McAfee Antivirus Review – Is It Good Enough in 2022?
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McAfee offers excellent real-time malware detection along with some of the best web protections on the market at an excellent price. McAfee also has a lot of useful additional features, including a control panel that’s easy to use across all operating systems, and provides coverage for up to 10 devices (US users can also get coverage for an unlimited number of devices, which no other competitor offers) .
McAfee Antivirus scored an impressive 100% malware detection in all of my tests across Windows, Mac, Android, and iOS devices. It was able to identify and block simple and complex threats, including viruses, trojans, spyware, ransomware, and cryptographic programs.
McAfee also offers more additional features than most other antivirus software, including:
- Firewall and Wi-Fi protection.
- Phishing protection.
- Virtual Private Network (VPN).
- improve the performance.
- Password administrator.
- Parental control.
- Identity theft protection (for US customers only).
- Safe file storage.
- And a lot…
Most of McAfee’s features work just as promised – I am a huge fan of McAfee Anti-phishing and Exploitation Browser extension, which blocked more dangerous sites than Chrome or Firefox in my tests. I also think McAfee’s firewall and Wi-Fi protection are better than similar protections offered by premium competitors like TotalAV and Avira.
On the other hand, I don’t like McAfee’s VPN – Keeps user logs, doesn’t allow torrenting, and can’t access some popular streaming sites (McAfee’s VPN works with Netflix and Amazon Prime, but not Disney+ and Hulu).
However, I still think McAfee is one of the best antivirus out there. It has a high-quality malware scanner, a wide range of security features, and an easy-to-use dashboard – all at a very low price.
McAfee offers one-year plans for 1, 5, 10, or unlimited devices (but coverage for unlimited devices is only available to US users), as well as significantly reduced two-year plans for its devices multi device And family plans, making McAfee one of the most affordable premium antivirus suites in 2022. McAfee has a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of its plans, so there’s no risk in trying it out.
| overall rank | #5 out of 67 antiviruses |
| Firewall | Yes |
| VPN | Yes (with unlimited data) |
| Free plan | number |
| Pricing | From € 29.95 per year |
| Money Back Guarantee | 30 days |
| Operating systems | Windows, Android, Mac, iOS |
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McAfee full review
McAfee is a premium anti-malware suite with a wide range of security features.
I’ve spent a few weeks stress-testing McAfee Security Protection across my PC, MacBook Pro, Samsung Galaxy, and iPhone, and I’m really impressed with how well it performs across the board (particularly given that it has more features than any almost competitor).
McAfee is definitely one of the most impressive internet security suites of 2022 – it’s extremely reliable and extremely easy to use, and its two-year subscription plans are among the cheapest out there.
McAfee Security Features
Virus Scanner
McAfee antivirus scanner uses traditional malware detection methods, which check files against McAfee’s massive virus database, as well as heuristics, which identify potentially dangerous files based on their behavior.
Before testing McAfee Antivirus, I downloaded different types of malware to your computer – including viruses, trojans, and spyware. After that, I installed McAfee and performed a full system scan. The scan detected 100% of the malware you ran. But I can’t say I was surprised by the result.
This wasn’t the first time I’d tested a McAfee scanner—when I ran my benchmark series of malware tests two months ago, McAfee also scored a perfect malware detection rate.
McAfee is one of the rare antivirus programs with consistently excellent results against all types of malware – The only other brands that can compete with McAfee include Norton, Bitdefender, TotalAV, and Avira, which all successfully identified and removed all malware samples during all of our tests.
The full McAfee system scan took about an hour to complete – This is on par with competitors like Bitdefender, but Norton and Avira scans are faster, taking just 40 minutes to finish. I also ran a quick McAfee scan, which took less than two minutes to finish, and the duration of the McAfee custom scan depended on the types of files you chose to scan (from two minutes to one hour).
The only thing I don’t like about the McAfee scanner is that it causes some system slowdowns. When McAfee was scanning my computer, it was running slower than usual – I could still surf the internet and use word processing software to get some work done, but watching a video or playing a game was out of the question. But McAfee lets you schedule scans whenever you want, so you can schedule a full system scan to run when you know you won’t be using your computer. However, some competitors like Avira and TotalAV do not affect system performance during system scans.
Overall, McAfee Antivirus is among the best on the market. If you are looking for reliable protection against both known and zero-day threats, McAfee is a really good choice, with perfect malware detection rates, fast scans, and simple scan scheduling. My only complaint is that the antivirus slowed my computer down during a full system scan, but you can easily schedule full scans at night or when you’re not using your computer.
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Firewall
McAfee’s firewall is powerful, easy to use, and highly customizable – but if you’re not a tech savvy, it also works perfectly well out of the box. In my testing, McAfee detected a variety of experimental threats, including network hacks, exploit attacks, and malware that try to connect to remote servers. McAfee’s firewall protection was more accurate and effective than the built-in firewalls offered by both Windows and macOS.
