McAfee Antivirus Review

McAfee is no stranger to the world of cybersecurity. In fact, it was one of the first antivirus software programs developed in the United States and has remained relevant even after more than 30 years of existence.

The company has undergone many changes, yet it remains a strong contender. It was separated from Intel, and the developers redesigned and improved its interface. Today, it has become as good as Kaspersky, Norton, and other giant brands.

But with these new changes, many have been asking if McAfee Total Protection is as good as it claims. Maybe you may also ask what its features are. Is it very good or just average at fighting against viruses? How does it compare against other antivirus brands?

To answer all these questions, here is an unbiased McAfee antivirus review.

McAfee quick glance

Scan type	On-demand
Presence of firewall	Yes
Blocks malware	Yes
Block spyware and ransomware	Yes
Pricing	$35.99 to $107.99 per year
Money-back guarantee	30 days
Free plan	No
VPN	Yes (unlimited data)
Operating systems	Android, Windows, iOS, Mac

McAfee pros and cons

Total Protection: Does McAfee offer complete protection?

McAfee lists Total Protection as one of its security suites. The solution offers complete protection against malware, ransomware, viruses, and spyware attacks and against unsafe websites.

We tested its ability to prevent zero-day malware attacks, and the tool scored 99%. This result is no different from what other top-rated brands such as Bitdefender and Avast obtain. We also tested McAfee antivirus against other kinds of malware, and it got a 100% score.

However, despite the fact that McAfee has significantly improved on these scores over time, other brands already perform better in this regard. Still, the tool deserves appreciation for its marked improvements in its security features. Currently, it offers a wide range of solutions, including:

• Multiple device compatibility
• Robust firewall
• Encrypted storage
• System performance optimization

Some of these security features (such as system performance optimization, password manager, etc.) aren’t unique to McAfee, as other brands offer them, too. Yet, it’s good to see McAfee climbing up the market trends.

Virus scan review: How effectively is McAfee antivirus detecting and preventing malware?

Like every other antivirus solution, McAfee also offers different types of scans for users.

For this McAfee antivirus service review, we first tested its quick virus scan on an old computer. It took about 20 minutes to scan through 13,000 files. While it was effective, spending 20 minutes is a bit long for a “quick scan.” Yet, a quick scan on a newer PC with about 7,000 files took only seven minutes.

Likewise, running a complete scan took 21 hours on the old system and only an hour on the newer PC. This variation shows that the duration for a scan depends on the number of files being scanned and the system hardware specs.

While running the scans, the antivirus software displays all essential information as pop-ups. You will also get some information in the scanner’s dashboard as small notifications.

Upon completing a scan, you can access the details, such as the number of files scanned, issues discovered, and details of the infected files the McAfee antivirus removed. You can’t check or isolate the infected files, though, as Total Protection deletes them. It is great only if you have no intention of investigating the infected files. In this regard, other antivirus solutions, such as Windows Defender, perform better as they contain the threat and leave it to you to delete, isolate, or ignore it.

Also, this tool has a security report feature where you can view the scan details after completion. Yet, viewing those details in the dashboard during scanning would have been great.

Aside from its quick and full scan, McAfee also does a custom scan. It checks specified folders and files, drives for threats, and generates alerts.

Vulnerability scanner: Does McAfee keep programs updated?

Outdated software is known to pose a security risk. Nonetheless, McAfee ensures protection against this risk by offering a vulnerability scanner. It surfs through the computer to detect outdated software and programs. You can pre-set the date for it to run the scan. Or, you can schedule weekly, monthly, or daily scans. Once the scan is over, it shows you the number of updates found and rates how important updating the program is.

To achieve an honest review of McAfee antivirus, we tested the vulnerability scanner on my PC. It took about ten minutes to complete and displayed a critical alert for Google Chrome as my browser required an update.

While this is an attractive feature, it isn’t communicated well. When you check the McAfee Total Protection dashboard, you won’t see a vulnerability scanner. Instead, you will find an “Update my apps” option. This may confuse some customers, especially first-time users.

