Customer Reviews

McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009 1-User [OLD VERSION]

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

Unethical billing for online purchases -- BEWARE!

Let me say right up front if you DO NOT USE the online download and payment process which McAfee offers, then you should not be subjected to their unethical practices (unless/until you renew online.)

I've used McAfee for several years now, and the product, once paid for and installed, in my experience, has been fine. Yes, it gets annoying at times, with its checks and confirmations, but that's what we want: software to protect us, and that comes with some caveats.

But McAfee has finally LOST me as a customer, with their insidious and unethical billing practices. These practices are so awful that the product absolutely deserves zero stars, regardless of its functionality.

My 1-year subscription to VirusScan ended a few days ago. This was a 3-user subscription, which I had obtained for free from a financial services company with whom I do business. It was a one-time deal, so now I need to pay to renew. This was my experience:

First, the renewal price was discounted through the financial services company, to around forty bucks, which was less than I saw online elsewhere. I proceeded to pay with PayPal. Just BEFORE I pressed the "return to McAfee" button, Paypal told me that I could review the "billing agreement" (what billing agreement?) by logging back into Paypal, going to "Profile," and kicking "Pay List" (what Pay List?) I did so, and found that McAfee, WITHOUT ANY NOTICE, AND WITHOUT MY PERMISSION had set up an automatic billing allowance on my PayPal account for one hundred twenty dollars per month! Here is the exact text: "Billing Limit: $119.97 USD (per month)" Needless to say, I immediately canceled that authorization, before "returning to McAfee." McAfee of course complained that there was an "error," but I simply proceeded to pay with credit card.

That's when I saw the very small type, in GRAY (hard-to-read) coloring, saying that my credit card would be billed automatically, upon expiration of the license, at the full renewal rate at that time.

That's enough, McAfee! You stop these unethical billing practices right now! You've lost another customer, and hopefully many more with this review.

Not only did I check with Consumer Reports, but I called family and friends before I bought McAfee. I had previously used "Windows Live One Care" with no problems, but it is not even listed in the "top ten" of anti-virus protection. Norton was placed second best, but I heard too many horror stories. This 2009 version was very easy, easy, easy to install. Immediately, I noticed that on every website listed (after a GOOGLE search), there were colored check marks indicating which sites were `safe' and which sites were `risky' to open. Holding your cursor over the checked mark gives you more detailed information. When you click on that marker, detailed information about that website appears. It is a very nice safeguard. Obviously, green means the site has been RESEARCHED by McAfee and is okay. Yellow means it is a site that McAfee has yet to research. Red means `don't even think about going there unless you are willing to gamble'. McAfee actually checked all these sites BEFORE they made this program.

Some of the basics are: Virus protection (which updates itself), Spyware protection, Firewall protection, Email protection for virus and spyware and lots of other things I have yet to really explore. The menu box gives you your own opportunity to perform specific tasks. There is the QUICKCLEAN, which removes your Internet cache, temporary files, lost fragment files, old registry keys, deleted Email messages and other non-essential files that take up space. You can also DEFRAGMENT your hard drive whenever you want to speed up your computer. The TASK SCHEDULER allows you to create Windows scheduled tasks that clean your computer routinely.

That is the most important stuff, but there are about a dozen more accessories you can use to protect and optimize your computer. I do suggest you schedule your tasks for the middle of the night, as when McAfee was running in the background, everything slowed down significantly. If you have more than one computer, you might want to check out the "3-User" version to save money.

NEWS UPDATE!!! My subscription was due this year and for the past few weeks, I kept getting warnings about renewal. These 'pop-ups' changed to, "Your subsription will end on June 30, 2009". So naturally, I panicked and renewed. When I had time, I realized this was wrong. I called some dim-wit at McAfee who had no idea what I was talking about and confirmed my renewal date was in October of 2009. So I got my refund and believe me, I am going to get another anti-virus, simply out of irritation and feeling like I was being scammed. Take notice!

