POSTS
Review by Joseph Boone
McAfee is one of the two top providers of protection software for the PC and this latest package is ambitious as anything they’ve ever done. Long gone are the days when they just put an anti-virus program on the shelf, this suite includes a firewall, backup options, spam filters, parental controls, and an advisor that warns you when you’re visiting a web site known for activity such as tricking you into downloading adware.
In many respects, it’s difficult for an individual to truly test a package like this because you’re not going to slam your system with viruses and engage in all sorts of risky behavior just to see if the software protects you successfully or not. I can say that I have had no problems with the package and it appears to be doing its job. The feature that has been the most obvious helpful so far is the SiteAdvisor which warned me about sites offering free screensavers and similar come-ons to infect your computer with adware. It’s also warned me that certain sites spam you with excessive emails if you sign up and has generally helped me stay clear of trouble. It does it in a fairly low-key way but is very helpful.
I gave up using anti-virus programs some years ago because I’m pretty careful about what I put on my machine and I simply couldn’t stand the constant barrage of popup messages from the programs that were nothing but reminders that they were on my system. In effect, they were early forms of adware more annoying than some of the viruses they were there to protect me from. Thankfully, McAfee seems to have realized that this software should keep a low profile unless it has something useful to offer and I’ve been very satisfied with its performance so far. I would especially recommend the product to those who register with a lot of web sites or download a lot of material from the Internet (or friends).