Customer Reviews

McAfee Site Advisor Plus 2009 1-User [Old Version]

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(15)
3 star:		(18)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I was curious about this product, since I am a faithful user of the McAfee SiteAdvisor Firefox addon, which is free.

This product installed immediately, and I couldn't find anything new that it offered me. This program acts as a surreptitious bar down on your internet browser toolbar that uses a color coded system of letting you know when you are browsing user reported safe sites or bad ones. I find this product EXTREMELY useful for all users, advanced or novice, because you never know when you do happen to stumble on a website that is loaded with viruses and spyware. This program acts as an alert to tell you which one you are in fact visting.

It doesn't take up any CPU, that I can tell, and it does have a community feature that allows you to view what others have written about the site and why they thought it was good or bad. I think maybe I would just stick with the free add on that is offered on the web versus paying for this, because I did not see anything that was new with the "Plus" program.

Regardless, I recommend everyone to have this SiteAdvisor on every computer you own, this is coming from someone who has had to format countless times because of virus and spyware absconding into depths that my virus/spyware programs couldn't find.

Great Product.

As a person who loves doing alotta online shopping specially during our christmas season which is coming up as you can find stuff on line you can't locally. Well its important to me where i shop and how secure the transactions are. whats nice about this is it can be incorporated into firefox as well as IE. It will show a green color if the site is good safe . it will turn yellow as a warning/neutral, It will be grey if it is a site which hasn't been tested yet and red for a site thats completely unsafe and bad known to send tons of spam /phishing etc. A good point too about t his is you can click on check it and view site report and read bout what alotta other people have noticed about a particular site etc and other opinions. Here is a trick if you wanna see it in action and how it works. type in any search engine "free wii" don't we all who own one wish it was that easy to find haha. Anyhow you will come up with all those lovely sites that insist you do some work for them before you get the product if you ever do but you end up getting tons of spam and ripped off in the end. Anyhow this is a good way to test out site advisor most of those sites are in the "RED"zone which show they are bad and bogus .I love having this on my computer it keeps me from unsafe websites and keeps my online shopping experiences a pleasant one ,keep spam down to a minimum. Great product as most of mcafee's products are and this is by far my fave product that they make. I will always have it on my computer good to know what sites are good and which aren't so good. I recommend this software to everyone not just us online shoppers but to everyone who surfs the web ,etc...

SUMMARY

This product is one of growing number of security options to assist the end user in early detection of web-based threats and attacks where personal information and PC security might be compromised. According to McAfee, Site Advisor Plus is compatible with many other security products offered by other vendors and will not impede system processing. The user is alerted to phishing attempts or malware risks and has the option to enable a protected mode where all interaction with program identified suspicious sites is precluded. Site Advisor Plus is an enhancement to another product - one that is free - McAfee has had on the market for a few years. There are questions regarding the true utility of this version, in as much as many competitive Security Suites like Norton 360 which I use, already integrate similar capabilities, numerable browsers and search engines have built-in options that offer the similar forms of protection. There are also several freeware products that may be equally as effective. Overall, I felt Site Advisor could be a useful addition for those who are particularly sensitive regarding security however it failed to offer demonstrative added value for me over capabilities already available in my security suite in conjunction with the free functionality already existent in many browsers.

INSTALLATION

The end user agreement is one of the most restrictive I recall ever reading, requiring that the installer knowingly authorize debiting of a credit card 30 days prior to the expiration of the license term without any sort of advice from McAfee of the impending renewal charge. Software updates are not automatically included. Once the EULA has been accepted and installation begins, the program does not include a cancel option. An active internet connection is required for installation and utilization, and although not specifically stated, for completion of the key step of product registration.

There is a screen message indicating the software checks for compatibility issues before proceeding but I'm not convinced the process is valid for all vendor security suites and security products. Some products like One Care, specifically state Site Advisor is not compatible. As noted above, I have Norton 360, which is notorious for incompatibility issues, including with other Symantec products but I have not encountered any problems to date. This software has a paucity of supporting documentation, and McAfee's web site is of little assistance here. It appears to be the only McAfee product lacking a manual and the only provided documentation beyond the packaging verbiage is a flimsy quarter page quick start guide.

The install itself takes only a few minutes but it does not offer any advice to the restart the computer and it appeared to me the software would not function without that effort. The realization the software seems invisible, not appearing under installed programs, failure to provide a desktop icon or quick launch option on for the tray is a bit unnerving. But, it is clearly initiated as part of your startup routines and can be removed via XP/Vista control panel options. It is added to the GUI for explorer and Firefox and appears in gray tint until active on a specific web page or search. It's reasonably unobtrusive taking up less than 7MB of disk space and only uses around 2.5 Mb of memory. I did not notice any significant degradation of response time regardless of the browser or search utility employed.

