McAfee Total Protection (discontinued)

1. CNET editors' review
2. Users' opinions
3. Similar products
4. Blogs

CNET editors' review

• Editors' Choice: No
• Reviewed on: 02/27/2007

Code-named Falcon, McAfee Total Protection is the penultimate security product from this longtime security vendor, offering a complete suite of security and system-maintenance tools, including various wireless security tools absent from Symantec Norton 360. Certainly McAfee Total Protection provides the most security and performance features, however it is hobbled by some design and program flaws. It feels like a grab bag of security and performance tools without any clear focus, which will likely frustrate the average user. While it bests Windows Live OneCare, McAfee Total Protection could learn a few things from Norton 360.

Setup and Interface
We downloaded and installed McAfee Total Protection without a problem, although we thought the process was needlessly confusing. From the McAfee.com site, we entered our ID and password, then downloaded the Download Manager onto our desktop. Despite choosing McAfee Total Protection from the McAfee.com site, we were again presented with a list of options and ended up downloading the McAfee VirusScan Plus application instead of the McAfee Total Protection application. If you are not paying attention, you might download the wrong application. Once we downloaded the correct application, however, the installation process was smooth.

McAfee Total Protection requires a mere 175MB, almost half of what Norton 360 requires, and nearly one quarter the size of Windows Live OneCare. Like the others, McAfee Total Protection requires 256MB of RAM. Only McAfee Total Protection works on Windows 2000 through Windows Vista, while both Norton 360 and Windows Live OneCare work on only Windows XP and Windows Vista. Like the other super security suites, the price for McAfee Total Protection includes installation on up to three different PCs (for example, two desktops and a laptop).

McAfee Total Protection lacks sophistication in its interface, spreading tools across two different menus.

The interface for McAfee Total Protection is shared among all the 2007 product offerings. It features a gray border with a left navigation for various tools, and a right main window to display the current security status of your PC. We take issue with the left navigation panel, which displays by default what McAfee calls the "basic" options with a button to display the more-advanced settings. There are duplicated between the two menus, and it gets easy to confuse them.

Should you ever decide to remove McAfee Total Protection, you'll need to use the Microsoft Windows Add/Remove Programs; there was no uninstall icon provided in the All Programs listing. However, you will need to check which of the eight applications you want to remove. Fortunately, this did the trick. After uninstalling the application and rebooting, we were impressed to find a relatively clean uninstall, with only one empty McAfee folder in the Program Files directory, which we manually deleted, and no traces remaining within our test PC system registry.

Features
McAfee Total Protection represents all the consumer security and performance tools available for Windows XP and Windows Vista users. But rather than redesign the interface to make access user friendly and intuitive, as Norton 360 did, McAfee simply added more options to its already crowded left navigation panel. Thus it's possible to overlook some useful features among the less-useful eye candy offered along the way, such as the Virus Map feature.

The Maintain Computer feature is another good idea that could stand to have more McAfee-specific tools in the future. McAfee QuickClean clears cookies and junk from your Internet browsers and removes deleted applications from the system registry. It is no longer available as a standalone application and finds a new home here. However, the other two items on the computer maintenance page are Windows utilities that are already available within Windows XP, Disk Defragmenter and Task Scheduler, both of which you can run for free from the Start menu in Windows. On a separate page, under Advanced, is the McAfee Shredder, a valuable security feature for writing over deleted files with 1s and 0s to ensure that no one can read what you've deleted. Here, too, there are free options are available, including Eraser, but it's nice to see the feature included within the suite. In the future, we'd like to see the Maintain Computer feature dispense with the free Windows applicationss and combine the McAfee-specific QuickClean and Shredder onto one page.

The traffic monitor, a visual interpretation of your firewall activity, is valuable, as are the virus information library and HackerWatch, McAfee's site that logs recent Internet attacks. However, some of the other features are of questionable security value. The Virus Map is superfluous. It's a real-time map showing where virus outbreaks are occurring, according to McAfee. And McAfee Visual Tracer is a Traceroute-like application with a map of the world so that you can see who it is that's attacking you (although the end point isn't necessarily the origin of the attack, just the last hop that's traceable through McAfee's servers).

Operating behind the scenes are some useful new tools: McAfee SystemGuards and McAfee X-ray for Windows. McAfee SystemGuards are behavioral monitors that check for unusual system activity and enlist the appropriate protection when necessary. McAfee X-ray for Windows detects and removes rootkits, malicious code that hides deep within the Windows system kernel. McAfee's current approach to both the behavioral analysis and rootkit prevention is conventional, and perhaps future releases of McAfee Total Protection will include more advanced enterprise technology from Citadel, a recent McAfee acquisition.

McAfee's Parental Controls feature includes new methods of discerning and blocking offensive images from e-mails. Despite the name, even households without children may have use for this feature. Norton makes its parental controls optional, via download, but ZoneAlarm includes them within its suite.

Unlike Windows Live OneCare and Norton 360, McAfee Total Protection includes its McAfee Wireless Protection application. On a public network, there's little use for the setup features as Windows contains its own network manager that identifies, associates, and disassociates you from a public hot spot. On a home network, however, McAfee Wireless Protection is much more useful. Before you purchase the product, check this wireless router/AP compatibility list to see whether your wireless router is supported by McAfee. If it is, you'll be able to make almost all your security configuration changes through McAfee. On a test system, we were able to connect to a Linksys WRT54GS router with no problem.

