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McAfee VirusScan Home Edition 8.0
McAfee (
03 October, 2003 )
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34.99
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A worthy contender  |
In the world of anti virus protection, there are two leading brands - Norton and McAfee. The Norton Anti Virus program is slightly more famous and slightly more popular, but from a computer viewpoint, it does require a lot of system resources and drastically slows down older computers. Conversely, the McAfee program doesnt do this and the results are almost exactly the same.There are also a lot of free anti virus programs on the internet, so why should you pay for this? Basically, its down to the updates you recieve. With McAfee, you receieve updates via a download every time a new virus is discovered, whereas with the free ones, updates may not be as quick off the mark, leaving you threatened. In summary, an anti virus program is essential, and you are better off sticking with either McAfee or Norton, and in my personal experience, McAfee does an equally good job without compromising system resources as much, so it is my pick.
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User review of McAfee VirusScan v 8.0 Home Edition 2004  |
I bought McAfee version 8/2004 when my precious anti-virus software identified but could not remove one of the my-mail viruses, which are flooding the airwaves at present (February 2004). Installation onto Windows 98SE from the CD was straightforward enough with the program immediately updating itself and adding the latest pattern files from the McAfee website. Despite adverse reports about previous versions, this one cosied up to my ZoneAlarm firewall with no problems.Straight out of the box McAfee picked up the my-mail virus, a previously unseen trojan, and an unpleasant auto-dialler I was unaware of, and promptly removed them. Ten out of ten for product efficiency, and a nice warm feeling of competent virus protection. But now the downside. Like most home UK users with standalone PCs, I connect to the Internet via a dial-up modem and BT land line. McAfee tries to update itself every four hours, but if you are not actually connected when it tries to access its website, it prompts you with the standard dial-up connection box every four to five minutes. You cannot turn this constant interruption off. This is incredibly annoying if you have no desire to break off from what you are doing just for the benefit of the virus checker. And if you pay actual phone charges rather than ISP fees, this program will cost you far more than the initial up-front subscription. Re-setting the configuration to manual updating had no effect, nor is there any way to schedule updating from within the program. Eventually I got a clunky workaround from the McAfee helpdesk - who seemed well aware of the problem - by disabling the autodial function in Internet Explorer and then using Control Panel. This is an infuriating design fault from a respected software producer, presumably stemming from a corporate assumption that all home users really ought to be continually surfing the Net. Crazy. Product recall then, McAfee? VirusScan version 8.0: not recommended.
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Whats the problem?  |
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Having bought this software to replace my unreliable AVG when I bought a new computer, I was expecting a reasonable package. I had read a couple of reviews etc, decision had been made and I was surprised to see it getting such a slating on the amazon site. Feeling brave I decided to buy it anyway in combination with McAfee firewall.
All installed no problem, scanned and everything was clear. I have had no problem with constant dial up requests as other users have and wonder if they are using the same software. Updates are unobtrusive whenever I connect to the internet, usually happening while I check my email, and once downloaded i am told this has been done and allowed to continue.
Few days ago I got my first ever virus, and didnt know about it until somebody phoned me to warned me. When I checked it had been erased automatically by McAfee and i hadnt been bothered by it at all. One of my colleges had infected emails sent to all in his address book, upsetting a lot of people. As the virus was only a week old he hadnt updated his virus software in time.
I dont want bells and whistles, just unobtrusive software that does its job. The more automatic the more likely it gets updated and is reliable when you need it.
I would recommend this package to anyone, and am in the process of doing so to all those my college has infected.
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