In summary, the vulnerability scanner feature is a handy, functional, and effective feature that updates all your apps even when you forget about it.

McAfee antivirus key features

Until this point, you have learned how this antivirus protects your devices against viruses and similar threats. But that’s not all you get with Total Protection. Proceeding further with this McAfee antivirus review, let’s look at the other features that ensure inclusive security.

Firewall

McAfee Total Protection has a robust firewall that secures your devices from all existing and potential threats. This feature monitors all incoming and outgoing traffic from your device. That’s how it promptly detects any suspicious attempt to gain access to your system.

McAfee’s firewall features allow you to manage the threats by displaying alerts despite being restrictive. So, if you trust something has generated a false alert, you can simply allow it in the firewall.

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QuickClean feature

McAfee’s antivirus program also has a QuickClean feature. This tool lightens your device by identifying and removing unwanted cookies from your browser and deleting temporary files. 

To use it, select the files you wish to check. This may include email files, cookies, and data stored in web browsers. After that, click on the “Clean” option to free up space.

While running the QuickClean, you can choose to keep it out of view. You can also have it seek your permission before deleting any file.

Overall, there is nothing much to say about this feature; it works as it should. In our tests, it freed up 4.5 GB on my PC in less than one minute.

On the downside, it doesn’t provide details of the actions performed. For instance, it won’t show where it removed the files from, the files that it removed, or the number of files extracted.

Besides, while it allows prescheduling (just like its vulnerability scanner feature), its dashboard doesn’t have the correct label. Rather than the name QuickClean, it’s labeled “Remove cookies and trackers.” Again, this may not be clear to many users.

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Total Protection web boost and app boost

Continuing with the key features, another interesting option worth mentioning in this McAfee review is system performance boost. The software basically offers two separate tools for it, which include:

• App boost
• McAfee web boost

Once launched, the app boost feature detects apps that need extra power and adds extra power. This enables apps to load faster and work faster.

On the other hand, McAfee Web Boost prevents videos from automatically playing on your browser. This, in turn, boosts your internet speed and conserves the system battery. None of these features improves security but rather jazz up the system performance.

While the tool claims to do that, during testing, both features didn’t significantly differ. For instance, although Chrome had “98 boosts in two days,” it didn’t significantly impact browsing speed. Besides, the app boost is only functional on Windows 10.

It wouldn’t hurt to turn your PC performance feature on, though (it’s always off by default). However, do not expect a significant change in your system’s performance.

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McAfee antivirus security add-ons

Aside from the usual protection against malware and web threats that you expect, McAfee antivirus also offers other features that genuinely provide you total protection online. Let’s take a look.

Password manager

In partnership with True Key, McAfee provides users with a password manager each time they subscribe to any of its Total Protection plans. This True Key is functional on iOS, Mac, Windows, and Android devices.

To activate the True Key subscription, go to the “My Privacy” tab and click on the “Manage passwords” option.

It will lead you to its information page, where you can create a Master Password.

Signing in to the True Key account requires a master password and two-factor authentication, such as fingerprint scanning. (This is applicable to Android and iOS devices only.) You can easily install the True Key browser extension on any browser to manage passwords. This add-on works fine on most popular browsers, including Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Internet Explorer, Microsoft Edge, and Apple Safari.

Apart from saving passwords, this tool also offers other features such as Safe notes, Password generator, Auto-fill, and Digital wallet. Moreover, it synchronizes multiple devices and keeps your data safe with AES-256-bit encryption. While impressive, these features are also available with all the best password managers of today, such as LastPass, NordPass, and more.

Overall, True Key is quite easy to use. It lets you view the site logins right on the scanner’s dashboard. Unlike other password managers, True Key enables you to change your password as often as possible. It also lets you add an extra device and email address to strengthen your account safety.

However, the True Key password manager only allows 15 logins, after which you will have to upgrade, which attracts a fee. That means what you get with your Total Protection subscription is just the free version of True Key password manager.

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McAfee Total Protection WebAdvisor

McAfee’s WebAdvisor is designed to alert users about suspicious sites and malicious downloads. However, it has some limitations.