If you haven't already changed your router's SSID, which is how the router identifies itself, or enabled WEP or WPA encryption to make it harder for attackers to eavesdrop on your wireless sessions, McAfee Wireless Protection can help with that. One cool feature within McAfee Wireless Protection rotates your WEP key every few hours for added security, with the option to suspend this feature while you're playing online games or using other services that might be disrupted. For everything else, however, vendor-supplied software and even the Windows XP Wireless Network connection console already provide the basic security tools needed; McAfee just puts them all in one place. Unlike Windows Live OneCare and Norton 360, McAfee Total Protection supports Internet Explorer and Firefox. None of the three suites support Opera.

Overall, there is very little missing from McAfee Total Protection.

Performance
McAfee VirusScan improves its scores on our CNET Labs' performance tests over those of last year in all cases, except in our boot-time test. On our iTunes test, VirusScan Plus gained ground compared with last year, taking 196 seconds as opposed to 243 seconds last year. On our Sorensen Squeeze test, VirusScan Plus also improved, taking 329 seconds compared to 337 seconds last year. McAfee showed the most improvement with individual file scans, taking only 116 seconds this year as opposed to 368 seconds last year. But in terms of boot speed, McAfee lost the most ground, taking 88 seconds--the most of any antivirus product we tested; it took 62 seconds last year. To find out how we test, see CNET Labs' How we test antivirus software page.

To determine how well a product will protect your PC, we refer to test results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, McAfee VirusScan 2006 earned an Advanced (second-highest) rating, catching 92 percent of all malware tested, and from Checkvir.com, McAfee VirusScan 2006 was one of eight products to earn its Standard (highest) rating.

Check back to read about CNET Labs' tests of the McAfee firewall and antispyware protection in the coming weeks.

Support
Like Symantec, McAfee put its resources into improving its technical support. McAfee Total Protection Suite 2007 doesn't offer any downloadable manuals nor a tutorial. What McAfee does provide is a contextual knowledge base that asks you a series of questions. Should the knowledge base fail to answer your question, you're taken to another window where a remote scan will attempt to diagnose what is wrong. If none of these solutions work, you're given more options, including online chat, user forums, e-mail, and finally live technical support at $45.95 per incident (one of the highest technical support fees we've seen).

McAfee Total Protection feels like a grab bag of security and system performance tools. By refocusing its product line on fewer individual consumer products, McAfee is on the right path, but McAfee Total Protection could be leaner, should run with fewer processes across all computers, and McAfee needs to simplify its interface even more next year, dispensing with the two tables of content and submerging the eye candy in favor of the tools that are most useful. In our opinion, Norton 360 strikes the right balance between overall ease of use and the right tools for today's threats.

User opinions

User Rating: 10/10

FANTASTIC!!!!by krolb02 - April 15, 2009

Pros: picks up virus as you browse, and quick to pick them up

Cons: lengthy installation and pricey

Review: ive found mcafee to be fantastic ive never had a problem with it and never had a virus since having it (touch wood). The installation was a bit long but well worth it. It doesnt slow down your system as norton does and detects virus's quickly.

User Rating: 9/10

Nice tool. Much better than Norton 360, V 3.by s_hazarika - March 29, 2009

Pros: Nearly perfect tool. Probably the best among the latest. Most suitable for intermediate users, with some basic knowledge of computing. This one will not let you down, no annoying features.......

Cons: Looks can be considered as the only downside. This is guy also made non-functional by Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. But, I think we can do without that stupid browser.

Review: Looks can be considered as the only downside. This is guy also made non-functional by Internet Explorer 8 Beta 2. But, I think we can do without that stupid browser.

I was previously using Norton 360 which conflicted with my Dragon Necessarily Speaking and Rocket Dock. Played with my Start-Up applications and did the many undesirable activities that Norton usually do.


I am much happy after switching to McAfee. The one is lightweight, have smart controls, the firewall is brilliant, and don't seem to have conflicts with most of the applications except Internet Explorer eight. The computer maintenance tools like temporary flies cleaner, registry cleaner and the defragmenter are much more easily accessible than Norton or BitDefender.

Scans are however slower than Norton but it detected many Trojans, viruses and unwanted applications which my Norton 360 could not clean.

Overall, this one is a nice to have application in your PC. Do not slowdown in your computer and have a very responsive interface.

User Rating: 2/10

Awful, awful, awful !!!!!!!!!!!!by jordano2222 - February 21, 2009

Pros: shredding deleted files

Cons: computer freezes, slow startup, something is always running in background.

Review: This product is AS BAD or WORSE than having a virus in your PC. If you want a start-up after reboot time of at least 5 minutes, computer freeze ups ( and it wont let you "end program", you have to turn your hardrive off), slow running time, slow, slow, slow.....I have tried tweaking it, unistalling the program, re-installing, then used the default options.....nothing works....My computer freezes up every 5 minutes, but the full system scan tells me there is 0 items detected, which means 0 spyware and 0 viruses. If you want to spend ENDLESS hours trying to get this terrible product to work, then buy it. I wouldn`t reccomend it to my worst enemy. It`s a total NIGHTMARE. I`ll NEVER buy a McAfee product again, ever.

User Rating: 10/10

Wonderful programby hitmafia - January 7, 2009

Pros: I was disappointed about the low ratings this program is getting, because it deserves much more.

Great program, easy to use program when you actually take the time to search through different options.

Cons: Slows down computer, A LITTLE.

It depends on what kind of equipment is running in your computer, you should read program requirements first.

Review: This is total computer protection, I haven't gotten a single virus that HASN'T gotten blocked and deleted by McAfee immediately, in fact, the viruses have never even touched my computer, they had to deal with McAfee first. :-)

I have used McAfee for over 2 years, and will definately be buying another subscription for this year, 2009.

This is a great program, and actually the best I've ever used.

