Computer Realm

Company – McAfee

Brief Summary – A popular reputed anti-virus software which has deteriorated in recent times due to its inefficiency.

General Ratings

• Interface – 5/5
• Ease of use – 4/5
• Memory Usage – 1/5
• Popularity – 5/5
• Price(~$30.00) – 4/5
• No. of bugs – 5/5

Application specific ratings

• Full Scan duration(120 – 300 minutes) – 2/5
• Memory usage while scanning – 1/5
• Virus detection rate – 4.5/5
• Updates – 4/5
• Security\Backup Measures – 4/5

Rating Description

• Interface

Like most other anti virus programs McAfee Anti-Virus contains a stylish interface.

• Ease of use

Easy to use application with a comprehensive manual to help users. Preferences and the general interface doesn’t contain technical terms.

• Memory usage

The one reason that blurs any of the good points this program contains. Consumes a LOT of memory, whether it’s during scan or real time protection. There are around seven processes running for the program. If your computer has specifications that are compatible for Vista it should be sufficient. Anything under that, I doubt the program would even startup. Tested with 512MB RAM it still slowed down the computer quite a bit.

• Popularity

While several new equally good programs have been developed over the years the undoubted reputation McAfee gained in the past still remains and many people still stick to McAfee strongly.

• Price

One of the main advantages of the program. Compared to other anti virus programs McAfee is relatively cheaper.

• No. of bugs

Like most other programs McAfee has been well tested and barely contains any bugs at all.

• Full scan duration

With the high memory consumption it takes up as mentioned before, it’s pretty obvious that scanning duration would be quite long too so if you choose McAfee you’ll rarely perform a full scan because of the time it takes, which makes your computer vulnerable.

• Memory usage while scanning

While the full scan duration maybe a long time if the program consumes little memory during scanning you could definitely multi task and eventually complete the scan. Unfortunately though, the memory usage too is a bit too high so you’ll have to leave your computer alone until the scan completes.

• Virus detection rate

When it comes to detection rate McAfee would still be somewhere at the top of the list. While there maybe other programs with better detection rates, McAfee should be sufficient to keep those viruses away.

• Updates

Updates are released quite frequently and can be downloaded of their servers. Here again though the servers aren’t the fastest in the world.

• Security\Backup measures

McAfee provides general backup features with quarantining features.

Other Details

Other features:

With the McAfee Anti-virus you get other features like the personal firewall and the file shredder as well.

• While the above points have been outlined you may not find the above review accurate compared with the demo version of McAfee. The PLUS version and demo versions are like two different programs. The Demo version is a much ‘light-weight’ program which does not consume much memory at all.

Overall (3.5/5):

While McAfee anti-virus has some points to be impressed about like detection rate and the other extra features provided with the package, it would not be recommended for computers with under memory of at least 512MB RAM. Nevertheless it is still a good Anti-virus solution.

Visit McAfee website

Popularity: 19% [?]

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