users may want to look elsewhere.

The biggest improvement that McAfee has incorporated into their product is a much more efficient scanning engine that is more resource friendly than prior versions. In terms of *online* scanning of files, this program runs faster than most alternatives. It also uses less memory, at least for the anti-virus engine.

But in terms of system impact, there still appears to be a performance hit from using this product for certain situations. Certain types of internet applications just seem slower. It also adds a noticeable delay to the startup time. I tested clean install images with updated service packs before and after installing this program. I speculate that some of the other elements of the program, such as the anti-phishing and anti-spyware, may be using other processes in memory and slowing down performance only for applications that trigger them.

Ironically, it seems like those components do not work as well as the included alternatives in competing programs. Testing these out in a lab environment, the McAfee program was one of the slowest to detect spyware and phishing risks for known vulnerabilities. There are some additional features that can compensate for that on the enterprise version of the product, but on this one you just have to accept that it is slightly slower at detecting those things.

The "Total Protection" version of the product also includes a network aware component that may appeal to SMB customers. That program is supposed to detect rogue network devices and similar risks, but I have seen poor to mixed results with it. I suspect there is overhead in this program for those features included in Total Protection version of the product that haven't been activated here. I can't be 100% sure, but considering how much faster the anti-virus engine runs it is one possible reason why there is still a slowdown of system performance for certain situations.

One other thing that I noticed was that the newest version of Norton Internet Security has a much more detailed application firewall. For those that use many complex internet applications that require custom settings, that program offers more granular control for those willing to dig down into the settings. The basics are all covered here, but it is not as easily reconfigured. On the same token, the default setting of the program requires constant confirmation for the system to adjust security settings for your applications. It is possible to limit these warnings, but the configuration is not set ideally out of the box.

CONCLUSION

The strengths of the program are the improved easy to use interface and faster anti-virus scanning. This 2009 version will definitely use less system memory than prior versions, at least directly. It seems easy to punish McAfee and Norton for their past sins, but both products have improved slightly in that regard. But you still have to decide if you really need some of the cleaner interface and faster scanning of these products, since there are free products that will do the same job and save you the annual subscription cost. Also make sure that you know what features are most important to you. If you need more control of your application firewall settings, you may want to explore the alternatives.

Good luck with your software purchase.

Enjoy.

I am a recent convert to McAfee's internet security solution and I have recently upgraded from the 2008 version to the 2009 version. I was impressed with the VAST inprovements McAfee has made to their product line to the point that I have found myself recommending their products to people looking for a reasonable solution. With the move to 2009 I was anxious to see what other improvements McAfee has made. There are some updates and improvements, but these seem to be minor.

I have two computers, one of which runs Vista Home Premium and the other runs XP Home. Both were running the 2008 version. On the XP box, the installation was smooth and seamless, and after a reboot all was well. The Vista machine had some issues, though, during the installation of each component, where it would complain about a file that either had an invalid path or that could not be overwritten. I was offered a Retry/Cancel dialog box, and in every case the Retry button worked, but having to click over and over again during installation was annoying. I am assuming it was because it was an upgrade, not a fresh install, though both machines were upgrades. After the Vista install was complete, there were no more headaches.

I was pleased to see that my settings for the 2008 version were retained for the 2009 version.

I noticed something unpleasant between the systems that grabbed my attention, but only because I was looking for differences. The memory usage on the Vista computer is MUCH lower than that on the XP system, for reasons unknown. That said, the performance does not seem to be appreciably different.

On the same note, I have noticed that with the 2009 version installed the XP system ran faster than it did with the 2008 version loaded. The Vista machine's performance seems to be unchanged.

Next I will discuss the firewall, as that seems to be where the majority of noticeable changes have occurred. With the 2008 version, there were several settings for the firewall that could be made with the adjustment of a slider control. These level settings ranged between Off, Trusting, Standard, Tight, Stealth, and Lockdown (or some minor variation there of - I did not write these down before I upgraded). With the 2009 version, these have been replaced with just three slider settings - Automatic, Standard and Stealth. Lockdown is in a different area. The reduced number of options is not necessarily a bad thing, and I suspect it now matches the actual usage patterns that are prevalent in the software's usage. I always set mine to Stealth and saw no reason to change. When I tested the firewall for security, I was unable to locate a test that caused the firewall to fail, and I was pleased that the firewall prevented my computer from responding to any kind of probe or echo requests.