(I came from using AVG free; McAfee is a gigantic upgrade)

User Rating: 10/10

Personally, I find nothing wrong with this product.by truelilaznkid - December 17, 2008

Pros: It gives the user everything a secure computer would need.

Cons: Interface is not for noobies.

Review: I've been using Total Protection for about 3 years now. So far, this product has kept me fine. There was an incident with the Vundo virus, but that was my fault for allowing to pass through. I actually didn't pay for this product. I signed up and started beta testing this thing for about 2 years straight. Third year, was a free 1 year subscription for beta testing. First of all... I was beta testing... meaning Total Protection was in Beta Phase... I don't see why everyone here is having problems with the final phase when beta is working perfectly. I'll admit it was a memory hog on a slow computer, but that was again... my fault for having a 256 MB memory card. The interface of the entire program is a little crazy, but you have to play around with it to get a hang of it. It's simple... If a 17 year old like me can understand it so easially, why can't the rest of the negative feedbacks...?

User Rating: 2/10

Protection and customer service sucks!by Jbeatz615 - November 23, 2008

Pros: Protects my computer for the most part

Cons: Disables a lot of applications on my computer, and the customer service sucks I might add.

Review: Well ever since a year ago, when I signed up for my own antivirus account with McAfee, they have mixed my account up with my dad's. We of course have the same last name. So anytime he was up for renewal, I would get charged, and when I was up for renewal, they would charge me again! I contacted them over 4 times, and never once was this issue resolved. I'm leaving McAfee and going with Norton. Not to mention, McAfee disables all the applications I need everyday.

User Rating: 5/10

Jack of all trades master of noneby measle - November 3, 2008

Pros: comprehensive suite of tools

Cons: Unfortunately none of them appear to work all that well.

Review: I'm going to try and make this as level-headed a review as I can. No, "Oh Noooeezzzz this is the WURST software evers!@!@!!" Frankly, it's not all that bad. I used it in an environment with 180 computers spread out over the west coast. In this type of environment the web-app portion of it is quite welcome. Installing and updating workstations worked very well. The central management console that shows the status of each workstation is a welcome tool for an admin with a distributed network.

BUT!

The software doesn't work all that well. Particularly the antivirus portion. We started getting workstations get hit with all kinds of nasty malware and viruses. McAfee would not remove these viruses once they were discovered, because it couldn't see them. Free AVG would flag them, and in some cases remove them. However, some of the infections were bad enough to warrant a reinstall. This appeared to get worse over time instead of better. So much so that when it came time to renew, the need to shop around became obvious. After two years using this product, it more or less chased us off. To be fair, it did catch a great deal of infestations....just not nearly enough. We've moved to another product now, and the amount of infections the new software is finding that McAfee did not, is a bit disheartening. So far we're running into this occurence about 25 percent of the time.

In conclusion, it's a great idea, especially for businesses that are spread out, but it's not robust enough for the business environment, at least in our experience. Any productivity gains we picked up in deployment and management were lost removing viruses manually, or with some other product. Also, the security as service nature nets you a tool that isn't as configurable as a full blown application. This is what made it more difficult getting things like the firewall dialed in.

User Rating: 10/10

it is cool and better security option i ever have.by parveen1111 - September 13, 2008

Pros: beeeeeeeeeest

Cons: i can say about this.

Review:

User Rating: 10/10

it's excellentby JaimeCayo - March 15, 2008

Pros: only $19.99

Cons: none that I can think of

Review: 3rd year with it, just renew it for $19.99, bouth it at best buy.
I used to have norton, but McAfee is better, you tell it what to do unlike Norton, which "you work for" instead of "working for you"
The network protection feature works excellent, you dont have to configure the computers at home

User Rating: 8/10

VERY Good Securityby xboarder2000 - February 12, 2008

Pros: All The System Tools Involved

Cons: Confusing to Navigate Through Menu's

Review: This is a very good system security suite. I think it is fairly priced, as far as your local Wal-Mart goes, but don't even think about buying it online from McAfee. The suite offers live protection and boot-time protection for full coverage. It doesn't seem to hog up alot of resources, but there are a few times it can act up. I would recommend this product to people who know their way around computers, but for the average user, it WILL be confusing to figure out how to find your way around all of the tools and settings. Having two menu's doesn't help. I just bought the 2008 version yesterday because my subscription ran out- yes, it is cheaper to buy the retail version from Wal-Mart [most retail stores price match] than to "renew" the subscription! I am installing as soon as I am done with this review.

User Rating: 3/10

design (NOT) - Drop your guard in order to renew?by westchaser - February 4, 2008

Pros: Robust set of controls and features

Cons: It often forgets that it's registered, You have to uninstall just to renew

Review: This the DUMBEST thing I've ever been instructed to do by a so-called authority on protecting computer systems.

I own McAfee Total Protection and it was time to renew. So I logged in, purchased the renewal via an online sales rep, and waited for the confirmation email to arrive.

Just to clarify, Total Protection provides internet security, wireless security, virus protection, and (most importantly) intrusion prevention.

Once it arrived, the instructions explicitily stated that I needed to FULLY REMOVE the current installation ... then proceed to their website, download the latest version and install it.

Let me also point out that they REQUIRE the customer to use their DMsetup.exe Download Manager. A quick search on Google and you will see that many people (including me) experience trouble or denial in this agenda. If you were foolish enough to have already uninstalled the prior version, you are now PROLONGING your uninhibited exposure to the wild of the internet.

I contacted their support team - both via online chat as well as email - and their advise remain unchanged: I was to completely uninstall the product, reboot, then (attempt) to download and install the new version.

