Comments on: I’m done with McAfee VirusScan

By: Jack

Jack — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 02:27:19 +0000

I completely agree with you about McAfee. I have used McAfee for many many years. I just liked how clean it was and the simplicity of using it. I used to use both the firewall and virus protection but stopped using the firewall piece once Microsoft seemed to get their own firewall working fairly well.

Last year, I purchased a 3-user pack for just good old Virus Scan. Loaded on the three machines that existed here at the time, no issues. That protection expires in a few days, so I wanted to see what they had to offer as far as covering multiple-machines (I’m now down to 2, mine and my dad’s.) So, I felt the $29 price-tag to renew the subscription wasn’t too bad, basically 19.95 for the first machine and then $10 for the second. But when I get to the point in the checkout procedure where I have to login, it shoves that back down to one computer, saying there is only one computer registered to that email address. It refuses to let me purchase for two machines.

Time to get something new, because I hate that crap.

By: Timmy Mac

Timmy Mac — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 00:53:59 +0000

I found this site slowly, getting really annoyed with McAfee’s sudden decision to install an update of Virus Scan. Man I feel the pain of that original post!!!! Ten years I’ve had McAfee, but only two months more! They won’t see me for dust when my subscription ends this time. I really appreciate the other suggestions…very helpful for those of us who’s frustration has led to enough desire and in the end enough impetus to determine to take the course of action and walk away from McAfee. I just can’t figure something out…why the hell don’t they work to improve things?? I’ve not had a virus on my computer but many’s the time I’ve suspected I might have had one…only to find that McAfee was the course of my computer running so damn slow

By: SecurityProtector

SecurityProtector — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 12:45:40 +0000

Gettin’ a mac is often recommended by happy owners
But it seems that PC’s are more attacked because they dominate on the world market of personal computers. Hence the number of viruses to exploit Windows vulnerabilities.
BTW, sometimes antivirus tests display as winners the companies I’be never heard of. One of such is MKS from Poland, and another – G-Data. The latter seems to be with German interface only But I’m a bit too conservative to try out every AV out there.

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By: Aquatakat

Aquatakat — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 06:33:21 +0000

Windows Live OneCare has really bad detection rates. Something like 80-85% last time I checked.

The latest Norton is almost nice to use (oops!) but Kaspersky, NOD32, and BitDefender are all great.

By: Dani

Dani — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:21:53 +0000

Guys, get NOD32. It’s one of the best anti-virus out there. There’s even a new suite called Smart Security, complete with anit-spam and firewall. And the best thing is: it won’t make your PC crawl.
I have quite a few PC-s at home, the oldest one being a P2-Celeron clocked at 458 with 256 megs of RAM. NOD is running on that PC flawlessly, using only 23 megs of RAM at startup. And it has a cool scheduler too.
Check out http://www.av-comparatives.org

By: neilo

neilo — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 02:06:08 +0000

I had a similar experience with Norton Internet Security. It just kept getting bigger and wanting more and more stuff bought and installed. Then I switched to Vista, and NIS2007 ran like an absolute dog.

With six months to go on my NIS subscription, I installed OnceCare, and all of a suddem my computer felt like the tar had been removed. One of the better offerings from MS, and certainly one program I will have no problem subscribing to.

By: Jamahl Epsicokhan

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 15:19:22 +0000

Back in the day, virus scanners used to just run when you asked them to scan for viruses — and the rest of the time they did nothing. Now they turn your computer into a fortress and prompt you constantly. To be honest, I’m not sure that the cure isn’t worse than the potential disease, especially since my computer never got infected.

Then again, it’s possible that having that fortress is what kept my computer uninfected all these years, so who knows.

By: Dude

Dude — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 05:10:32 +0000

I always say “I’d rather have a virus than Norton installed” – and I ditched McAfee back in the days too.

Use Kaspersky if you really need to protect something.

