McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010 Review Discussion

By: Charles P. Jefferies

McAfee is back for 2010 with a revised version of its AntiVirus Plus product, claiming improved performance and faster scan times. Is this just marketing hype or is this product the real deal? We find out.

Read the full content of this Article: McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2010 Review

Related Articles:

• 2010 Free Antivirus Buyers Guide
• Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2010 Review
• Symantec Norton Antivirus 2010 Review

 

I frankly find it pretty hard to recommend any paid antivirus now that Microsoft's free Security Essentials is available. OK, actually it was hard to recommend them before since free, resource-light competitors like AVG and Avira have been around for a long time, but even the less computer-literate who demand a "name" more than actual performance will recognize Microsoft.

Cnet and Supersite have good reviews (although Paul is basically a MS shill, you have to admit it's a thorough review). AV Comparatives hasn't done MSE yet, but OneCare had competitive detection rates and the lowest false positive rate of any scanner.

 

YEAH! now that i use Microsoft Security Essential with Windows Firewall. my computer is so much faster. boot faster, launch program faster. much much more responsive in general.

usually Third-party anti-virus and firewall causes more problem then the fix. too many false alarm. more resource intensive. annoying, and hard to remove.

 

Wow, McAfee is decent now? That's a surprise. Seems like the paid AV's are really stepping up their game since many people are just defecting to free AV's like the awesome MSE. Including a personal firewall might be another way to draw in more customers to a "good value*.

 

I also use MSE. However, I use COMODO firewall since Vista's firewall (apparently) does not protect against outbound connections.

Still, I am strongly considering uninstalling COMODO or simply not installing next time I reinstall Windows, since I think the minor possible benefit is outweighed by the hassle of its popups.

 

Personally, I think Windows' firewall and a router are sufficient for most purposes. Other software firewalls usually just give more trouble than they're worth.

I ditched McAfee years and years ago, and jumped around between ZoneAlarm, ESET, Kaspersky, and Avira before finally settling on Norton when they released their entirely revamped 2009 edition. Now, it serves as my gauge for measuring up other AVs. I just bought a license of Kaspersky IS 2010 ($0 after rebate) at Fry's yesterday, and I'm testing it out on another computer. Definitely much more of a resource hog than Norton, especially when updating, but its scans are very thorough.

It's good to see that more AVs these years are emphasizing minimal impact on system performance, though. A few years ago, that was a selling point pretty much only for ESET. Beginning largely with Norton 2009, a lot of the other AVs are slimming down their resource usages as well.

 

I'm also in the MSE camp. I've used free antivirus programs for a long time, and see absolutely no reason to get a paid version. Now that I have MSE, there's no way I'll go paid again. Windows' built-in firewall, combined with safe browsing practices (firefox + noscript FTW!) and a decent antivirus program (like MSE ) are all the "internet security" anybody really needs.

 

I have also been impressed with MSE ... it and the firewall in Win 7 seem a decent combo for most ordinary day to day computer users.

That being said I still use a 3rd party security suite.