And ALL this ... just to renew my 1-year old license?? The product is not that old and I would prefer to merely continue receiving regular updates at this time.

This is pathetic and McAfee needs to address it. I am calling them here to be accountable for this nonsense. Let's see what they say, if anything.

I think I may indeed uninstall their product ... and then go with Avast.com's FREE solution for home users.

Updated
As a follow-up to my review under "Westchaser" username, I returned to my post on McAfee's Support Forum to find that forum moderator "BastiaanR" has DELETED my post regarding their product's short-sighted design.

That action speaks volumes in support of my opinion that McAfee clearly can not compete in the world of PROFESSIONAL solutions.

What a shameful action but appropriate for such a coward.

User Rating: 1/10

Beyond Junk!by iamconan - December 31, 2007

Pros: Are you Joking?

Cons: too many to list in this small box

Review: This was was my second try at a McAfee product, since the nightmare red box of theirs (years ago). It did download much better than I remembered from the red box version. The nightmare began when during the download process, it wanted to update the registration process. I clicked the button for a prior user, to enter the info, but after clicking it, all I got was a total white box, with no info on it. I waited, figuring their server was slow, but after 20 min, I thought this was absurd. I could not clear the box from the screen, so I did a cntl-alt-del, to remove it. The box from doing this said the McAfee registration was not working properly.

I then start over with this registration process and type in my info this time as a new user, click the button, and your right... another clear white box with no info and nothing returning. Again, I do the cntl-alt-del to cancel out McAfee registration process.

I then proceed without doing it and it downloads fine. Problem is now that everytime I restart or boot up my computer, that stupid registration box pops up again telling me to enter the info, so I can get the updates. And my nightmare starts all over again, if I type anything out and try to send it.

After stating to myself that this product is about as idiotic as the Norton products, I try to get on with their tech support chat program. The process to get to the chat is a pain in the rear.

First I downloaded the McAfee Virtual Technician, per their website demand, it checks the software of McAfee and finds 3 items that needed updates (duh) Virus Scan, Spam Killer and the Cleaner. The virus scan said updated after I hit the fix button, but the other two (spam and cleaner) stated needed further updates, but when I hit the fix button, it replied {no updates needed}--what type of stupid answer or fix is that?

I then continue to the tech support chat box and it tells me I have to download the chat box, which I do. To make this idiotic, I had to do this each and every time I tried to chat....the download does not stay with the computer. Well, at the start of the chat, there was a info box that stated the chat was available 24/7 and had a wait time of 2 minutes. I tried this chat program 5 times over 2 days, each time with it saying 2 mins holding time. I waited approx 45- 1hr and 15 min each time, with no reply besides that idiotic little chat box (2" x 2") telling me thanks for waiting and the tech will be with me shortly. I never got a response with the chat system. I tried both the tech chat (5 times) and the Customer Service chat (2 times), both negative contact with anyone.

That 2 minute wait time that is posted prior to going to the chat portion, must be a typo... must be 200 min, 2000 min or 200,000 min or what.?????

The McAfee junk from the red box days has continued to the Black Box days....Its amazing that these big companies *McAfee/Norton/Trend Micro, etc. can not produce anything worthwhile, beside junk.

Updated
P.S.---This junk has been removed and is in the round file.

User Rating: 1/10

Mcafee Total Protection, Not at all...by gatewaytsr - December 31, 2007

Pros: I have yet to think of any...

Cons: Far too many to list

Review: After being a McAfee user for the last 5 years, and having no issues, the hell began shortly after the McAfee fiasco in Aug 2007. See https://us.mcafee.com/root/campaign.asp?cid=35129
After installing and uninstalling hundreds of machines for my work thru Dell On Call and Gateway Technical Support, I started to wonder about the actual brains of the people putting out Mcafee products. So as ussual I purchased the 2007 Total Protection, like I always do each year. The rebate process has been a nightmare to say the least, since I like to buy an actual Cd copy, rather then download it, since I do have 3 PC's at home...after about 10 emails, with the McAfee rebate department, and Symantec rebates, (I think they joined forces, I gave up...foreign based call centers, go figure) So now without a rebate, and after having to use their removal tool for McAfee about 7 times since installing the item and constantly getting errors whenever I update their software, and warnings, and alerts, Id rather take the pain and suffering of just not using any of their bells and whistles anymore, like the network agents or the quick clean, all of which you can find online. In the last few years, their have been more and more issues with this software manufacturer, then anyone should have to deal with, and its turned on of several thousand customers away from ever buying another McAfee product again. I think ill use the free ones out their, at least then I know, it wont work properly. From a former McAfee User.

User Rating: 2/10

Not as good as competitor productby CALLASSA - September 30, 2007

Pros: Comes with a good deal of advertising hype

Cons: Fails to live up to advertising hype

Review: Well, we were keen to try this as we'd already tested one McAfee anti-virus product. We put it through its paces on a computer that was purposely and severely wracked with viruses and spyware (723 items in all). Then we ran PC Doctor Anti-Virus and Spyware and detected another five. So all we can say is the McAfee failed to hit these. So we chose the PC Doctor products. This was all we could do.
It comes in a nice box.

User Rating: 2/10

Advice from an IT Proby SystemHLP - September 27, 2007

Pros: NONE that I can think of

Cons: Read on for what you SHOULD do

Review: Folks, the bottom line is this. Norton is the WORST internet security around and McAfee is a close second, for many reasons both obvious and some not so. I'm going to tell you all two things.

1st: each time I fix a system with the above AV packages on it I ALWAYS have to pull off viruses.