By: Ben

Ben — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 21:11:34 +0000

For the BEST in free protection, check out Comodo…..I’ve used both their AV suite & Firewall and both have surpassed my expectations so much so that I’ve switched from Norton.

Also for AV……AVG Free Edition is a stellar choice too

By: Ed

Ed — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 19:42:30 +0000

“The more popular Macs become, the more trojans and viruses will get written. Recommending that people get Macs will only put your Mac at risk in the long run.”

Good. I hate smug Mac users like Eric.

By: Stef

Stef — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 09:55:12 +0000

I know Jammer, I wasn’t implying you were actually ‘recommending’ OneCare in any legal sense (e.g. I’m not going to sue you when I get infected)

“Get a Mac. I’ve had one since the first one in 1984, and I’ve NEVER had a virus!”

I’ve had PCs for almost 20 years, and never had a virus, worm, or trojan. So…

The more popular Macs become, the more trojans and viruses will get written. Recommending that people get Macs will only put your Mac at risk in the long run.

By: kj

kj — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 00:27:23 +0000

I’ve used Norton suite for a couple of years. NIS2006 gave good protection, but was pretty obtrusive in terms of resource usage and of often asking questions (though it did learn after a while). But NIS2007 I really like, I don’t often notice a performance hit, and it almost never asks me anything, while the protection seems just as good. I don’t mind paying if I get the goods. Just my experience, no firestorm of anti-Norton comments required, thanks…

By: Chris

Chris — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:23:50 +0000

Avast is ranked 12th and AVG ranked 8th out of the top 17 anti viruses, according to http://anti-virus-software-review.toptenreviews.com/

BitDefender is ranked #1 on many sites.

By: Jamahl Epsicokhan

Jamahl Epsicokhan — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 19:05:51 +0000

Just to clarify: I am not necessarily “recommending” OneCare. I honestly have not thoroughly investigated it based on quantitative tests by the reviews that do such things. It seems competent, but that’s just based on a few months experience of it on my laptop.

Mainly, it doesn’t bug me like McAfee, which is what I can report right now.

By: smeos

smeos — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 08:53:39 +0000

I had McAfee when I first got a computer, and I never used it again. Not to mention, they sponsor the stadium where the Raiders play, which should tell you that they’re all a bunch of scumbags.

I use AVG, which is free and seems to do an okay job.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 03:33:04 +0000

Onecare is one of the most incomplete AV software solutions on the market! Don’t fool yourself with cheap or free AV, when you get annoying pop up’s on your machine or something worse then you’ll kick yourself. I started that way and my machine turned into a mess until it was not working! Now I pay for product and i’m happy to be warned rather than end up with a slow machine that doesn’t work because it’s full of programs I never installed.

By: Eric

Eric — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:52:22 +0000

Get a Mac. I’ve had one since the first one in 1984, and I’ve NEVER had a virus!

By: Bryan K

Bryan K — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 00:06:12 +0000

I’d recommend AntiVir as a free AV solution (I have it installed on the few Windows machines that I have to support), except that they do a few annoying things too. For instance, every time they update their signatures, they pop up some huge dialog asking if you want to buy the full version.

(Now in their defense, I am using the free download version. But it’s still annoying, and if it’s that kind of annoyance that you want to get rid of, then I can’t really recommend them.)

Never used Avast! or AVG, though. Perhaps they’re better at that (it sounds like Avast! is, at least).

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:58:23 +0000

Why not switch to a free antivirus? Like Avast! or AVG? They are both rated very high on all the review sites, they are not resource / memory hogs like norton, they are simple to use, and they provide excellent protection.

I’ve been using Avast! Home Edition now for almost a year and I never once had an issue with it. It has lots of options to customize it. This includes the option to ‘silence’ the only notice you get, which is when the program has been updated. Basically, a sliding box appears on the bottom right hand corner of the screen saying the virus database has been updated, and then a voice tells you that it has been updated. It can get annoying, hence, the option to silence the voice. I like to keep the sliding box option. It disappears in like 2 seconds.