I discovered a curiosity in the firewall's application filters. The filters allow you to set up access rules for any and all applications on your system which is very handy when you have a useful application that you want to keep from accessing the network (such as Acrobat Reader, in my case). After the upgrade several applications in the rule sets that were still loaded on my system were listed as no longer installed. I am not sure what happened there, and I deleted these errant rules. I believe these were probably cosmetic issues, but regardless it was something that drew my attention.

The antivirus seems to be virtually unchanged between the 2008 and 2009 versions. The antivirus is very thorough and stable, doing an excellent job of scanning the system. I discovered a check box in the AV settings, that allows you to specify minimal resource usage during a scan. The information help that comes with it states very clearly that AV scanning is a low-priority background task when this option is taken, and it seems to work very much as advertised. With this option checked, McAfee's AV is absolutely the slowest AV I have ever used (600,000 files in 3.5 hours), but it also is so gentle on system resources that it does not impact anything and you might not know it's running except for the animated scanning icon in the system tray.

The parental controls in McAfee's suite are, in my opinion, nearly useless. If you want to block anything, you have to specify that you want it blocked, so there is no pregenerated list of URLs. Keyword filtering is a more useful aspect of the filter system, yet it still requires some manual entry.

I like the site advisor, which provides some clues as to the safety of the web sites you visit. It does not prevent you from going there, but it does tell you when you have found a potentially harmful site. That says that McAfee is tracking some kind of URL set, yet it does not make the set available to the parental control component which is unfortunate.

The antispam component does a fair job of catagorizing email, though I elected to turn it off because I use a different antispam product. With the standard settings, I find that determination of spam is a little trigger-happy but not unreasonable.

I played with the "Manage Network" component and like the mapping of the network topology. Though it is not something I personally need, it is undoubtedly useful to system administrators who need to see the lay of the land at a quick glance.

With McAfee Internet Security installed on both machines, I have seen no appreciable issues and my systems are well protected. I like the firewall configuration and I really like the fact that the antivirus is so gentle on the system when scanning. The other components in the system - with the exception of the parental controls - are sufficient protection for home and SOHO users, though not all are features I use. I am comfortable recommending this package based on my positive experience with it - it is a fine solution for anyone wishing to protect their system without bringing it to its knees.

If you're like me, you've spent much time with these consumer-level security software over the past few years. Chances are that your experiences were not entirely positive. While offering some clear value to us, they normally come preloaded on computers and bombard you with notifications and updates, while draining valuable system resources (I HATE THAT don't you?). As such, these programs have gotten a reputation for being bloated and inefficient, while free antivirus offerings, like AVG and Avast, have proven themselves to be worthy alternatives, at least for core features.

Strengths: Good at scanning for viruses and malware. Tons of features, easy to use. Report and monitor internet attempts/ Hits on your PC. Pretty bells sounds and graphs.

Weaknesses: Terrible load times and slow to respond. Kept crashing after roughly 9 months of use - customer service was terrible. Can bog down system though not as bad as Norton Internet security suite. Nightmare to update, renew, and if something goes wrong, another nightmare to uninstall. Poor Tech support.

Overall Evaluation: If you can get it to load, and get it to respond (even on a fairly quick computer it took forever), then it's a decent protection package. However, if you really don't know a lot about protection programs or have a very short temper when it comes to computers, I suggest staying away - this package causes headaches and so does customer support. As owner of my equipment I agree to abide by software protocols. McAfee is different. Once their software GRABS your PC. You cannot escape. Sooner you will delete essential files than remove McAfee from registry. The software written not to be deleted. Scare?? yup.. I've experienced this FIRST hand. McAfee has "parasite" my unit so I had to rebuild. Mcafee has unveiled an improved UI, which makes the software easier to use. It seems effective in protecting my machines from harm, but couldn't it do it without bogging down my computers so much?

