McAfee Internet Security Review
The only real competitor to Norton Internet Security, McAfee is in the same situation as the previously mentioned application. McAfee is known for being reliable, easy to use, and capable. I can recall, about 12 years ago or so, swearing by McAfee products. As far as I was concerned, it was McAfee or bust. I had seen dozens of anti-virus programs, and McAfee was the only one that I would ever use. It was reliable, it worked, and it did all of that without me having to know how it was doing it. My needs are different today, but that's simply a product of growing and expanding my knowledge.
Somewhere, deep down in my heart, I still believe that McAfee is the same, simple, easy to use program that I remember it as. At least, that's what I honestly hope.
Features
McAfee Internet Security has all of the standard applications included: anti-virus, anti-spyware, and firewall. It also has parental controls, which is an excellent inclusion.
All of the software is configurable enough to achieve good performance and results without requiring you to sit down and spend two hours trying to figure it all out. A few clicks is all it takes to get the firewall up and running properly. One click of the mouse will cause the firewall to shut down all incoming and outgoing internet traffic, cutting your computer off from the internet.
The anti-virus and anti-spyware suites are plug and play. Install them and let them do their thing.
The parental controls is what's interesting here. You can block domains, IP's, websites, and keywords. For a family or educational/institutional environment, this is a great way to control which websites are being viewed and when.
Using McAfee Internet Security
McAfee is an old staple, and I'm glad to see that it still performs well after all of these years. The programs are refined, easy to install and use, and are pretty brainless- it does what you need it to do without you having to tell it to do it.
The parental controls are a bit more limited than we would like, but they are certainly more than sufficient for the task assigned to them. Try as we might, we were unable to open the Playboy website with the internet filters turned on, and we were unable to open any website that had any mentioning of macabre or obscene content.
The anti-virus and firewall both perform quite well. The firewalls “lock down” mode is a nice touch when you are watching a movie or something and don't want any incoming/outgoing traffic, and being able to completely control which ports are open and why is a nice touch. The anti-virus is also quite good, and it didn't let any viruses slip by, regardless of how we tried to get it there.
The anti-spyware could use a bit of refinement, but it does its job well and with ease. We would like to see the interface cleaned up just a bit, with a few buttons to make life a bit easier (such as a “mass erase” or “mass quarantine” button).
Conclusion
A great product, as expected, with get performance. At $70, this suite of applications is a steal.
|
