VirusScan Professional 8.0

by McAfee

Product Features

• Protect your PC from viruses, worms, and trojans
• Automatically checks for virus updates and software updates
• Quickly cleanup your PC with a 'one click' method
• Adds extra security for data and files
• Detects Spyware, Adware, and Web Dialers

Product Details

Product Manual [765kb PDF]

• Shipping Weight: 5.6 ounces
• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B0000CE252
• Date first available at Amazon.com: September 2, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 2.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #16,315 in Software (See Top 100 in Software)
• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars How long do we have to wait for version 9.0?????, November 26, 2003

By 

Alan Attebery (Arlington, TX USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: VirusScan Professional 8.0 (CD-ROM)

Back in the beginning when McAfee VirusScan was a stand alone product, it was one of the best in the business. But then McAfee decided to follow other computer programs into the bundling game, and things went downhill from there. McAfee never could figure out how to bundle all of their programs into one, easy-to-use package. The worst came when their last multi-program bundling started attacking each other. The computer repair program kept trying to fix a properly working VirusScan program, causing the VirusScan to quit working. VirusScan kept trying to indicate that there was a virus in the cleaning program, but if you deleted that "virus" the cleaning program wouldn't work. And let's not get into what the cleaning program kept trying to do (first time in my life I saw a program try to clean itself off the computer).

McAfee, thankfully, got out of the bundling game last year with the release of VirusScan 7.0. Out of the box, this Virus program was the best in the business. Easy to set-up. Easy to use. Easy to update. Unforutnately, McAfee started tinkering with the program through the update features, causing many problems for their users. It kind of defeats the purpose of having a virus removal program when the program refuses to try and detect viruses.

And so I was looking forward to McAfee's VirusScan 8.0 release. I guess I'll just have to look forward to the 9.0 release.

As seems to always be the case with McAfee, they have improved some items and horribly tinkered with others.

First the good news: Installation and set-up was even easier than the previous version. In less than 10 minutes, the program was installed and all the settings in place. The layout is much more simplistic and many of the options in the previous version have been combined into the remaining options. This means there are fewer levels of links in the program to sift through to get to what you need.

In addition, I like the new "virus map" feature. This map allows you to track viruses around the world through several criteria: as a whole, by a current top 10 virus, by computers, or by files. You can also select an option that would allow your computer to anonymously send virus information to the map system.

VirusScan 8.0 Professional also comes with QuickClean Lite, which lets you clean off some accumulating junk on your computer, as well as McAfee Shredder, a great tool for completely erasing files off of your computer.

So now the bad news. To start off with, I'm not that impressed with the new McAfee SecurityCenter that is automtically installed. In effect, this is nothing more than one giant McAfee advertising tool for their Personal Firewall Plus, Privacy Service, and SpamKiller programs. Nevermind if you happen to have non-McAfee versions of these programs. Security Center is not able to recognize them. Unlike the forced update of this program they did with version 7.0, at least this Security Center won't lock your computer up.

The other massive problem with this version is the super increased time it takes to update the program. In past versions, the update feature ran off of your computer. It was quick, easy, and rarely gave you problems (except for those caused by McAfee themselves). The same cannot be said for this new version.

When you click on the update link, and McAfee sees that there is an update, you are then taken to McAfee's Website to complete the download. This requires you to create a username and password on McAfee's site in order to access it. Unfortunately, there is no option within VirusScan that allows you to program in this username and password, meaning that you will have to manually enter it in each time.

In addition, a simple DAT file update now takes at least five times as long to complete. Of course, this is assuming that your update program doesn't lock up on you before you can get there.

Each time an update has been available, I have had to make at least 3 attempts before I have been able to successfully start downloading the update. Each and every time, the first attempt results in my update program locking up. The second attempt results in the McAfee Website to take me to a page that has nothing to do with updating my VirusScan. The third attempt usually works correctly. Add on to this the previously mentioned time requirement to download a simple DAT file, and you can guess just how close I get to throwing my entire computer out of my third floor apartment.

If you can look past the blatant advertising and the problematic update feature, VirusScan 8.0 Professional is actually a good program. But I wouldn't blame you if you decided to either stick with version 7.0 or go with a competitor product instead. Hopefully the negative response McAfee is sure to get with this version will get them to clean up their act.

14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars McAfee going backwards, November 17, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: VirusScan Professional 8.0 (CD-ROM)

I uninstalled it an hour after I installed it. I upgraded from 7 professional and it seems like 8 has less features.
- You can't disable the splash screen like you can in 7
- You can't get rid of Security Manager (basically just their marketing software) like you can in 7
- You can't define directories to exclude like you can in 7
I wish I could give it 0 stars.

12 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Horrible company - avoid McAfee products like the plague, February 19, 2004

By A Customer

This review is from: VirusScan Professional 8.0 (CD-ROM)

Pros:

-It can detect most viruses and updates are available almost every day

- It can be obtained free after mail-in rebates.

Cons:

- It won't always be able to delete/disinfect virus files that it detects

- Starting around a month before your update subscription ends, McAfee "Buy New Subscription" pop-ups appear, you click on the x to close and they disappear...... for 60 seconds. Then they reappear, you click on the x ..... a minute later it comes back. There are only two ways to stop these popups - go online with your credit card number to McAfee.com to resubscribe to their update service or uninstall the McAfee program. Customer service and tech support both refused to tell me how to disable these continuously reappearing and incredibly annoying pop-ups.

- Tech support is virtually non-existant, unless you call in to their $2.95/minute or $39.99/issue support lines. E-mails get canned, non-responsive answers. The FAQ section of their website has no responses to real questions and the "24/7" tech support chat system is always busy or non-functional - its unavailable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

- Having registered a previous version of a McAfee product may prevent you from getting updates on subsequent versions that the user legitimately acquires. I bought both Viruscan Professional 8.0 and Personal Firewall Plus, after getting VS Home 7.0 (both were free after rebates - the only reason I purchased them) and when the auto update tries to give me the current update of my new programs when I go online, it tells me "You are not authorized to receive this service." An e-mail to customer support got me back a confirmation that I am properly registered for the two new programs and I should have no problems. I guess continuing to receive the "You are not authorized to receive this service" response when I try to update the virus database isn't a problem for McAfee. However, it is a damn big problem for me.

-Who knows what sort of spy-ware McAfee installs on your computer with its standard installation? A quick check with Windows Explorer reveals that their uninstallation procedure does not uninstall 100% of the components of the McAfee software you have installed, that is for sure.

Avoid this horribly run company and its products. Even though it's not costing me any more than tax and postage after the rebates to re-subscribe, I think that's still the opposite of a bargain and I regret my decision to stay with McAfee. In retrospect, I should have gone with either Norton or one of the several freeware antivirus programs.