When my old McAfee subscription ran out, the pop-up from McAfee directed me to a site where I downloaded this program directly from them -- at the full price! My credit card was charged. (If you do buy it, buy it from Amazon.) However, once everything installed, Windows notifed me that I did NOT have any virus protection. Apparently it was not installed! Clicking on the page only sent me back to a site where -- guess what -- I had to buy more! After waiting on hold for tech support for 10 to 15 minutes, I decided that this was a poor marketing strategy. I called again, hit the menu choice for refund, and had somebody on the line in only a couple minutes. They politely processed my refund. It could be I missed clicking on something along the way..but I'm a busy guy and they can't be subtle about these things. I went with Norton 2009, and everything went smoothly, and it's very fast.

McAfee is a well known name in computer security software, which has been around for many years. In fact, if you ask the average computer user what brand name anti-virus software they know of, the usual response will either be McAfee or Norton. Both of these brands (along with many others) are well known and are very useful in fighting the war on cyber-crime and the malicious acts of computer hackers. Computer security software isn't nearly as simple as it once was. I remember the good ol' days when the biggest concern was scanning a floppy disk for a virus before inserting it in your computer. But it's not just pimply-faced teen geeks, sitting in a dark room, dreaming up mischievous computer code while eating Hot Pockets anymore. Today's attacks are complex worms, Trojan Horses, Spyware, Malware, and even Hijacking, just to name a few. And don't even get me started on e-mail Spam! A simple Anti-Virus program is no longer enough to protect your computer. You need a package to kill viruses, block spyware, firewall protection to block hackers, spam prevention, and filters to keep children safe from offensive content and the many other dangers of the Internet. These are just a few of the things that are needed in one's arsenal of protection when using a computer these days, and McAfee has developed a software suite with everything you need, all on one CD-ROM.

McAfee Internet Security 2009 boasts 10-in-1 protection for your system. These key areas include:

1 - Safe Search/Safe Surf
2 - Stops Viruses
3 - Stops Hackers
4 - Blocks Spyware
5 - Network Management
6 - Improves PC Health
7 - Secures Your Identity
8 - Prevents Spam & Email Scams
9 - Protects Children Online
10 - Backs Up & Restores Files

Some of the features you get with the McAfee Internet Security Suite are:

* McAfee Site Advisor - Adds safety rating to sites and search engine results, based on comprehensive spam, adware and online scam safety tests.
* Integrated anti-virus, anti-spyware, firewall, anti-spam, anti-phishing and backup technologies.
* Spyware protection - Detects, blocks and removes spyware and adware.
* Do Not Disturb Mode - Watch movies, slide shows, play games, uninterrupted as McAfee security service intelligently defers tasks, updates and alerts when you're in full screen mode.
* QuickScan - Lets you check for threats in the most commonly infected areas on the computer in less than 10 minutes.
* Shredder - Allows you to effectively remove any and all traces of confidential files from your computer.
* Backup & Restore - Saves copies of your most valuable files, wherever you want, encrypting and compressing your files on a CD/DVD, USB external device (flash drive, hard drive, etc.) or network drive.
* Computer Maintenance - Provides automated tools to keep your PC running at peak performance.
* Identity Protection - Let's you shop, bank and trade online safely by asking permission before personally identifiable information (PIN numbers, credit card and bank account numbers, and Social Security numbers) is sent from your PC.
* Parental Controls - Let your children go online safely at times that you define.
* McAfee Image Analysis - Enhances content protection by protecting your family from potentially offensive content and pictures.
* McAfee System Guards - Watches your computer for specific behaviors that may signal virus, spyware or hacker activity.
* McAfee X-Ray for Windows - Detects and kills rootkits and other malicious applications that hide from Windows and other anti-virus programs.
* McAfee Security Center - Makes it simple to review the PC security status, check for updates and fix potential security issues.
* McAfee Network Manager - Monitors PCs across your network for security weaknesses so you can easily fix security issues from one centralized network map.

Installing McAfee Internet Security 2009 is very straightforward. Although the box comes with a quick start guide, you shouldn't really even need it. McAfee does advise you to uninstall any other security products before installing this new software, unless it is a previous version of McAfee Internet Security. Upon inserting the CD, you will be prompted with a very generic looking startup screen. You click on the "Install" link, at the top of the page, to begin the software installation. It will prompt you to choose between a complete or custom installation. I recommend that you select complete, unless you intend on excluding any of the security features or need to install the program files onto a different hard drive, instead of the default C:\ drive. The software also asks if you would like to download any new software updates, during the installation process. If you have an active Internet connection then I highly recommend agreeing to allow the downloading as part of the installation. However, keep in mind that unless you have a broadband Internet connection, this process could take a very long time. Your computer will also be scanned for viruses, prior to installing the new security software, to make sure that you're getting a clean start and the very best protection.

