Customer Reviews

McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 V6.0

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(46)

 

 

I purchased this McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004, v6.0 in December of 2003 after learning about the nightmare problems relating to Norton Antivirus 2004 and its required activation scheme. I had been using the Norton Antivirus as part of the Norton System Works bundle since the 2001 version ( while running Win98SE) . I now am running mostly Windows XP Pro & Home and I have one machine with Windows 98SE.

I can relate with many of the reviewers who claim that this McAfee bundle of software is bad because I first tried to install the complete suite of programs in on my Windows98SE system and it was a complete disaster. The system locked up on boot, gave blue screens, and basically rendered the system completely unusable. I think I ended up booting in safe mode and doing a complete uninstall of the program. I was able to download a program from the Symantec site called RNAV 2003 which removed leftovers from the old Norton 2002 installation and I was able to reinstall the original Norton System Works 2002 with success. I then ran the WinDoctor program which removed any leftovers from the McAfee 2004 program. I put the McAfee software aside and forgot about it for the next few months.

Moving forward to March of 2004...I had a Pentium 3 1Ghz notebook with Windows XP Home installed along with Norton 2003 and Zone Alarm Pro 4. My notebook had been slowing down so much with each successive Norton System Works 2003 update that it was practically unusable. My entire system was so slow it was insane. It would take fifteen seconds just for the Internet Explorer 6 web browser to open. I knew the culprit had to be the latest Norton Antivirus updates since it was just recently after an automatic update when it had become so much slower. So I went on the internet to read reviews on alternative antivirus software and read some good reviews about the same McAfee software that I had problems with before. I read that basically the "Privacy" part of the McAfee suite and in some cases the "McAfee Firewall" were suspected at causing most of the problems in the Security Suite. I ended up uninstalling my Norton System Works 2003 completely from my notebook. I left Zone Alarm Pro 4 on the system but I disabled it temporarily. I did a custom installation of McAfee Internet Security Suite 2004 only installing the Antivirus and the SpamKiller programs (along with the McAfee Security Center which is required ). This custom setup installed without a glitch. I did the simple registration, downloaded all the updates online, and I opted out of any junk being sent to me from McAfee except for AntiVirus threat notices they email you once in a while. My notebook seems to work great now. It is about five times faster than when it was running Norton System Works 2003. The McAfee Antivirus works well, the SpamKiller works good, I have had zero lockups and no real problems since making the switch. The only issue I had was when I re-enabled the Zone Alarm Pro 4 firewall software I had to open up all the McAfee programs for complete access before the McAfee Security Center would successfully "auto-update" itself. As a pre-caution to make sure the McAfee updates all download OK ....once in a while I shut down Zone Alarm and manually check for McAfee updates and it directs to the web site where it sometimes updates itself. Usually the auto-update feature seems to work fine though.

I have also have had success on other systems installing the McAfee Suite in same way (custom install exactly as I did above without the Privacy service) but instead I would use Windows XP ICF (internet connection firewall). This setup seems to provide adequate firewall protection, doesn't slow down your system, and the McAfee online auto-updates work perfectly. I hear that the latest updates to the McAfee Firewall have improved it greatly but I haven't tried using it since Zone Alarm Pro 4 works very well for me.

For users of Windows XP Pro & Home I think that this McAfee Suite 2004 is a good value and provides good protection and functionality for most users in it is installed without the Privacy Program. The McAfee Firewall can be tried also but make sure you run the online auto updates for it or you could use the Windows XP firewall instead. For users of Windows ME, 98, or pre-XP versions of Windows I recommend Norton Antivirus 2002, or 2003 (if you have a fast computer), or one of the other antivirus solutions such as Kaspersky or TrenMicro's PC-Cillin.

IN SUMMARY:

PROS:

-Inexpensive to purchase compared with other Antivirus programs such as Norton.

-Custom Install without the "Privacy" program works great on Windows XP based systems.

-The Antivirus program is fast, efficient, and effective.

-SpamKiller seems to work well (not perfect but good enough).

-The interface ( McAfee Security Center) is attractive and simple to use.

-NO PRODUCT ACTIVATION is required (but simple, non-invasive registration is required for updates from the McAfee site)

CONS:

-Full installation of the Suite is prone to causing major problems and system slowdowns especially on non-Windows XP systems.

-The "Privacy" program is prone to causing major problems.

-Unless you are using the bundled McAfee Firewall the online internet updates sometimes (but not always) need to be checked or done manually to pass through another company's software firewall such as Zone Alarm.

-The software seems to intall and work best with Windows XP and has been reported as being very problematic for some Windows 2k, Me, and 98SE/98 users.