2nd: If you want GOOD AV protection here are the names: NOD32, AVG, AVAST, Antivir. The first is paid but is the BEST the latter three are freeware and while not as good as NOD32, each blow Norton and McAfee off the map with performance. That's it! Happy computing

User Rating: 9/10

there are too many dumb ppl with computersby sutherland.jay - September 23, 2007

Pros: great protection, doesnt tie up system resorces

Cons: can be a little annoying for the first week of install

Review: there are too many dumb ppl with computers. Why are you all complaining... most of you have pirates copy's of XP... who you all make me money. McAfee doesn't unfortunately have idiot protection. it asks you questions... and if you dont answer correctly... you only screw your self. when spyware or a virus is trying to get in... and you allow it... then thats your issue. this program allows you the user to have control, not dictate what your you do with your computer.

User Rating: 2/10

Terrible !by SDD1632 - September 18, 2007

Pros: Nothing that I can think of

Cons: Firewall Disabled Frequently

Review: I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who is having trouble with this software. My firewall is often disabled, putting me at additional risk.

I would not recommend this product.

User Rating: 3/10

Worst Virus Everby icollect - August 28, 2007

Pros: Can Be Uninstalled

Cons: Poor Support, Resource Intensive, Big Brother

Review: I'm not one to think that everyone is out to get me, but maybe this time it's justified. McAfee with a whopping 18% share of the Virus protection Software industry has decided, it needs to be the absolute authority on what's safe on the web. I'm sure at this point you?re thinking to yourself, that what's this guy crying about? I think the whole world should be worried after Mcafee released its Search Engine Safety Report. This in an apparent attempt to intimidate the Search Engines into accepting their results.http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9023220&intsrc=news_ts_head I always kind of set my level of fear gage based on history. I don't believe anyone will debate the fact, that history repeats itself. The company who is trying to force the search engines to accept it's site advisor results as authoritive, has a shady past. That's right folks, They're a bunch of crooks.http://lawprofessors.typepad.com/whitecollarcrime_blog/2006/01/mcafee_settles_.html Remember all that money that folks lost in the tech bubble, well Mcafee was leading the pack in misleading, lying and stealing from it's share holders. I can hear you all out there now, saying that was so long ago. Well it seems that ever since then Mcafee has been stealing from the Stock Holders.http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2028241,00.asp Sure Heads did roll, but when does it end. If a company wants the search engines to enforce it's rating system on the world, don't you think that first it should quit breaking the law, and even if they don't, get better at it. Now I'm sure we're to the point where you say, isn't it possible for the company to be crooked and not abuse it's power as the internet. Well I decided to check out how it works. It took me Two Minutes to become a site reviewer. Next I wanted to find out what a site reviewer does? So I went straight to the top, to see how the crack Mcafee Reviewer did their jobs. I ended up at reviewer Dean?s page. Not even Mcafee knows who he really is, because you don't have to provide that information when you join. The first thing I noticed was, he had 45 reviews a day. Wow I thought he must really work hard to review that many sites. Then I noticed that all of his reviews were cut and paste. Many were attacking products that compete against Mcafee or offer software at low prices. There was a post about a Trojan at a site, but when I clicked to read the review, Mcafee itself opened 30 windows on my computer and almost crashed it. I know I don't want dean shaping the Web, his agenda is obvious and dubious. To be number one, even if it means posting lies. Now let's talk about the technical aspects of the Mcafee software. I called in last week and it seems that Mcafee had downloaded a patch in their software that made it impossible to connect to the internet. Their solution was to give you an URL, where you could download the fix for their patch. Having worked for CA in the past, this didn't surprise me. Before I worked for them, I beat them out as an independent contractor, because they didn't have people with enough experience to do the job. Let's not stop there. Mcafee is poorly engineered. It chews up even powerful computers. It's killed more computers, than small pox has killed people. Here's an example of poor design. McAfee scans data as it comes into the computer, and every time you open it there after. If it wasn't infected on the way in, when did it become infected? After it destroyed years of my emails, I sent the problem to Microsoft, and they informed me that the vendor Mcafee, was working on the problem. This was probably caused by my large number of emails and that Mcafee scans all those emails each time it opens Outlook. Anytime I see some one trying to take over the world, I get afraid. Especially if that company has repeatedly broke the law. Uses unfair business practices, and last but not least, is technically incompetent. Be afraid, Be very afraid.

Updated
7 Pages of post by various people who call themselves Site Advisors for Mcafee newest product arguing about what is safe and what is not. This is this biggest security FUBAR of all time. The system is run by anonymous volunteers, who post what they believe or what benefits them personally. Thus pumping or destroying a sites reputation. What's to keep all the hackers in the world from joining, and reviewing people onto malware/virus sites.

Just read the following thread, and you'll see what a security threat McAfee really is.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/grisoft.com/postid/?p=464715#post464715

Updated
7 Pages of post by various people who call themselves Site Advisors for Mcafee newest product arguing about what is safe and what is not. This is this biggest security FUBAR of all time. The system is run by anonymous volunteers, who post what they believe or what benefits them personally. Thus pumping or destroying a sites reputation. What's to keep all the hackers in the world from joining, and reviewing people onto malware/virus sites.

Just read the following thread, and you'll see what a security threat McAfee really is.

http://www.siteadvisor.com/sites/grisoft...

User Rating: 2/10

Continues the Mcafee Slogan: Slow and Sloppyby link48010 - August 23, 2007

Pros: All in one (if that is a pro?)

