McAfee security suite

Comcast is now offering, free to its subscribers, McAfee's VirusScan, Firewall Plus, and Privacy Service. I currently use ZA Pro, ETrust AV, and my browser is Firefox (used 99.9 percent of the time). The $50 or so I would save annually if I switched is not the issue, but is there an advantage in having an integrated suite as mentioned above? My priority is protection while on the internet, regardless of cost, and my computer is always on (I also have a Linksys router). I suspect there will be differing opinions re: the relative merits of these and other programs, but I'd like to hear what you all think. I'm in no hurry to change anything as I'm satisfied with my current setup, and my subscriptions don't expire until late this year.

Thanks,
Ralph

 

Well, at times I have been really irritated with Mcafee; having some machines give major headaches when you install (Installations of a brand new boxed version reporting as a 60 day trial and demanding you pay for a new copy) and their live update feature being so bolixed up that you wind up uninstalling and reinstalling the application after you try to update the antivirus or the automatic update claiming to be on but never updating.

However,(last year or so ) recently I have not had any problems with their products.
Mcaffee firewall plus is generally regarded as one of the very best.
Mcaffee privacy control, once called Guard Dog , was one of the first and best of its kind. I used to use it long before any competitor began offering anything remotely similar.

I think the biggest advantage of an integrated suite is that you have one system tray (notification area) icon, one updater, and a coordinated non conflicting load and scan .


In reality, the linksys router probably offers all the firewall protection the average user needs (Especailly if you have XP SP2 with the windows firewall). I like having a software firewall too, to let me know what is outgoing and to have easy access logs. But it is not really needed if you have a router .

Since it is free, go ahead and try it.

 

Hello Ralph,

Aside from my not liking Suites - McAffee needs ActiveX to update, one of oshwyn5's irritants I assume, that's a showstopper for me.

and their live update feature being so bolixed up that you wind up uninstalling and reinstalling the application after you try to update the antivirus or the automatic update claiming to be on but never updating.
Have seen that personnally twice - took McAfee off a system last W/E that I put together a few months ago. Neither the owner nor myself could stand McAfee anymore.

Regards - Charles

 

You should know that McAfee is a good resource hog really. I do networking and they had McAffee and Norton Suites split about half and half on the PCs.

I took it all off and installed Avast AntiVirus, enabled Windows firewall because it is more than sufficient as a host centric firewall, and then put on IE Spyad, Spyware Blaster (both just add reg edits), and then Spybot Search & Destroy and enabled that to protect background spyware/maleware.

These are all free, so never a fee, with McAfee next year you will have to pay to keep it... and if you don't try to clean it all off your system.

 

Try to clean it off your system! That's the show-stopper for me.

 

Yes, along with NIS. I just took NIS off a system, it takes heroic effort. But I must say that at least as far as NIS goes, the latest version is almost a breeze to uninstall, especially if it hasn't been used for long.

Regards - Charles