First, it is only functional on Windows. Upon clicking on the “Protect me on the web” button on the Total Protection dashboard, you arrive at the landing page explaining what the WebAdvisor is. (It’s unclear why it has to take you out of the dashboard to offer this explanation right at the beginning. But it’s alright for the curious souls.)

The real issue, though, is on the landing page. Here, there is no direction for downloading the WebAdvisor browser extension. Plus, the McAfee antivirus download feature is on another page. That’s quite an annoying and unintuitive setting.

Nevertheless, what’s great is that users do not need to subscribe to Total Protection before using the WebAdvisor extension. You can easily install it on your browser and enable the extension. It’ll then start alerting you about the sites as you browse.

You will find the tool showing a link’s security status even during regular searches by displaying a McAfee SECURE badge next to the URL. Hovering over the badge displays more information, such as its description and frequency at which McAfee searches it for suspicious activities.

Yet, you won’t necessarily see this badge with every link. It doesn’t mean that the other links are suspicious. Rather, it indicates the limited archive with McAfee, against which it checks the URLs.

Besides, it remains unclear how this WebAdvisor add-on labels a website as safe or not.

In brief, McAfee WebAdvisor clearly loses points here.

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Identity theft protection

When you subscribe to any McAfee Total Protection multi-device or family plan, you get the added benefits of identity theft protection and dark monitoring feature that’s worth mentioning in this McAfee extensive review.

Precisely, this feature searches through the dark web to discover if your sensitive data has been leaked or hacked. The software searches the dark web for the following:

• Passports
• Driver’s license
• Mobile numbers
• Bank accounts
• Medical ID
• Email addresses
• Debit/credit cards
• Social security numbers

You can add your information to the Identity Theft Protection portal for monitoring. Upon detecting any leaked information, the tool promptly alerts you via email. This is certainly a useful feature, given the increase in data breaches and password hacking incidents globally.

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McAfee privacy policy

After reading this McAfee antivirus review, you must be impressed with how the app protects your data. But does the firm also remain fair with your data?

To answer this question, we went through the company’s privacy policy. As evident from it, the antivirus software collects quite extensive data from the users, including:

• Personal information (such as name, email address, phone number, and so on)
• Payment details (account number, credit card data, etc.)
• Sign-in details (account login, social media accounts)
• Location details
• Data usage information

While that’s already disappointing, what makes the matter worse is that McAfee shares some of its customers’ data with others. They clearly admit to sharing this information with third-party agents to provide relevant ads and to improve user experience. Nonetheless, it’s becoming more of an industry practice these days. So you can’t really accuse McAfee of doing the same.

Product setup and ease of use

When we tried installing Total Protection before writing this McAfee antivirus review, I found it easy and straightforward. The setup took only about ten minutes to complete. After that, an app with an easily navigable dashboard appeared. While it includes details about the product plans and offers, locating specific tools is challenging.

Specifically, the app exhibits a strange arrangement of information. First, it fails to title all of its contents. Also, every feature in the app had a different name than what’s popular. For instance, it doesn’t call the vulnerability scanner by its name. Instead, the tool bears the title “Update my app” and is located under the PC security icon. You can learn the details about every feature when you click on it.

Besides, McAfee developers have embedded most of the details behind the gear icon at the dashboard’s top right. However, it isn’t noticeable at first. But once you click on it, you can see all the settings for McAfee antivirus there. Review these options individually and adjust the settings to meet your preferences. For example, you can change the preset time for scheduled scans to the one that suits you.

Another annoying thing with McAfee’s antivirus layout is the increased use of pop-ups to display information. For instance, you can’t use the scan features until you click on the run icon that appears as a pop-up. This behavior isn’t limited to the scan features only. Rather, you will find the same with the file shredder, password manager, and file lock features.

While it isn’t a security limitation, it may be annoying for fast users who prefer minimal clicks to use any tool.