I would highly recommend product like Zone alarm. I own Total protection, recently my PC got infected by XP Police Anti-virus which is a malware. I contacted support, which asked me this can be fixed by mcafee for a fee. I was shocked !!!! First I pay for the service for 1 year and now they demand more money if they want to clean the virus.. whats the point if they cannot fix the virus that my machine has got infected and if they will still charge if machine gets infected.

I would recomend Zone alarm or other software but definatly not McAfee...

I HATE THIS PROGRAM. Everyday there is something it does to waste my time. The most annoying ritual is I have to activate it several times a day. When I missed doing so, I had to re-install the program (downloading and installation - about 90 minutes). Several times a month the automatic update causes errors, at the least I have to stop everything and re-boot several time, or more often than not, the program informs me I have to re-install ... again. It doesn't work in the background either, whenever it decides to do something, (scan, download, update the program). Everything I'm doing crawls to a halt. No warning either, if I am doing something that needs the processor or the internet... too bad. (The only thing you can stop is the scan, if you look for the hidden icon, but by then it is too late.) If you try to change the settings (if you can find them) it announces you are unprotected all the time. Finally, they send you a butt load of ads that pop up on your desktop and you have to click the button "continue with what I am doing"

I recently bought and installed this product.Worked OK.After a few days I started getting a message that my computor wasn't fully protected and that I needed to register the product.Fine.To date I haven't managed to register the product.A pop up registration window doesn't function.E mails to McAfee have been a waste of time.They are fixated on an Anti virus program I have installed on a notebook computor.
I would not buy this product again.

I purchased the McAfee virus scan online rom their website and had recieved a lower than expected service online after I had installed(it doesn't work with IE8) and I had to reformat my C drive for virus infection and asked the McAfee website to reinstall the antivirus and I couldn't get the antivirus reinstalled due to the website not so clear directions(chat from overseas). Finally, I gave up and purchased Norton instead.

I don't write many "negative" reviews. I only write one if I really think I need to responsibly warn others of a product to avoid, especially in today's economy where every dollar spent should be a good investment. Purchasing McAfee Virus Scan is not one of those good investments.

Be sure to read ALL of the reviews here. Most are negative and for a good reason. I won't rehash what most of them are saying. But here are a few points that I found.

First, I've used various virus protection software programs in the past on different computers. My favorite was Norton's. It worked perfectly and ran in the background and you never saw your computer slow down because of it. And I NEVER got infected by ANYTHING while using Norton's.

But Norton's has rewritten their software and it is now getting terrible reviews so I would not get Norton's today.

I bought a new computer and it came with one year free of McAfee VirusScan. It is a brand new supercomputer, very very state of the art and very fast (I won't bore with the details as there will always be nay sayers about any type of computer and miss the point). Just know that it is FAST! So I installed the McAfee. Can you spell: RESOURCE HOG! It takes over your computer from the moment it's installed, slowing even a fast, state of the art computer to a crawl. And when it updates, which is several times a day, you might as well take a break and walk away and do something else because it freezes the system and you can do NOTHING else until it's finished, not even check email!

That happens one to four times a day as it constantly updates itself (and I've had it now 10 months). But the worse part of that is with all the updating, it still does not provide total protection. It does not protect well against Trojans, which I received several of. I had to download other software to get rid of those.

So here's why you should NOT get this program:

*) McAfee is a computer resource hog, even on new, super computers

*) McAfee will slow the overall running of your computer down to a crawl, all day

*) The program updates itself several times every day

*) When the program updates, it freezes all other systems and functions on your computer so you can't do anything until it's done

*) McAfee does not protect against all trojans and you'll need to locate other software to get rid of these

That is more than enough to advise against the purchase of McAfee VirusScan software. I also would not recommend Norton's most recent virus software.

I have several other family computers that are using the free version of AVG's virus control and the free version of Zone Alarm's firewall and they zip along fine with no slow downs and none of them have been infected with anything.