Cons: everything as far as i can tell

Review: Slow updating, Naggy, Difficult to find options, Shareware, difficult to uninstall and install. Mcafee seems to have taken every problem Norton had, used them in there own software, making them 10 times worse while they where at it. Mcafee almost always needs to restart your PC after receiving updates, which means a extra restart almost every day. The scanner engine is slow, updates take a painful amount of time to finish, and the program is constantly nagging you about something, scans, updates, subscriptions, you name it. I never did like Mcafee software, but this is the worst of them all. All this on top of it has NOTHING as far as tools or extras go.

Updated
This is the most unorganized and horribly put together interface I've ever used. It's also kind of naggy if you use the systems monitor which constantly bothers you about any little change to your system, although now I can brag that nothing goes down on my PC without my knowing, not even an Scheduled task O_o. I also have trouble because Mcafee will tell you your protected, but not by what program, only after several hours did I realize Mcafee Firewall was turned off and it was Windows firewall that was protecting my system, which isn't all that comforting. The scanner is *very* slow over Norton's, but Mcafee does have advantages, my boot time was cut by almost 20 seconds over Norton 360 and Mcafee is known for not digging into the system near as bad. Site Advisor is an awesome tool. The UI follows the long time Mcafee theory of "slow and sloppy" but also keeps up with the programs lightness, using considerably less memory than Defender Pro (Kaspersky knock off) and Norton. Never had to use Customer service which I guess is a good thing, and the network manager feature is really sweet and at a glance and with a click I can see any PC's status on any computer on my network, also it's file transfer feature is much easier and secure over simply using windows to transfer the files.

User Rating: 1/10

well, Absolute GARBAGE!!!by pctech5189 - August 10, 2007

Pros: Dont get this garbage

Cons: Dont get this garbage

Review: There really is no opinion on this junk. This is a fact. DONT GET THIS. I installed this junk on my computer and i have 1 gig of ram and amd athlon 64 3000 and by computer wasslow as mhz. This mcafee junkware has over 20 processes and it just ruins your computer. It also ruins your internet connection too. Dont waste your money on this and its also real expensive for such garbage. GEt windows one care im running that now and has very little impact on my system. Also its half the price too. Mcafee is also very hard to remove its basically like a virus. Hope everyone listens to me.

User Rating: 1/10

Don't even THINK of buying this product ! Run !by tammietech - August 9, 2007

Pros: McAfee has your money!

Cons: The product is a nightmare & McAfee has your money!

Review: Popup for password appears every time internet site is accessed, if second page on the site is accessed, & frequently even after the password is entered. McAfee support is horrendous! I've had extensive problems since purchase last yr (06) that have never been resolved. Cannot access Security Ctr to chg settings, or any of the Quick Links to make adjustments. Live Chat Tech Support disconnects from their side quite frequently; must restate problem each time this happens w/a new rep. Representatives were never able to solve my problem; they didn't pay attention to problem discription & would suggest solutions w/the problem as Step 1 or 2. I email Pres of McAfee w/my complaint and have never heard anything! My suggestion would be to leave it on the shelf!

User Rating: 2/10

Product Breaks, Support is Horribleby babacon - July 31, 2007

Pros: I guess it was free from my ISP

Cons: Product Breaks, Support is non existant.

Review: I get this product free from my ISP and I guess its true, you get what you pay for. this product seems to break and require re-installation on a regular basis (They have a problem pushing fixes that break it). And support is non existant. If you have the unfortunate need to call them, you can expect hold times in excess of 1.5 Hours (For "Priority Support I might Add). Consider it closely before you use them - Even if they are free.

Updated
I recently had a problem caused by a faulty update pushed by McAfee. This prompted a call to support. This is so stereo typical support from an Indian Call center. After 2 hours I was connected to "Nick Jones" I worked with "Nick" for 10 minutes to resolve this problem. When he couldn't clear it with a bunch standard approaches he announce that "There servers are down for maintence" and I should try again in a couple of hours and if that doesn't work, call back in to the support number. I didn't by this as this problem is one I've been working for 2 days and besides - It's prime time, you don't do maintenance on Prime time. I asked for an escallation and he refused. I asked for his manager's name and he refused. This left me with a broken application and a bunch of lies. McAfee shouldn't be in business if they can run thier business better than this. Shameful.

User Rating: 1/10

They just want your money, no tech support, adware, fraud company!by jousterde1 - April 1, 2007

Pros: None. Displays popup ads, I thought it was supposed to prevent these...?

Cons: Too many to list, displays adds in the red warning frame. Tech support impotent.

Review: Since about 2 months ago mcafee started to show adds in a similar way it would show the "critical" messages - the red frame popup. Messages like "great news! New update now available" or "Three year subscription for only $39.99". This started to happen on all computers: all 8 in our office. Every time the computer is restarted these messages reappear - nightmare. I have gone thru all setting, all docs - there is no way to disable ads. I have then contacted their tech support via online chat and the guy told me to either call the 900 support# for $2 per min or to email tech support. Not one response since 5 emails and I will not pay them a penny more to fix their virus like software. It takes control over your PC and throws ads in your face in red popup boxes that you cant disable, what an insult.
We are cancelling our subscription and wish everyone did the same to put the fraudsters (mcafee) out of business.
BEWARE!!!

User Rating: 4/10

The product is, unfortunately a disappointment! I expected it to do exactly what it says.by akoko2 - March 29, 2007

Pros: None that I can think of.

Cons: Cannot deal effectively with spyware, adware and a number of other viruses.

Review: McAfee total protection needs to be thoroughly reviewed by the company to ensure that the product is fit for purpose. I discovered CNET Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE personal on the net by accident as I was desperate to get rid of some pestilent pop-ups and tracker cookies. Ad-Aware, a free product removed them all within minutes, something McAfee Total Protection failed to do.

At the moment, Total Protection is simply a very expensive piece of software prop!