My copy of the McAfee Internet Security 2009 was for 3 computers, so I installed it on three different systems in a row. I found that the average installation process took from 35 to 50 minutes. This included downloading all of the latest updates, over a 6 Mbps broadband connection. The entire process was very easy, requiring very little user interaction. I launched the McAfee Security Center, after the installation was complete, and checked all of the configuration settings. The screen will show if your computer security needs attention or if you are fully protected. By default all updates are set to download and install automatically, and most every other core application is set for maximum protection, providing the least amount of required user interaction. Although I chose to tweak a few of the settings, I was pleased to see that McAfee has configured the entire Internet Security package for complete, automated protection. This means that the end user does not need to have much computer knowledge to install and use this application.

Another great thing I discovered about McAfee Internet Security 2009 is that it doesn't bog down your computer performance. Of course the performance hit will likely depend on the individual computer specifications of each system it is installed on, but for the most part I noticed very little change in boot times and overall performance in Windows. Just about everyone knows that these security suite programs are usually quite taxing on the system resources of your computer. While McAfee is no exception at taking up some system resources, it does so with remarkable efficiency. On all three computers I installed it on, ranging from only a few months old to one system that is at least 4 or 5 years old, I noticed only a few seconds of additional time in booting up the computer, after installing the McAfee software, and any overall speed and performance changes in Windows were unnoticeable. Even when the application checks for updates, or downloads and installs them, you will rarely notice any form of slower performance on your PC. This is a major breakthrough in Internet security software, and it is certainly the best that I have personally experienced in the many years that I have been using these sort of security program packages. It even offers improved system performance over McAfee's own Internet Security Suite 2008, which I reviewed recently. In the past I have used software from Trend Micro, Symantec (aka Norton), McAfee, Panda and ZoneLabs. While they have all shown their own strengths and weaknesses, I find this latest release from McAfee to be the best, most well rounded Internet security package on the market today. It's a breeze to install, is very easy to use, and doesn't seem to affect computer performance in a measurable degree. Now that McAfee (and most of the other competitor manufacturers) offers multi-license packages, at reduced prices, it is now very affordable to protect every computer in your home with a safe, full-featured security suite. This package comes with a 3 user license, but McAfee offers 4 and 5 user licenses for about $10.00 more per machine. That sure beats needing to purchase a full-priced package for each and every computer in your household.

Although no security package is perfect in every way, I think McAfee has come as close as you can get today. However, a few factors prevent me from giving this software a perfect 5-star rating. First of all, the software package comes with no detailed manual and no video tutorial for beginners. Also, McAfee technical support charges fees for help with serious issues. Sure, they offer a FAQ knowledge base for free, as well as a free on-line chat service, but for serious problems that require a technician to work directly with you, McAfee charges anywhere from $9.95 to $59.95 per incident. I don't like companies charging customers for support of their products and I was hoping to see McAfee stand behind their security suite without imposing charges to loyal consumers. I have also noticed that some of the pop-up messages that the program displays, when a security problem occurs, don't give enough information to the user about what the problem is. This means that you have to sometimes choose whether to allow the requested activity to continue without knowing for sure whether it could be potentially harmful to your system or not. I also do not like the fact that all three user licenses start their 12 month countdown as soon as you install the first copy. If you want to wait to install the 2nd or 3rd license until a month or more later, you will not get the full 12-month update package with the later installations. Still, these are shortfalls that I have noticed with every other security package that I have used in the past, and I feel that McAfee has produced a product that is effective and as easy to use as one would expect to find today. I give this product a solid 4 stars and recommend it to everyone who has multiple computers in their home that need a full arsenal of Internet security tools. If you want a product that you can install and then virtually forget about, knowing that the software is keeping your system safe and secure, then McAfee Internet Security 2009 is the right choice for you.