CONCLUSION: I highly recommended it for Windows XP users when a proper custom installation is done without installing the Privacy program.

I tried to install this product on a dell computer which came with a trial version. I uninstalled the trial version which had been expired before I install this new one. This product is total confused with the dell trial version and refused to allow me to update anything.

Called and emailed McAfee and their rep acknowledged that my receipt and I have a new version of legal copy. However, their web site still shows my registration is expired and no updates are allowed. Their rep told me to register using different email address. The problem is no matter how many time I try to install and uninstall it, it never asks me to register again. Since the virus definition are not updated, this product is virtuall useless at all.

Do not "UPGRADE" this product from previous version. You will waste your time and money because they want you to renew it online so they can make more money from you.

I have used McAfee antivirus products for years on multiple computers, but this newest product and the technical "support" is truly disappointing. Installing MIS6.0 resulted in several problems, including blockage of all email access, blocked access to most websites, fatal crashes of unrelated programs, and more. The VirusScan8 component was never able to run.

With the free on-line chat tech help (with overseas techs, it seems), program patch downloads were provided that appeared to fix the bugs causing the email and website problems. But, the other problems were either never addressed or were not corrected after following long, tedious, very technical instructions that the techs were always "absolutely sure" would "fix your problem." (This was especially infuriating.) Way too many long hours over several days were spent on this. Also, even though I used their case number system for chat access, which assured me the techs would know all of the chat/case history, I always had to re-explain everything each time. Finally, a request for a refund made McAfee very unavailable. The product is non-functional and I don't expect to see any refund.

A bit of Net research reveals that a great many people are having similar very serious problems with this product. While it seems to work okay for some, the number of problem reports is truly alarming. Among the components, only the Firewall5.0 seemed to be fully functional and do its job admirably. VirusScan8.0 and the Personal Privacy Service seemed to be the sources of the really serious bugs. If you like McAfee, I'd recommend staying with a VirusScan of Version7 or lower until things improve (if they ever do). There are lots of good alternatives for the Privacy stuff, many of them free. And, I believe that spam filter programs are a waste of time and money, even if they work. (There are better alternatives. I've been spam-free for a year without any filter programs.)

When my current McAfee AV subscription expires, I plan to switch to another product.

Using WinXP Pro, It causes the system to lock up or slow way down. Too many bugs to list. Goto http://forums.mcafeehelp.com/index.php?c=5 and read about all the "features".
LIVE Tech Support $2.95/Min or $39.95 per incident.
Previous user of Norton Internet Security 2003, not as many features, but without the numerous problems.

I've been using this product for 24 hours and am ready to disable several features. Spamkiller crashes all the time, in the process disabling my ability to send and receive mail until I reboot and it removes all photos from emails it allow through, while the popup blocker in the privacy service blocks my ability to log into my web-based accounts. In general, the product significantly slows my PC performance, including web browsing.

I have fought this and fought this and fought this...it kills me to have spent this money and not be able to use the product.

I think the anti-virus stuff works.

I think the firewall works.

The privacy service and spamkiller....oh my goodness. I have turned down the controls and turned down the controls to try and let me surf and get emails. I would put people on my "Friends" list and spamkiller would STILL block them. I would then go "rescue message" and it would delete the message altogether.

The privacy service...I still haven't figured that one out. I turned the controls down to where it was for all intents and purposes OFF. STILL could not look at my business webpage stats because it uses pop-ups. So I went to "Log off Privacy Service" - still could not get stats. I ended up having to go to the Windows Task Manager and kill the process guarddog.exe AND ONLY THEN would my webpages work right.

If you don't have concerns about spyware, use Norton. I'm about ready to switch back anyway.

This is truly one of the WORST software packages I've ever used. I've been quite happy with ZoneAlarm (from Zone Labs) for firewall protection and SpamNet (from CloudMark) for spam protection. I used an earlier version of VirusScan by McAfee -- standalone product. And it was time to update, and since the suite wasn't much more expensive than standalone VirusScan, I figured I'd get the suite and then maybe I could stop paying for other products a la carte.

What a disaster.

For starters, the user interface on the firewall part is pretty bad.

SpamKiller managed to trap emails with attachments that I KNOW, 100%, were not infected. And worst, I couldn't manage to get the email/attachment out of "trapped files" and back into my emailbox so I could work with it. I had to ask the sender -- a client of mine -- to re-send it, which was pretty embarassing.

After installing, I couldn't make the suite auto-update itself. You go through the configuration and then it takes you to a website where it tries to download an active-x applet to help with auto-updates. Except the download won't execute, and the website gives a page telling you that it can't download because of the pop-up blocker program. Except that I had already turned off my pop-up blocker.

