VirusScan Home Edition 7.0

McAfee VirusScan 7.0 installs easily from the CD-ROM and immediately checks your PC for any viruses that may already have infected it. As soon as you connect to the Internet it downloads the latest updates to ensure you are up-to-date with all the newest virus signatures.

To enable it to work effectively, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 operates on many levels. The new Hostile Activity Watch Kernel (HAWK) constantly monitors your PC for viruslike activity and integrates well with many different e-mail clients. The VShield feature runs constantly in the background, checking files as you open them. Even if you choose to disable VShield, the program still protects Microsoft Office files by checking them before you open them.

Another common way hackers infect PCs is by using scripts in e-mails. McAfee VirusScan 7.0 works well here, too, by looking for suspicious behavior in scripts such as those trying to open, write, or delete files. Anything suspect is stopped immediately.

For users running Win 98, 98 SE, and Me only there is a Safe & Sound function that makes copies of your documents and keeps them safe in case they get damaged by data corruption or virus activity. Note that this does not work on Windows 2000 and XP.

Some of the latest viruses can stop antivirus programs from working properly once they have infected a machine. If you suspect this has occurred, you can boot your PC directly from the McAfee VirusScan 7.0 installation CD-ROM, ensuring a clean environment for it to work in. You can also create a boot floppy to do the same thing.

Like the other products in McAfee's security range, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 uses Instant Updater, which constantly checks for product updates and automatically downloads these when you are online. Of course, any antivirus product is only as good as its ability to stop viruses from infecting your system. Happily, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 has been given a 100% rating by Virus Bulletin (although this assumes you do keep your product up-to-date with Instant Updater).

McAfee VirusScan 7.0 is a worthy update, and existing users will appreciate the improved security this release offers. --Iain Laskey, Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com Product Description
Stop viruses and keep your PC safe with McAfee VirusScan. When you're surfing the Internet, there's more to worry about than just viruses. VirusScan includes extra firewall protection to keep your computer safe from worms, Trojan horses, and viruses when you're online. It destroys threats at all entry points of your PC, including e-mail and synchronization with your PDA. It constantly monitors and stops viruslike activity on your computer to prevent any new threats from spreading.

Pros: It looks pretty and takes up lots of disk space. The CD disk makes for a nice dog toy and the box is good for small bits of rubish and perhaps as another dog toy.

Giving this a rating of one star is generous, infact I feel they should be giving me a few stars back in exchange for this worthless junk. Avoid this mess at all costs !!


Awful company - avoid McAfee like the plague   February 20, 2004
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

Pros:

-It can detect most viruses and updates are available almost every day

- ... .

Cons:

- It won't always be able to delete/disinfect virus files that it detects

- Starting around a month before your update subscription ends, McAfee "Buy New Subscription" pop-ups appear, you click on the x to close and they disappear...... for 60 seconds. Then they reappear, you click on the x ..... a minute later it comes back. There are only two ways to stop these popups - go online with your credit card number to McAfee.com to resubscribe to their update service or uninstall the McAfee program. Customer service and tech support both refused to tell me how to disable these continuously reappearing and incredibly annoying pop-ups.

- Tech support is virtually non-existant, unless you call in to their $2.95/minute or $39.99/issue support lines. E-mails get canned, non-responsive answers. The FAQ section of their website has no responses to real questions and the "24/7" tech support chat system is always busy or non-functional - its unavailable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

- Having registered a previous version of a McAfee product may prevent you from getting updates on subsequent versions that the user legitimately acquires. I bought both Viruscan Professional 8.0 and Personal Firewall Plus, after getting VS Home 7.0 (both were free after rebates - the only reason I purchased them) and when the auto update tries to give me the current update of my new programs when I go online, it tells me "You are not authorized to receive this service." An e-mail to customer support got me back a confirmation that I am properly registered for the two new programs and I should have no problems. I guess continuing to receive the "You are not authorized to receive this service" response when I try to update the virus database isn't a problem for McAfee. However, it is a damn big problem for me.

-Who knows what sort of spy-ware McAfee installs on your computer with its standard installation? A quick check with Windows Explorer reveals that their uninstallation procedure does not uninstall 100% of the components of the McAfee software you have installed, that is for sure.

Avoid this horribly run company and its products. Even though it's not costing me any more than tax and postage after the rebates to re-subscribe, I think that's still the opposite of a bargain and I regret my decision to stay with McAfee. In retrospect, I should have gone with either Norton or one of the several freeware antivirus programs.