Below are the computer system requirements for McAfee Internet Security 2009 (as identified on the McAfee website):

--> Microsoft® Windows 2000 with Service Pack 4 (SP4) or higher, Windows XP with Service Pack 1 (SP1) or higher, Windows Vista* (32-bit and 64-bit). Personal computer with Pentium-compatible processor 500 MHz or higher.
--> 256 MB RAM, 150 MB hard drive space
--> 800 X 600 or higher resolution
--> Internet connection
--> Microsoft® Internet Explorer 6.0 or later, or Mozilla Firefox 1.5 or later

Supported Email Programs
--> POP3 - Outlook Express, Outlook, Eudora, Netscape, IncrediMail and Thunderbird; Japanese only: Shuriken, Becky and PostPet.
--> MAPI - Outlook.
--> Web - MSN/Hotmail or email account with POP3 access.

Supported Instant Messaging Programs
--> AOL Instant Messenger 2.1 or later.
--> Yahoo Messenger 4.1 or later.
--> Microsoft Windows Messenger 3.6 or later.
--> MSN Messenger 6.0 or later.

* Must meet Windows Vista operating system requirements

I purchased McAfee Internet Security about three months ago as a replacement for Norton Antivirus. I believed the Norton fee for annual renewal had gotten too expensive and was looking for a cheaper alternative. There is the old saying "you get what you pay for". It couldn't be closer to the truth with this product. Since installation I have encountered two serious problems, both related to updates to the virus data file. The first occurred about two months ago. Following an update the Windows password file became inoperable. It would not save or remember any passwords. I had to log on manually to every website requiring authentication. I traced the problem to a McAfee update. A week later a "new" update corrected the problem. Last week another update quarantined a game I had been playing for over a year. I checked in the quarantine folder and there was the .exe file for the game labeled as a virus. The Virus Console gave me the option of Restoring the file. I tried three times with no success. On the fourth attempt the program deleted the .exe file from my computer completely. I contacted McAfee tech support. You apparently cannot call them, but must rely on an online chat. I was sent to a third world site where both the technician and supervisor provided incomprehensible responses to my questions. They gave no useful help whatsoveer and did not resolve the problem. After two hours online, the supervisor admitted McAfee updates have caused similar problems with other .exe files in the past. He said the problem stemmed from updates that were released in a hasty manner with limited testing. I was told to contact the game vendor to try to resolve the problem.

I cannot recommend this program. I used Norton Antivirus for three years with few, if any, problems. As soon as the one year subscription expires I am going back to Norton. If you choose to install this program be on the watch for any unusual computer behavior after the almost daily McAfee updates. That is a symptom of this unreliable program.

I picked up this product as a replacement for Norton when they committed the cardinal AV sin - shutting down all antivirus services when the supbscription ended and then asking for an exorbitant re-up fee. Sadly, life isn't much better now. There are a few key issues that you MUST be aware of:

1. User Experience - configuration is cumbersome, complicated and incomplete (some alerts you can disable - others not, some tasks you can schedule others not). I've been working on computers professionally since '94 and this UI is years behind the competition.

2. Resource Usage - Since installing my system has slowed down significantly and I constantly receive connection failure errors when browsing the web - Hotmail attachments take 3 attempts to load. And I'm running a dual core with 2 GB of RAM.

3. Half-Baked Tools. Its nice that McAfee wants to offer items like backup and a shredder but they need to at least try and match what real vendors in this space are using.

Net - Unless you have no other choice don't get this product. I've stripped out all components of the product except the antivirus and my computer speed is almost back but browsing is still a pain. I really feel like I've got a virus killing my laptop. Today the entire thing goes and I switch to a new vendor.

If you've used McAfee in the past, you probably know the annoyances with it. Constant pop ups telling you about everything, even when it shouldn't be flagged as dangerous at all. Additionally, this software slows down the computer more than Norton. I have a state of the art computer with a quad core processor, and 8gb ram, and I saw a noticeable performance decrease after installing this software, even on my high end computer. Imagine what it will do to your mid level computer.

I also purposely downloaded some files that I knew contained spyware, adware, and viruses (I'm a computer guru, and know how to remove these manually, so I don't recommend you doing this yourself). Turns out that McAfee only detected half of them, and was able to remove NONE of them. On the other hand, Norton detected them all and removed them all but 1.

Sure McAfee might be cheaper than some of the alternatives, but I wouldn't recommend it. I give it 3 stars because some anti virus is better than no antivirus, but I strongly recommend a different program.