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McAfee Virus Scan 2009
CNET Review & Rating
The good: McAfee VirusScan Plus
2008 offers more than three user licenses at $10 per
seat, the ability to scan links in IM messages, and
the ability to watch movies or play games uninterrupted.
The bad: McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008
uses the same interface as last year, lacks hourly
updates, and remains somewhere in the middle of pack
in our 2008 testing results.
The bottom line: McAfee VirusScan
Plus 2008's protection keeps up with the changing
threats on the Internet, but the product itself doesn't
excel.
Specifications: License qty: 3 users
; License type: Complete package ; OS type: Windows
See full specs
Editors' note: On March 5, 2008,
CNET revised its antispyware review ratings to emphasize
a product's ability to remove spyware. The new ratings
are based on the following formula: Installation (20
percent), Features (20 percent), Performance (50 percent),
and Support (10 percent). In most cases a product's
rating went down, expanding the range between highest
and lowest rated.
Many of improvements within McAfee
VirusScan Plus 2008 are in the code, which is where
you want them to be. McAfee has gone ahead with a
silly marketing campaign emphasizing that it alone
will protect your desktop, protect your Web browsing
with Site Advisor, and will also protect your mobile
phone for one price. Which makes us suspicious--why
tack on the extras? Two of three "triple play"
protections were actually offered last year, and,
at the time of this writing, the mobile component
still wasn't available for testing. Instead of repackaging
itself, McAfee should have pared down the system resources
it uses, enhanced its firewall more, tweaked last
year's interface, and switched to a more streamlined
download and installation process. As it stands Mcafee
VirusScan 2008 looks and feels like warmed-over last
year's product, with too few "must haves."
Bottom line, for solid, award-winning antivirus protection,
without the gimmicks and the ever present up sale
to more expensive suites, Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2008
remains our Editors' Choice for 2007.
Setup
McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 includes one PC license
at $39.95, but McAfee also offers three-user licenses
for $59.95, and additional licenses for a mere $10
each. By comparison, BitDefender Antivirus offers
its three-user license for $29.95. Kaspersky offers
its single license at $49.95, but matches McAfee on
its three-user price. McAfee VirusScan 2008 runs on
Windows 2000, XP, and Vista, while Norton AntiVirus
2008 only works on XP and Vista.
McAfee continues to use a bootstrap
method of downloading code to your machine, and then
installing it module by module. This year the process
was much faster in our informal tests. There's the
security center, which you download first, then, depending
on the product you purchased, the product itself is
downloaded from McAfee to your computer. McAfee claims
it can offer the latest build; the alternative is
to install the product, then immediately update. What's
curious is that McAfee didn't scan our computer (which
other AV products have also stopped doing) yet VirusScan
Plus insisted our computer was secure on first load
(other AV products prompted us to initiate a scan
right away). This may be an interface bug or perhaps
reflect McAfee's overenthusiasm for its proactive,
real-time anti-malware heuristics. It would be nice
if it prompted us to run a scan.
Should you want to remove McAfee
VirusScan Plus, unlike most antivirus products we've
seen this year, there is no uninstall option for McAfee
in the Windows All Programs listing. Instead, you'll
need to use the Windows Control Panel Add/Remove Software
option. Unlike last year--when McAfee left a mess--after
our reboot, we were pleased to find no evidence left
on our machine. In comparison, Norton AntiVirus 2008
leaves behind registry files and some system files.
Interface
The McAfee Protection Center interface has not changed
since last year. It still offers a left-hand navigation
for all tools, with a right-hand window pane for system
status. Unlike Norton, which uses individual tabs
for products such as Norton AntiVirus, McAfee's has
fully integrated its Security Center. We like this
better. There are two tables of contents: One lists
basic features while a second lists more advanced
tools.
McAfee VirusScan 2008 reuses last
year's interface without enhancement.
We do like that McAfee has blended
its various tools--security, utility, networking--together
so that the overall product feels more integrated
and whole. Norton still feels like several standalone
applications repackaged. This year McAfee VirusScan
Plus appears to have rewritten some of its code; it
doesn't feel as heavy and clunky as last year's edition.
That said, in our performance testing, McAfee remains
in the middle of this year's pack of products in terms
of overall performance.
One additional quibble is that by
using the same interface for all its products, McAfee
will list Attention under some of the nonused subheadings
such as Parental Controls. To turn on Content Blocking,
for example, we're told we'll need to buy McAfee Internet
Security or McAfee Total Protection. This kind of
up sale is unnecessary, and somewhat deceptive (maybe
we don't want content blocking, or have it from another
product). If you just want an antivirus product, you
should be able to buy just an antivirus product.