User Rating: 1/10

mohab_1967@hotmail.comby mohab1967 - March 13, 2007

Pros: mohab_1967@hotmail.com

Cons: mohab_1967@hotmail.com

Review: McAfee Total Protection ultimat - AIO

User Rating: 3/10

Let a virus slip through and locked me out of my networkby radtech35 - March 6, 2007

Pros: fifty bucks at target

Cons: did not block spyware or viruses/did not work with my network connections

Review: Within 6 hours of purchasing Mcafee, I got bombarded with spyware,adware,malware and virus warnings. They were popping up all over the place and I couldn't even get on the internet to go to technical support because it was somehow not working with my network connections. It eventually, through my help I'm sure, locked me out of the network and I had to call Linksys to resolve it. I uninstalled Mcafee and am going to get a full refund. I bought Norton Internet Security 2007 and did a full system scan where it immediately found a Trojan virus!!!! It got rid of the virus thank goodness and I have had absolutely no problems with this system. I will never purchase another Mcafee product again. It was the worst experience ever with security. I'm convinced that Norton is the way to go. I would have hated for my computer to crash since it is only 4 months old!

User Rating: 7/10

V good virus & firewallby petercard - March 5, 2007

Pros: Virus system works v well

Cons: Privacy service a nuisance

Review:

User Rating: 2/10

Worst product I've gotten from McAfee in a long time.by WolfeBay - March 1, 2007

Pros: Catches viruses, adware, spyware, potentially unwanted programs

Cons: On my PC, has to be re-installed every few days to every week. Unable to tell if the firewall really works.

Review: I've stuck with McAfee products for a while now, every since Norton 2004 Products were released due to my own complaints against Norton products. So far this is the worst McAfee product I've purchased. In the older versions of suite protection, you could easily find the Firewall, and change settings... this one, its harder to find and I can't tell if its truly working like it should, so I've gone with ZoneAlarm's firewall instead. The worst thing I've come across so far is that I have to re-install this product every few days, sometimes every day, or once a week, for it to work, because for some as of yet unknown reason, it fails to verify the subscription, and DEACTIVATES PROTECTION because of it! I'll get a pop-up saying "Your computer is not protected" and you go in to find out why.. and you see verification could not be completed so you hit fix, that doesn't work, so you click a link to verify your subscription and another pop-up comes up saying it could not verify, try again later, or re-install.. which I end up having to re-install the product because I don't want to wait till later to try again while the system is unprotected. So far... McAfee doesn't have a fix for this, and from forums I've read, doesn't seem to admit there's a problem.

Organization... its like the C|NET reviewer had said... tools are scattered. There is no organization there!

User Rating: 1/10

Poor Customer Serviceby blinky499 - February 17, 2007

Pros: Nothing great about this product

Cons: Stay away from this

Review: After repeated calls and e-mails I still have no answer from mcaffee.I purchased Total Protection and can not get it to download.If I want an answer I have to pay for it. THAT IS INSANE !!.I PAID $ 80.00 FOR A PRODUCT THAT DOES NOT WORK AND THEY WANT ME TO PAY THEM MORE MONEY. I am going to stay with NORTON.They have CUSTOMER SERVICE.Mcaffee needs to change the way they do business.

User Rating: 10/10

Does it all for you with no worry and non intrusiveby lowgrass - January 23, 2007

Pros: easy, small footprint, complete protection

Cons: Can have problems on instaltion

Review: Does it all for you with no worry and non intrusive, easy, small footprint, complete protection Can have problems on instaltion

User Rating: 2/10

Uncontrollable securityby menehune - January 1, 2007

Pros: Suite covers a whole array of requirements

Cons: Software is unworkable

Review: I didn't think it was possible to find software that would go out of its way to disable ports on a PC whether it was a install before Total Protection or after it. To give you an example, I installed Total Protection last month after purchasing it free after $100 in rebates... ok thats a deal. After installing the software, my HP All-In-One printer which doubles as a network printer/scanner/fax machine was un reacble from my PC. The printer couldn't find my PC either. Thinking it was a printer problem, I reinstalled the printing software, deligently disabling the personal firewall. Installation complete. Still didn't work. I checked the network, it worked just fine. I contacted Mcafee Technical support and they recommended I uninstall the entire program and reinstall one module at a and test the printer to determine which module was a culprit. Ok, sounds reasonable. To make a long, long story short, you can't just uninstall Mcafee with Add/Remove feature, you need to a cleaning utility, in Mcafee's case is called MCPR.exe which totally cleans off Mcafee and in order to run the module by module test, you really need to uninstall the entire package after each test install... takes up way too much time to test. Stay with the older version until they fix their new offerings.

User Rating: 2/10

Nightmare!by JLu3 - January 1, 2007

Pros: On surface, attractive, comprehensive package.

Cons: Reality, numerous conflicts with other utilities/ programs.

Review: I purchased this program in switching from Norton Internet Security and SystemWorks. It didn't take long for me to realize my blunder.During Install, I had to uninstall other helpful utilities (Spy Bot, Ad Aware, Windows Defender etc) because of conflicts with Total Protection. I also suddenly developed trouble signing on to AOL; this was a painfully long process and sometimes was followed by AOL error messages and inability to sign on at all . I made endless winsock repairs. I also began to see error messages and constant disabling of my audio drivers. After four reinstalls, I had enough and uninstalled it for the last time. The disk is now collecting dust on my shelf while I attempt to get my computer back to normal. Caveat Emptor !!!!!

User Rating: 2/10

Very...Poor Productby danaoscar - December 22, 2006

Pros: Stable product

Cons: Funtionality

Review: Very poor product don't waste the money. No window functionality, small windows, hard to navigate, cannot cut & paste, or copy. I wasted my money.