McAfee Total Protection mobile app

McAfee antivirus protection doesn’t limit this facility to desktop users only. Rather, the provider also takes care of mobile users by offering dedicated apps. Thus, you can protect your Android and iOS devices by downloading a legitimate antivirus app from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.

You can also connect your devices directly to the antivirus app via the system’s dashboard. To do this, open your antivirus app and click on the “Protect more devices” option.

This is worth trying if you don’t already have an antivirus app on your mobile device. It’s easy to download and connect and offers real-time protection.

To scan your device, tap the “Scan” option on your screen. The app then checks your files, data, apps, and WiFi for security. This antivirus app also cleans your device’s storage, boosts memory, and shares details about your data and scans.

Moreover, you can also access other additional features available with the app, such as battery booster, data usage tracker, and others, by tapping the menu icon (three horizontal lines) at the top-right of your screen.

Besides antivirus protection, the Mcafee antivirus app also supports theft protection by letting you lock and delete your data if you lose your device. Plus, thanks to its built-in thief cam feature, you will know about the perpetrator as the app sneakily takes a picture of the device holder via the front camera.

The McAfee mobile app functions seamlessly without disrupting the device’s usability. Though its interface is unimpressive, the many security features packed into it clearly give McAfee an edge over its rivals.

McAfee customer support

Upon reaching here in this McAfee antivirus review, you might wonder if the service truly cares about its customers.

Well, McAfee offers 24/7 live chat and phone support, but only for English speakers. Its live chat feature is limited to specific languages, and the operating hours for its phone support also vary, limiting the number of users.

Usually, users can get a customer representative in a few minutes, but sometimes it may take longer—depending on the time and day. In cases where there would be a delay, McAfee puts up a banner on its support page. It informs users that they may have to wait for a more extended period.

It has a detailed FAQ base, which answers numerous questions (especially about technical support). Regrettably, it lacks proper organization. There are many articles to choose from, but you must depend on the search bar or scroll through to get an answer. Also, while the FAQs are detailed, there are no images or videos to explain better.

It has an active community forum. Here, people ask questions and receive answers from other members of the forum. The platform is available in different languages, such as Spanish, Arabic, and Italian.

On top of that, there is a Virtual Technician feature. With this, users can scan, diagnose, and fix technical problems. While not perfect, it comes in handy for simple issues. And if you are far from your PC, you can utilize the Techmaster tool—an advanced and paid service that aids in troubleshooting matters.

Review of McAfee antivirus pricing plans

McAfee Total Protection offers three separate subscription plans, all offering similar features. Users can install the product on Macs, Windows, Android, and iOS devices.

While all the plans are the same, the difference lies in the number of device connections:

• Household/family plan: allows ten simultaneous connections
• Multi-device: enables five simultaneous connections
• Individual plan: supports a single device connection only

McAfee offers a fair price for its plans for the first year. However, regarding its renewal, the price for the individual plan is higher, almost double after the first year. Although it’s still cheaper than products like TotalAV and Kaspersky, it offers fewer features. This gap becomes bigger when you compare McAfee with Norton.

On the other hand, the McAfee household/family plan offers excellent value for its price. The extra cost on it isn’t significant, and it also provides the same features as the multi-device programs.

While McAfee’s multi-device plan isn’t free, it comes with a 30-day trial. With this plan, users can connect up to ten devices. Besides, it does not require your credit card information before you sign up. Thus, you can safely proceed with the McAfee free download to test the app before paying for the subscription!

As for its refund policy, users can apply for a refund within 30 days if it’s a new purchase or within 60 days if it’s an automatic renewal.

Does McAfee provide any real value? Is it worth it?

Without a doubt, McAfee security software isn’t the wrong choice for an antivirus. It is cheap and does a good job of detecting and preventing malware and other online threats. Also, the protection suit is easy to use, offering multiple platform support for operating systems such as iOS, Windows, Macs, and Androids.

It does have some downsides, though. For starters, its interface could use a little reworking. Its browser extension could also be made more effective. The provider may also limit the number of pop-ups to the barest minimum.

In short, while McAfee offers a nice antivirus, it’s not perfect.

FAQs