Features
McAfee bills VirusScan Plus 2008 as its six-in-one
security solution. Included within are many interesting
tools such as the system diagnostic tools to shred
deleted files and defragment your hard drive; various
network monitoring tools; and McAfee's own antisphishing
tool, SiteAdvisor. Although SiteAdvisor was included
last year, it lacked the antiphishing component.
New this year is a free McAfee Virtual
Technician an optional plug-in which, when downloaded,
will diagnose the state of your McAfee product and
computer health and then make recommendations how
to fix it--for free. It seems unnecessary, but then
again you can't argue with the price. Symantec offers
a Norton equivalent, but it'll cost you $69.95 per
use.
New is the ability for McAfee to
scan links within IM messages and rate them. We found
that this feature works with latest versions of AOL
IM and Yahoo Messenger, two of the most popular IMs
today; Norton offers similar protection but only for
older builds of Yahoo and AOL.
Also new is a feature McAfee calls
"State Aware," in which movies, slide shows,
and even games play uninterrupted by security alerts
or scans whenever you're in full-screen mode. It's
a feature we've seen in other antivirus products this
year; Norton doesn't offer this.
Enhanced over last year is the integration
of antivirus, antispyware, firewall, and antiphishing.
The heuristics, or System Guards, have also been improved.
Missing are more frequent updates
of signature files and programs. Kaspersky updates
hourly, while McAfee promises only daily updates (although
it might, in an emergency, deliver more frequently).
Performance
McAfee VirusScan Plus stays in the middle of the pack,
sometimes trending toward the upper end of the middle.
On our iTunes test, VirusScan Plus placed solidly
in the middle of the pack at 271 seconds. In our Microsoft
Office test, VirusScan Plus trended toward the high
end, taking home the second-longest score at 1,519
seconds. In a test scanning a single folder with compressed
and media files, McAfee scored 446 seconds, again,
toward the high end of our middle group. And in terms
of boot speed, McAfee was third-longest at 38 seconds.
To find out how we test antivirus software, see CNET
Labs' How we test: Antivirus software page.
In terms of whether or not McAfee
VirusScan Plus 2008 will protect your PC, we cite
results from two leading independent antivirus testing
organizations. In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org,
for on-demand scans McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008 earned
an Advanced (second-highest) rating, catching 93 percent
of all malware tested and tying with Norton AntiVirus
2007. For the Retrospective/Proactive test, McAfee
VirusScan Plus 2008 also earned an Advanced (second-highest)
rating (PDF). From CheckVir.com, McAfee VirusScan
Enterprisewas earned an Advanced rating, which includes
both search and antivirus removal.
For antispyware protection, McAfee
remains solidly in the middle of the pack in our latest
CNET antispyware tests. CNET labs conducts three separate
tests using spyware found to be bundled within free
applications rejected by CNET Download.com (as part
of its software policies, Download.com does not host
applications containing known spyware). In the first
test, active detection, McAfee discovered about 60
percent of the spyware; in the second, on demand test,
McAfee detected about 55 percent of the spyware; and
in the final, removal test, McAfee removed about 60
percent of the spyware placed on our infected machine.
Support
McAfee has improved its technical support over last
year but still doesn't offer context-sensitive help
like Kaspersky or Trend Micro, meaning you will have
to search for specific help. McAfee does, however,
provide an exhaustive 217-page manual. By comparison,
only Kaspersky offers a complete 321-page manual;
none of the other major AV companies provide these
any more. McAfee Virtual Technician is the product's
first line of defense. If it can't help, then you'll
be directed toward the online FAQ, and, finally, chat
or e-mail. If you try to jump ahead to chat or e-mail,
you'll be directed back to the Virtual Technician
first. It's as though McAfee doesn't want you to contact
it directly. Missing is telephone support. Or, rather,
telephone support is listed under Fee Based Support,
with a variety of per-minute or per-incident plans
starting at $2.95 a minute or $39 per incident. a
robust user forum, and toll-free telephone support.
There is an active community forum as well.
Conclusion
McAfee VirusScan 2008 and other McAfee products are
bundled with various hardware systems; for the purposes
of protecting your PC, they'll do just that. Plus
you'll get the manufacturer's technical support. But
for the discerning user looking to get the best protection,
we suggest you try another product. The lack of a
quality technical support from McAfee is stunning
given that smaller antivirus companies do a much better
job supporting their customers than this venerable
giant in the industry. Rather than putting its energy
into marketing gimmicks like "triple play,"
it would be nice to see McAfee take the lead next
year and offer a truly solid antivirus product like
Kaspersky or even Norton.
This review was written by CNET.
To read more of this review or to read other reviews
about other pieces of software visit: www.cnet.com
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