User Rating: 1/10

Uninstallable; Abysmal Tech Supportby LaPlant - December 22, 2006

Pros: free after rebate, but free is still too much to pay

Cons: $3 per minute phone support; horrible online support

Review: I purchased Mcafee Total Protection last week and after five hours of "live" chat tech support(two minutes minumum between responses), I was still unable to get this software to install. First they blamed it on an earlier version of Mcafee, then it was a CA etrust virus program, then it was my earlier version of Mcafee again. They have no clue. Even worse, phone-in tech support costs $3 per minute!!! I was then refered to email tech support, but they won't answer my emails. This product was free after rebates, but I still had to return it. I felt like they should pay me after the headaches this cost me.

User Rating: 2/10

Stay away from this one at any priceby rdlav - November 2, 2006

Pros: a couple of the seemed ok

Cons: slow to load anti spam froze computer

Review: I give this product 1 out of 10 some parts worked ok but the anti spam segment totally froze up my computer couln't get e-mail internet was deadly slow. Just a terrible product

User Rating: 2/10

Does NOT work. Dont bother tryingby acurban - September 26, 2006

Pros: if it ever gets the bugs out, it will be great

Cons: 100% CPU Usage, no internet, no email, nothing worked!!

Review: This is something I rarely do...I really hate to bad mouth a product but I have wasted at least 80 hours since jul 30,when they FORCED a horrible "upgrade" on their customers. Since then,I have wasted so much time installing, tweaking settings, and uninstalling it. DO NOT BUY V11!! It used 100% of your resources, you cant get on the internet, you cant open email. NOTHING!! I am a longtime customer and have just given up with almost a year of active subscriptions with Mcafee left on the table that i cannot get refunded. I got so frustrated I went to another security suite. The cust tech support has not been helpful at all. They have tried to release several patches that just caused more issues. Mcafee has gone for the greed by combining all products into one messy, ill-fitting suite. While thier seperate products worked great for many years, this new frankenprogram does NOT.
I am SO UPSET!! Save your money and time, try something else before Mcafee. Trust me, you'll be happier without the mess they forced down my throat. They can have my money if they want it that bad. I'll consider it a costly lesson learned. Maybe V12 will be better

User Rating: 2/10

Are you CRAZY?by grbelanger - September 7, 2006

Pros: Lots of features

Cons: Too many features! Slow! Buggy!

Review: With great ambition McAfee has launched their answer to OneCare. Unfortuntely, it falls flat on it's face. The "suite" has lots of features, unfortuntely it absolutely KILLS system performance, and quite honestly many of the features don't work as advertised - read BUGGY. Stay away.

User Rating: 9/10

I am truly amaized with this product.by Andy - Programmer - September 2, 2006

Pros: Will scan (Full Scan) based on 10GB HDD Payload in 7 min.

Cons: Will abort large Web Page off-line save with 'Insufficient Memory" message due to the large number of .gif, .jpg, .jpeg, .bmp, etc... (Reported this to McAfee & they are investigating)

Review: What really amazed me, is this product instant reaction to tools testing for 'security holes' (av, anti-spyware, bho, page high-jacking & registry tampering). It blocks them all as soon as I try to load them! Never mind running them!

This proves to me that this software really works (obviously all these testing tools are malware by their very functional design). No other security software I have tried will do this (including famous designs from the remaining 'top 5') (You should know which ones I mean).

Also Total Protection flagged additional 2 http:// urls that other 'top 3' anti-spyware software did not.

Some people complain (I noticed from reviews) that Total Protection has problem with e-mail scanning. I have not experience any of these. The 'mcproxy.exe' & 'emproxy.exe' work as they should, taking over scanning of ports 21,80,443,110,995,25 and any other, from a pc-resident appications by using local-host ports. One has to be very carefull though, and thorough/consistent when configuring online/proactive/e-mail options. Also, it is very important to have associated firewall (I recommend to use a firewall with the ability to assign port-by-port & address-by-address parameters). It may take a little time for the initial setup (make sure the system is already fully loaded with re-curring applications), but results will be rewarding.

Another correct thing I noticed about Total Protection, is that as soon as I allowed certain functions, clicked 'ok', the software automatically gave these functions 'trusted' status. Sure, when I clicked 'ok', I automatically agreed to the cosequences of my action (Don't we all do the same when we click 'ok' to EUA for example?). Obviously, when later on any of these (trusted functions) get let's say 'spoofed' or abused, other modules design to deal with this situation will catch it, so do not worry.

Okay McAfee, stick by your current design. For sure, improve, add new features, fix some bugs, but do not roll back or compromise anything you already implemented in this already great product. It is my fear (again by reading some reviews) that there are voices asking for relaxation of certain features. Well, in security releted business, these is no such thing. The more stringent, the better. I thing these voices need to get their programming skills put to work harder.

Evaluated:

Security Center: Version 7.0, Build 7.0.329
VirusScan: Version 11.0, Build 11.0.213

System this Total Security is run on:

Firewall: KPF4 Version 4.2.3
Operating System: Windows XP Pro SP2 (Latest fixes from: update.microsoft.com)
Internet Browser: IE6
eMail: OE6 (POP3S/SMTP)

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McAfee Total Protection specifications

• General
• Category Internet
• Subcategory Internet - internet security
• Software
• License Type Complete package
• Package Type Retail
• System Requirements
• Min Processor Type Intel Pentium
• System Requirements Details Microsoft Windows 2000 - RAM 256.0 MB - HD 275.0 MB , Microsoft Windows XP