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| McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008 (3 User Edition) (PC) | 
 enlarge | From: McAfee
Category: Software
List Price: £49.99
Buy New: £8.49
You Save: £41.50 (83%)
New (9) Used (3) from £5.99
Avg. Customer Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 15
Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows Xp, Windows 2000
Media: CD-ROM
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.5 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 731944568782
EAN: 0731944568782
Release Date: October 8, 2007
Availability: Usually dispatched within 1-2 business days
Condition: 3 user. NO RETAIL BOX. OEM - Fast UK Delivery
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| Customer Reviews:
 Quick, slick and plenty of features. July 24, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
After removing my freeware alternatives, the McAfee ISS install took just 30 minutes. That included 10-15 minutes for the automatic download of the latest version from the net, and 5-10 minutes for a preliminary scan of my machine.
The registration process was swift and easy, with no codes to enter, just personal details. The email confirmation showed that the product was correctly identified as a 3 user license.
After that, a quick reboot and I was up and running - painless.
I selected the standard/full install with anti-virus, personal firewall, site advisor etc, and when my machine was back up my online apps worked straight away. IE, Firefox, Thunderbird and Skype all seem to be preconfigured in the firewall for net access, and the only item I had on auto startup that caused a firewall popup was VNC which seems fair to me.
The popup system will seem familiar to anyone who has used other firewalls and is as straightforward here as anywhere. The popups are the software's way of learning your preferences with regard to which applications on you PC should be allowed access to your network and/or the internet. As always you therefore need to know which applications do what (internet search engines can always help out there if you get stuck) and whether or not you want them to access the internet.
The first thing I did when up and running was run a full scan of my system. McAfee managed to find three suspect items on my machine, one of which was borderline, the other two defiitely bad. The two bad items (malicious scripts from web sites, I believe) were quarantined, the other I could chose whether to delete or ignore.
Performance wise, my main desktop PC (a Pentium 4, 2.4GHz with 1GB RAM and about 5 years old) copes very well with the software, showing only a very slight slow down during McAfee updates. My laptop (900MHz Pentium M with just 256MB RAM and also about 5yrs old), however, grinds to a halt and is all but unusable while the software updates (it can sometimes be an hour before my laptop is useable!).
It just seems to be the updates that slow things down though. Once they are complete the software has very little impact on your working whatsoever. In fact you can forget its there until it intervenes in suspicious activity and pops up its warning and asks what you want to do.
In summary, then, this is a slick and effective package with plenty of useful features (anti-virus, firewall, parental controls, privacy functions that prevent you from accidentally sending sensitive data to un-secured websites, site advisor and more). It found infections that my previous, free installation had missed, but we must always bear in mind that no anti-virus software is infallible and take sensible precautions online anyway.
It works well on a reasonably spec'd machine, but older, less powerful machines may struggle during the automatic updates (which seem to be daily). Any new PC should cope fine.
A good anti-virus at a good price July 21, 2008
I found this easy to install despite not having the instructions to hand, which shows it is idiot-proof. It is also better than Norton, which I had a 3 month trial of free with the computer I purchased. I have had no problems whatsoever although I have had trouble allowing certain pop-ups that i did want to see. It is excellent value for the price though.
excellent, once you get past the installation July 20, 2008
It had been ages since I upgraded my anti-virus software. I'm using an old laptop, and the version of McAfee I had on it was about 4 years old... I had never upgraded or renewed the live updates. I guess I'd been lucky to avoid picking up malware on an effectively unprotected laptop for so long.
Anyway, I sat down to install this new 3 user cd, and after the cd loaded, there was a lot to download from McAfee. All told, it took around half an hour. Then the fun really began - I got an info box telling me that the previous older version of McAfee I had on the computer needed to be removed first, and apparently this couldn't be done automatically. So I tried the auto uninstall attached to the old version and restarted the installation process. No luck - still got the 'remove older version' message. So I fished around on my laptop and found the add/remove programs function, and for some reason it seemed like my old software was divided into different chunks and that needed to be removed one by one. So after an hour, I finally got there. Restarted the installation and everything went smoothly.
Now that I've got it, I haven't had any problems at all so far. The interface is clean and user-friendly, the scans run on schedule, and I feel well protected. It's reassuring to feel like you have software which gives you comprehensive protection. Not sure how true this is, but like I said, I've been surfing the web using an old version of McAfee for so long, and it still seemed to keep me out of trouble. Hopefully the new version will be just as good in the long term.
Just as a sidenote- I was really appalled to read another reviewer's warning about McAfee's 'automatic renewal' policy. Surely this cannot be legal unless they clearly and directly stipulate such a policy when you buy/sign up. As far as I know I haven't given McAfee my bank details at any point, but just reading that this is their practice made me very wary indeed.
 better than previous versions!!!! July 18, 2008
Having struggled with previous versions of McAfee security suite, I was very eager to condemn this product to the gutter. I am therefore thankful that it is no longer the difficult, stubborn, inflexible piece of software I remember it being. Whilst not as good as Microsoft's security package - it has shown to be a useful protector on a laptop and mobile broadband. Not an essential purchase but worth considering.
Preferable to Norton July 17, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
When I used to use the full Norton Security suite, I could never just ignore it. I'd get bugged by pop-ups, e-mail scanning and constant warnings 3 months in advance to update my subscription. I even had to download the special Norton removal tool to get rid of it in the end because the regular uninstall feature left loads of files behind in the registry.
McAfee is a nice improvement on Norton as far as I'm concerned. Although I personally don't need the 'Parental Control' features, it's useful for families who want to supervise their children's internet activity.
* Most useful: 'Spamkiller' and 'Data Backup' were actually features I made full use of. It's quick and painless to back up files as soon as changes have been made, and I found it more stable than Microsoft's backup facility which often gave me a 'failure' message right at the end.
*Spamkiller is easy to set up even if you've never used an email filter before. You can set up your own filters (and/or use the preset ones for the usual suspects!). However, I suggest changing the default setting from high to stop it filtering out mail you want. But even if it does, you can easily retrieve it and add it to the 'whitelist'.
*Bad bits: Site Advisor. Maybe not bad exactly, but it reminded me of AVG's LinkScanner which spent forever deciding if a site was safe to view. Unlike AVG, you can choose NOT to install Site Advisor. If you don't need parental control, then you don't really need Site Advisor, unless you're happy with it choosing what it thinks is safe for you to view!
Finally, if you don't have a clue how to change the settings, then just leave them. The default settings are fine for people who don't want to get confused about what to change. I'd only advise changing the Spamkiller settings though. And for those who don't mind playing around with the settings, there are a ton of options available to tweak to your own preferences.
If you think McAfee is too expensive, then AVG, Zone Alarm and Spybot (all free) are very good alternatives, easy to use and don't conflict with each other.
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