Read the latest reviews
McAfee Total Protection
PC Pro Review & Rating
Verdict: A heavyweight package,
but one that lacks punch in crucial areas.
When we last reviewed McAfee's VirusScan
Plus product, we found it offered a creditable user
experience but, sadly, wasn't terribly good at detecting
malware.
This month, McAfee Total Protection
put in a similar performance. It excelled in several
areas: the SiteAdvisor system warned us away from
the links in 90% of our phishing emails and 100% of
our actively malicious websites. Its spam filter tied
with AVG for first place when used
Yet, at the fundamental business
of detecting malware, McAfee Total Protection was
one of the weakest packages we tested, tying with
ZoneAlarm in ninth place with a score of 89%. The
firewall was a disappointment, too: our scan discovered
15 open TCP ports and six potential vulnerabilities,
and our false-positives test prompted six alerts.
Total Protection's generous feature
set includes local backup, network management and
an "offensive content filter". This may
excuse the comparatively high price, but it also carries
a cost in terms of system resources: the package's
RAM footprint is one of this month's largest, and
the boot time one of the slowest.
Total Protection has many good points,
but it's hard for us to recommend when other, cheaper,
lighter packages are better at the basics. If you
do splash out, though, you'll be pleased to know you're
entitled not only to signature updates but free upgrades
to any new versions of the software that may come
out during your licence period.
This review was written by PC Pro.
To read more of this review or to read other reviews
about other pieces of software visit: www.pcpro.co.uk
|
