Entered CNET Catalog: 09/09/2003
SKU: VSMCF50E001RA
Manufacturer: McAfee
Manufacturer description
Are you vulnerable to identity theft? Online hackers know more than 2,500 ways to break into naked, unprotected PC systems. In seconds, they steal private files, credit card statements, tax records, passwords even Social Security Numbers. A perfect complement to anti-virus protection, McAfee Personal Firewall Plus places a protective barrier between Internet criminals and the personal information on your PC. Ideal for dial-up or broadband (DSL, cable) Internet connections, Personal Firewall Plus not only blocks online thieves but lets you trace the source of hacker attacks, avoid future threats and alert the proper authorities (including ISPs or law enforcement). And it's from McAfee Security, the most trusted name in online security.CNET editors' review
- Editors' Choice: No
- Reviewed on: 11/20/2003
 A setup assistant walks you through the initial configuration of the firewall. |
MPFP 6.0's interface looks very Web-like, with links that take you to the summary screen, a list of applications you allow to access the Internet, and the firewall's settings. The look also integrates McAfee's VirusScan antivirus and SpamKiller spam-filtering service, tucking into one home page-style My Security Center screen.
While we like the colorful, easy-to-navigate interface, we don't like the way it drops another window onto our desktop. Click any of the MPFP 5.0 links within My Security Center, for example, and a separate window appears. Norton Personal Firewall 2004's all-in-one design kept our screen free from unnecessary clutter; McAfee should steal a page from Symantec's playbook. Out of the box, McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 5.0 comes enabled at the medium security level, providing basic protection. When you launch desktop applications that want Web access, MPFP 5.0 either lets common apps through or asks if you want to grant the app connection rights. In general, MPFP 5.0 doesn't bother you with many alerts; you can set it to warn you more often.
 Personal Firewall Plus pops up an alert to let you choose whether to grant or block access to the Internet. |
Like other firewalls, MPFP 5.0 lets you track down the source of an attack using a graphical, map-style display. You can also choose to send a report to Hacker.org, a clearinghouse of sorts that McAfee runs to collect data. And MPFP 5.0 includes a handy traffic monitor, a comprehensive log of all firewall-related events, and a screen that shows your desktop's current access privileges. You can also block any IP address with a single click.
But you can't finesse an application's access to the Internet within MPFP 5.0. You can choose only to allow full access, block the software completely, or allow outbound-only access. Nor can you tell the firewall how long to block an IP address, an option that NPF 2004 gives. But buried at the bottom of the screen is a useful lockdown button for when you want to shut off all access to the Internet, something prominent in ZoneAlarm. And, unlike NPF 2004, MPFP 5.0 doesn't include ad and pop-up blockers--a reasonable omission, considering that MPFP 5.0 also costs much less. We ran McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 5.0 against Steve Gibson's ShieldsUp port tester. In stealth mode, our PC was invisible to the world, which is good. MPFP 5.0 compared favorably to NPF 2004 and ZoneAlarm Pro 4.5.
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More information about how we test firewalls can be found at CNET Labs. Unfortunately, McAfee's technical support significantly lowers our opinion of this otherwise solid personal firewall. McAfee's online help is easy to use; its wizard-style screens walk you through the process of identifying the product and a category of problems, but it doesn't offer a deep knowledge base for searching, nor does McAfee provide e-mail support.
 McAfee's live chat support is available 24/7, but when we used it, the technician put us on hold several times for nearly an hour. |
McAfee does offer both free 24/7 live chat and message forums staffed by volunteers. We tried out the former, waited 20 minutes, then had to endure a tedious exchange in which the rep asked us to detail what we were seeing on our MPFP 5.0 options screens. Don't they have this in front of them? If not, they should.
McAfee also provides a pair of paid phone options. You can either pay $2.95 per minute or $39 per incident to talk to the help desk. Phone support is available from 5 a.m. to 11 p.m. PT, seven days a week, which beats Symantec's lame weekday-only support.
User opinions
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User Rating: 
6/10
Need to fix the network share problem
Pros: Easy to setup and use. Clean and usable GUI.
Cons: McAfee support. I have been working with McAfee support now for over a month for a solution to viewing network shares on my network when using their software. The first tech I talked to actually told me to uninstall the software as a solution... I have
User Rating: 
3/10
Just doesn't do what it should do
Pros: Is a cheap, simple to use and install product.
Cons: Doesn't work properly on a small lan. You can't access other computer disk shares. Support to fix the problem has been poor. The firewall also is quite basic and doesn't provide any flexibility with respect to configuration rules.
User Rating: 
7/10
Good personal firewall, lacks some features.
Pros: Relatively easy setup, very effective firewall after testing via www.grc.com port scanner tests, clear and concise controls, easy interface.
Cons: Does not have an invisible mode. This is a very big problem, in my opinion. I had purchased it for my parents' computer. They are not computer literate so it is dangerous if the firewall asks "Would you like this program to have access to the internet?
User Rating: 
5/10
Doesn't work w/ multiple network settings
Pros: It works great when I use my lap top out of the office at WiFi sites.
Cons: Unfortunately, from my home office network (behind a router) it won't let me access the internet. I had to pay $20 to McAfee's outsourced tech support to learn "McAfee doesn't play well with other programs." The tech supt guy recommended Zone Alarm, so I'
User Rating: 
9/10
Fits the bill. This is a really easy to use program
Pros: Really like the interface. So simple. They make this for people like me who have no idea what I am doing. The Trace feature is neat.
Cons: support takes a long time.
User Rating: 9/10
Support forums are great!
Pros: Easy to use interface. Good configuration wizard. Good free forum support.
Cons:
User Rating: 3/10
Stay away, Stay far away!
Pros: Installs easier then any of the Norton Firewall or NIS 2004 products.
Cons: Very confusing Home Page and Help file. When the firewall popup shows up, it tells you if you want to find out more about the firewall hit. When you click yes, it directs you to a McAfee website that shows you only advertisements for all its other product