McAfee Firewall has a lot of security capabilities – for example, McAfee allows users to:
- Determine which programs can access the web.
- Opening and closing specific network ports.
- Choose 4 different levels of density to protect the network.
- Adjust trust settings for saved networks.
- Activate software intrusion detection.
- Whitelist specific programs.
I really like the range of options that McAfee’s firewall offers – but less tech-savvy users can also set the firewall to automatically block suspicious activity without almost any user input.
The only thing I don’t like about McAfee’s firewall is that its logs aren’t very detailed – McAfee will tell you what network activity has been blocked, but not tell you why certain types of traffic are being blocked or what you should do about it (other than leaving McAfee installed).
McAfee Firewall provides advanced protection for network users – I really like the software blocker, network intrusion protection, and advanced settings for tech-savvy users. While I’d like to see McAfee Diagnostics provide a little more information about the threats it detects, it’s still one of the best firewalls I’ve used in 2022.
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VPN (Virtual Private Network)
A VPN routes all your web traffic through a secure server, which encrypts all your data and hides your internet traffic. The VPN also hides your IP address to make it appear as if you are connecting from a different location. For example, if you are based in the US and connect to a server in the UK, you will be given an IP address from the UK, allowing you to surf the internet as if you were in the UK.
McAfee Safe Connect VPN is easy to use, has very fast internet connection speeds, and is good for basic online activities like browsing and streaming content.
McAfee Safe Connect VPN includes over 1,900 servers in 41 countries – that’s a pretty good server network, but it’s not as big as what independent competitors like ExpressVPN offer (ExpressVPN has over 3,000 servers in 94 countries). McAfee’s Safe Connect VPN protects user data with 256-bit AES encryption, one of the strongest encryption out there, and there’s a kill switch (Secure Connection), which disconnects you from the Internet if the VPN connection drops.
In my tests, I was able to access Netflix and Amazon Prime, but not Disney+ or Hulu. I’ve also watched TV shows and movies on lesser known streaming services like Pluto TV, but have been blocked by others like Crunchyroll. If you are looking for a VPN that works consistently with streaming services, I recommend ExpressVPN or CyberGhost VPN.
McAfee Safe Connect VPN also blocked my torrent client from uploading or downloading files in my test – If you are looking for a good VPN for torrenting activities, my top choices are ExpressVPN and ProtonVPN.
While there are things to like about McAfee Safe Connect VPN, there are quite a few drawbacks. For example, it has a bad privacy policy – McAfee Safe Connect VPN keeps records of the websites you visit, your IP addresses, and even the products you buy online. Also, McAfee Safe Connect VPN is missing additional features like split tunneling (allows you to choose which traffic travels through the VPN server and which traffic travels through your local network) and obfuscated servers (to bypass firewalls in restricted countries).
However, McAfee Safe Connect VPN performed really well in my speed tests – I had very fast speeds when connected to a local server (I’m in the US), McAfee Safe Connect VPN maintained decent speeds for smooth browsing on remote servers in Europe and South America (although websites took 4-5 seconds to load in Australia ).
While McAfee Safe Connect VPN has an easy-to-use interface, fast speeds on local servers, and works with Netflix, it stores internet traffic logs and IP addresses, doesn’t support P2P traffic, and misses out on a lot of extra features that are usually included in many other providers. Freelance VPN. However, McAfee Safe Connect VPN is secure and is a good choice for general web browsing and live streaming.
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WebAdvisor (Windows only)
McAfee WebAdvisor blocks phishing sites, exploit attacks, and browser-based encoders, and provides security ratings for some websites. It is a free Windows-based tool that can be downloaded separately as an add-on to your browser, and is also offered as part of Complete protection. WebAdvisor is available for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Explorer browsers.
WebAdvisor analyzes every website you visit for known exploit attacks and also identifies phishing sites through a huge phishing database that is constantly updated.
WebAdvisor blocked all phishing and exploit attacks in my test, and detected several dangerous sites that Chrome and Firefox’s built-in protection failed to detect.
WebAdvisor also includes an optional SafeSearch mode that assigns color-coded security ratings to your search results. I tested it with Google, and while it didn’t give ratings for many sites, it did give “dangerous” ratings for some hacking sites. Also, he did not mislabel any secure sites as unsafe.
WebAdvisor can also rate links on social networks like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more. In my testing, this link rating was surprisingly accurate, describing most links as safe, and correctly flagging phishing sites when a friend was hacked on Instagram.
Overall, WebAdvisor is one of the best online security tools on the market. Its anti-phishing and exploit protections are better than the built-in protections in Chrome and Firefox, and its search engine rankings and social media links are really helpful, especially for less advanced users who find it difficult to spot unsafe sites.
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