And finally, VirusScan. Grrrrrr. Even though it worked okay with Outlook XP, once I upgraded to Outlook 2003, VirusScan now managed to stop all files with attachments over 600K or so from going out. Actually, let me clarify. It LOOKS like it's stopping file-send because the file hangs in "Outbox" and never moves to "Sent Mail." Except that in fact, it's making Outlook send the file 20 or even 30 times, EACH time with the big attachment, which really angers the recipient. There's no options to handle this problem, and McAfee tech support was completely useless. I spent a couple hours on the phone with Microsoft tech support thinking it was an Outlook problem, and after finally testing every possible problem, we realized that VirusScan was the problem... once we uninstalled, emailing big attachments from Outlook worked just fine.

In summary, do NOT buy this product. I'm sticking with my previous spam and firewall software, and I'll have to try another Virus protection problem. According to other reviews here, Norton's pretty bad too.

One wonders who is running the show at Network Associates' McAfee division.

I recently bought the boxed version of this software. In the past I had been a Norton fan, but their programs became increasingly intrusive resource hogs. I decided to try the top competitor's product. With rebates, it was cheap.

Installing the software was easy enough. I left off Spamkiller because Outlook 2003 has a pretty good anti-spam filter built in. After initial tweaking, everything seemed fine.

The next morning, my wife tried to send an e-mail with an attachment. For the first time, Outlook couldn't do it. It turns out this is a widely recognized problem with the McAfee software. Their online FAQ's direct you to disable the virus scanning software's e-mail scanning component, which you have to do every time you restart your machine. It requires you to go into the Task Manager (in Win XP Home in my case) and end a particular process. Their technicians were not able to offer me any more advice than that.

Great, so you have a virus scanning program that doesn't handle e-mail. I could live with that. The solution worked . . . for awhile anyway.

About a week later, that fix no longer worked. McAfee's software was preventing not only outgoing messages with attachments, but it was preventing us from sending or receiving any e-mail whatsoever.

Tech support is thick as a brick. You tell them what you've done to try to correct your problem, what your configuration is, etc., at the beginning of the call, yet they tell you to do what you've already told them you've done. Frustrating. (And if you call them on the telephone, you get to pay for the privilege.)

My own fix is to shut down all McAfee products on the machine when I want to check e-mail. Now that is a pain in the rear, but it works. But what is the point of having a firewall and virus scanning software that won't work when you're hooked up to your e-mail server?

This problem is widespread. How did McAfee miss it? Are they selling software and letting the public do the beta testing for them? Was it willful ignorance? All I can say is that I will not be purchasing another of their products knowingly.

In short, this is a garbage suite. Keep it off of your machine unless you're fond of using up disk drive space to store defective code.

Don not buy this product. It is a nightmare to install and maintain. I had to uninstall it twice and then 3 days after finally getting it to work it says the privacy component has expired! Theres no support unless you pay $2.95 a minute or you email them you life history to get email support. I just gave up and crossed McAfee off my product 'buy' list for home and work.

I have now reinstalled older alternative product I was using for the past two years that has free virus updates forever and the bets bit....it works!

If you use this product the DAT files are only good for one year and it secures you PC so you can't get into it if it screws up.

In short don't waste you money on this useless product. Bad move by a greedy McAfee.

Installed the software as per the instructions (using the defaults) and all hell broke loose.

Tried to contact McAfee thru their web page support service. (You have to chat with them because that is the only free customer service offered. No telephone service because they charge you a fee for that.)

I discovered on my own that the default setting is to filter chat rooms. Go figure. I uninstalled the software, took the chat room filter off, and had to spend an additional five hours chatting with their customer support service to fix all the problems I have been experiencing.

Some of the problems you will discover is that this software does not like Windows Service Pack 2 or any other additional security software to be installed on your computer. Furthermore, it does not like to have the Windows Firewall turned on when installing. Keep these words of caution in mind. There are numerous other problems, but I don't want to bore anyone. I did finally manage to get this software to function properly, but only after numerous attemps on my own and thru countless customer support sessions. I would estimate I spent a total of 15-18 hours de-bugging this junk.

This software has an overall rating of "2 Stars" as rated by approximately 70 other Amazon.com users. The problem is approximately 70 different Amazon.com user gave a similar "2 Star" rating for the other Software offerd by Symantic - Norton Internet Security 2005. My next purchase will be the Norton Internet Security 2005 because it had a better rating in the Consumers Report and I can't imagine it being any worse.