The install procedure also infers registration is not required but my results indicate local installation can be completed but activation will not occur until the product is registered with McAfee. I installed on two computers, one with XP Pro with SP3 where I was unable to register the product via Firefox because the link was not recognized and on another with Vista Ultimate where I registered via IE7. In order to get it to work on each computer I did have to duplicate the registration process. Curiously, notwithstanding the EULA agreement I accepted, the process does not require any financial information so the annual renewal fee at conclusion of the first year should interesting. The agreement is somewhat of a semantics debate in as much as the software is labeled as "one user" as opposed to "one PC" which is actually what McAfee states is the intended use. Additional licenses can be purchased but I installed on two PCs without doing so.

OPERATION:

From appearances and integration, the product appears to have originally been developed for IE explorer and expanded to support Firefox where it is recognized as an add-on, but it works equally as well with either browser. To date, it is not compatible with Opera, Safari or Google Chrome. I did not try Flock, I already have enough junk on my hard drive. Yahoo has already integrated Site Advisor with its' search mechanisms so the scan results there are somewhat different than the checkmark patterns with the other facilities. With Ask.com and Live Search the color coded system is also visible and from what I can determine the program does not work with AOL, Lycos, About.com or Dogpile. Metacrawler and Webcrawler are automatically identified as caution sites before any searches are commenced.

Effectiveness is subjective. Site Advisor is not a real time application where live results are analyzed as is the case with some other vendors' products. Instead the product accesses a database of questionable sites maintained and updated on McAfee servers, and a number of websites and search responses will not return any results. One of my concerns is individual users can offer information about sites via webpage interface and the input information may be skewed as a result.

Under supported browsers and search engines, results are indicated by three color key code: Green indicative of safe sites or links, Yellow where the site may have minor security issues and Red, where McAfee has determined the site employs fraudulent practices. Additional information is obtainable by running the cursor over the indicator and the user may also access the Site Advisor web page for even more information. Prospective downloads can be submitted for individual analysis.

Via the Site Advisor button that is added to supported browsers, the user has the option to change software settings, add sites to an exclusion list, disable the program or enable the protected mode.

I tested by disabling redundant facilities under my browsers and existing security software nd I did not find any significant improvement in results but that may reflect my reluctance to explore really dangerous links.

I have happily used the free version of SiteAdvisor for years and was curious to try SiteAdvisor Plus. I run Vista and, of course, an antivirus product. I did not uninstall the SiteAdvisor free version before installing Plus the first time. The old SiteAdvisor was unable to detect it had been upgraded after the current install. I thought maybe a restart was in order to take care of the problem. I restarted, but SiteAdvisor still thought it was the free version. So, I uninstalled both versions of SiteAdvisor and restarted again. Then I reinstalled Plus. From the minute I began the installation, my computer started whirring loudly and working slowly. My hard drive started working overtime. Nothing I did could stop the noise. To make matters worse, Plus was not showing as being installed on IE. Of course, the free version had also been removed from my machine and my other browser. During both installations, my antivirus identified the startup routine McAfee was attempting as a generic trojan. I have reason to believe this would not be so, since this is a McAfee product. Still, it was another annoyance in an experiment that ultimately failed. I really like SiteAdvisor and think it's a great tool, so Plus was quite a disappointment. I'm not sure what went wrong, but this product didn't work for my system.

This installed very quickly and easily. You need to activate the software for it to work.

This seems like it can be very useful as it shows what websites McAfee knows have a potential problem (like spyware, viruses, browser exploits, etc.) when you do a search for something via google, yahoo or your favorite search engine.

I used it for a little bit and it seemed to work well in Internet Explorer but when I tried to use it in Firefox, my web browser hung. I tried rebooting my computer (I didn't reboot it after I installed and it didn't say you needed to) but it didn't help. It made something strange happen with Firefox.

There is probably some sort of fix that I could find on the McAfee website (which by the way, looks like a user friendly help site) but I'm not that interested in figuring this out. I don't do a lot of potentially dangerous web surfing or searching and even though this would be a nice additional layer of protection for my computer, I'd rather just focus on a good anti virus and firewall.

I ended up uninstalling the program and Firefox is happy again.

Maybe at a later date when I have more free energy, I'll play with this again. One reason I would try again is because it also checks links in instant messages and emails, letting you know which ones are ok to click on. I think that feature in itself would be worth the cost of the program.

Since this product has been reviewed fairly extensivel [and accurately] then I will keep it short and to the point. The product works well, does what it is meant to do, performs within reasonable expectations - not terribly slow (although it certainly doesn't speed things up the overall drain wasn't terrible]. Basically a solid bit of software for a good price.

On the other hand, as some others have already mentioned, depending upon what you are running this might be a duplicate. Like others, I have basic web security so thought the plus would work even better...frankly, I didn't really notice much of a difference whatsoever. If for some reason, you don't have web security bundled with your firewall or anti-virus or other packaged software then this is a good option...but if you are like most people then you may already own it so don't pay more for an entirely new program.

Bottom line - check to see if you really need it before buying.

I've learned the hard way how leaving yourself open to the unscrupulous people on the Internet is a one-way ticket to heartache and pain that you just don't want to have to deal with. Hackers were able to access my personal information and take down one of my web sites costing me thousands of dollars in lost profits and in new startup costs. Save yourself this headache and get McAfee Site Advisor Plus 2009. It has all the necessary software to keep an eye on your computer to keep these bad guys out. Installation is super-simple and the payoff is worth it. It's like insurance for your online activity...because you never know who's on the Internet!