Do your research, read ALL the reviews here, including all of the negative reviews, and then chose FREE virus protection, from AVG and Zone Alarm!

Before you buy this product do read all the reviews especially the bad ones. Be especially aware of the fact that this software comes with VERY LIMITED tech support unless you pay an added amount to McAfee. Many consider the added amount excessive. Check the McAfee website for the latest uptodate cost.

If you opt to forgo premium tech support (ADDITIONAL COST) be aware of the added wait time for help, even e-mail help. Their website says 24-48 hours for a reply. The times I have sent e-mail inquiries the replies have come 4-7 business days later. A quicker reply time can be had with Premium tech support (ADDITIONAL COST).

If their first reply answers your problem then fine. But if you are still uncertain of what to do and send a second e-mail then double the waiting time. It can literally take weeks for a solution to a problem for the basic included tech support. It appears as if the maker is purposely creating a situation where you give in to the darkside of the force and pay them for the premium service.

When considering McAfee anti-virus software be aware of this tech support issue and the added cost of premium tech support. It isn't cheap.

Having said that I should also say I have used McAfee for five years. The sofware itself is quite reliable. I update each day, scan once or twice a day and have taken the time to check and learn the entire interface to understand how to use it. It is elaborate so be aware of this, but most should be able to handle it. The result is no virus, etc. infections for five years on my computer.

So as a product I have no problems with it. It does scan quickly and well, if my avoidance of any virus infections is an indication. I use it for work so am on-line 10-14 hours a day. All in all a reliable product.

BUT BE AWARE OF THE LIMITED BASIC TECH SUPPORT AND THE COST OF PREMIUM TECH SUPPORT. It can be a nasty surprise for some.

The product is working efficiently since I successfully loaded it. For some reason, I had trouble getting it loaded onto my computer, which is a PC with Windows Vista. It took hours for my friend who does IT to figure out how to uninstall components from AVG and a Norton version that I never subscribed to, but had come with my computer when I bought it. Perhaps Windows Vista was more the problem than McAfee, but it was still very difficult to get the product successfully installed on my computer.

McAfee VirusScan Plus 2009 1-User is a very solid antivirus software package that also scans your computer for any security threats out there. Although some people hate this software, it works well for me and I am impressed by it. The installation was quite easy and I had no difficulties with the software after I installed it. Moreover, the updates from the Internet from Mondays through Fridays make me believe that McAfee is on top of things with this antivirus/security threat program.

Yes, you get updates between Mondays and Fridays; but there's so much more. I like the disc defragmenter feature although I suppose that this overlaps somewhat with the Windows disc defrag program. However, the two defrag programs don't seem to work against each other. There are ways to clean up fragments of files and old unnecessary files on your hard drive by deleting them ("Quickclean") and the "shredder" feature also helps a lot with this. Naturally, you can also use McAfee to "quarantine" or simply delete files that may be harmful to your computer. I especially like the option McAfee gives you of using a lockdown firewall that protects your computer from any threatening program (or anyone, for that matter) creeping in from the Internet while you are working. Great!

In addition, the "McAfee SiteAdvisor" is another feature I have never seen before--and I like it, too. It primarily indicates if the website is absolutely safe with regards to downloads off that site. This can be very important with regard to spyware and other rogue programs. There is another reviewer on this page who writes better than I can about this feature; and he correctly adds that after a Google search the website links that you find as hits come with an icon to the right of them indicating McAfee's opinion of the safety of these websites regarding downloads and more.

McAfee antivirus software also comes with online help; but I cannot comment on this feature because I have yet to use it.

My only wish is that we could be able to get software updates on weekends. In addition, you may want to find out more about the compatibility between this software and Microsoft's Internet Explorer 8 before you buy this package.

Overall, I highly recommend this antivirus software. I am disappointed that some other people don't like it; but I guess any software package can have copies of it that are defective. McAfee should, in my opinion, refund their money or fix their problems fast. For me, however, I am quite satisfied; and this works very well with Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7.

I rate this software a strong BUY!