My husband installed this on our daughter's computer. She is the world's worse for going to every site that beckons her. And then when she crashes her computer, guess whom she calls. So far so good. If you have a child that does the same thing, this would be great for your computer. Well it will unless you have one that just can't keep those little fingers from going where they aren't supposed to go. But McAfee has done a great job here of helping us out with some easy software!

Any time when we browse the web, we are not free from a danger. ID theft, phishing, virus-filled sites and links are in the abundance in the world wide web. How can we protect ourselves from it? Enter McAfee's "SiteAdvisor Plus."

If you want a quality protection while you surf the web, this product is worth your money. It protects you from:
1. Dangerous sites by giving you the safety ratings next to your search results. Green means safe, Yellow means caution and Red means warning.
2. It also protects you from "phishing" -- sites designed to steal your identity and SS numbers and bank accounts, etc.
3. Also checks the links in your email whether they are safe or not. Which is useful when you receive many links from your friends.

Overall, the program is useful and is light on the resources. I gave four stars, because you could download FREE programs that are similar in function. If you do not want to spend money, then I recommend, "WOT" (Web Of Trust - available for Firefox and IE), go to "mywot.com". It rates the sites and links just as McAfee does. Also, if you have Firefox 3.0+ browser then it protects you from phishing as well.

BUT if you do not want to go through all this trouble, then purchase this product for the peace of mind.

Where to begin? I'll start with installation. What a PAIN! After the file installation, the program asked if I wanted to register. Believing registration to be optional, I selected the option to remind me later. After the registration box closed and installation officially concluded, I noticed the program did not work. It was present in the browser; however, it just didn't work. Nothing in the included documentation could explain why it didn't work, so I uninstalled and reinstalled; same result. After ruling out every other possible cause, I decided maybe the registration wasn't as optional as it appeared. I initially didn't suspect the registration process as the culprit because the only warning I received after declining to register immediately was that I would not be able to update or have the latest protection. It did not say the program would be rendered completely inoperable. So I decided to register immediately. Upon entering my email address, I was informed that a McAfee account was already associated with the email address (apparently from a trial version of their security suite that came pre-installed on a laptop I purchased a couple years ago). I could not remember the password, so I used the "Forgot Password" link during registration. I entered my email address and was advised that my password was sent to me via email. I logged into my email and waited for over 20 minutes, however no password ever arrived. I used the "Forgot Password" option again and again was advised that my password was sent to me. I then went downstairs, ate dinner, and returned only to still find no password. I finally gave up and created a new email address just so I could get the blasted program to work. Once I finally got past the initial registration screen, I discovered the source of the problem. The program requires activation to work. It would be nice if they clearly told people this little fact up front. The only thing that could be remotely attributed as a warning is the statement "Internet Access Required" printed on the product box. However, considering it's an Internet application, that's more of a big "Duh" than a warning; Kinda like the "May cause drowsiness" statement on a box of sleeping pills. Anyway, after finally getting the product to work, I was less than impressed. It's really not much different from the free version. Unfortunately, both fall short of the competition, most of which is freely available. First, results are pulled from a database, not real-time scans of the site. This means if malicious software appears on the site after McAfee scans and adds it to its database, you could potentially get burned. I don't know how frequently the database is updated, however nothing beats real-time results. It does have a protected mode that could block the site before you visit, however you have to manually activate it and it requires you to create yet another password. Also, like I said, it's far less effective on malware sites than the competition due to its reliance on a database instead of a real-time scan. However, (and earning it more than one star for effectiveness), the database approach is more effective at protecting against phishing sites. The program scans links in search page results, instant messages, and email, yet doesn't scan live links in web pages like the competition. Results are indicated via a small green, yellow, or red icon next to the link. Hovering over the icon will reveal a balloon with slightly more safety information and clicking the icon will take you to a web page with detailed information about the site including any detected threats, page popularity, country of origin, and user reviews and comments. I particularly dislike the user reviews because it doesn't appear that McAfee is doing a good job of monitoring the reviews. Pretty much anyone can say anything. It leaves the door wide open for abuse and could potentially explain why some established and popular sites are flagged for caution by Siteadvisor. Performance is acceptable and there is no noticeable impact on browsing speed. All in all, I don't think the extra expense of the plus version is justified. I suggest sticking with the free version or, better yet, going with one of the better free alternatives. Siteadvisor Plus does have protected mode and scans more items than the free Siteadvisor, however the free competition offers the same (or better) features and a protected mode is geared more to those who surf with reckless abandon. If you use the slightest bit of caution, you really don't need protected mode. Not only that, Windows Vista has its own version of protected mode built in and IE7 has native Phishing protection. I doubt there's any software on the planet strong enough to adequately protect a totally irresponsible web surfer. The best defense is good old fashioned caution and common sense. Just my two-cents


By the way, it is 24 hours later and I still haven't received that password email...