McAfee Internet Security 2010 Review
Overview:
Pros:
- Easy to Use Interface
- Improved Real Time protection
- Good Anti Spam
- Better Email Protection
- Parental Controls provided
- One license supports up to 3 users
- Can run video and games without interruption
- Shredder mode allows you to remove all confidential information
- Stealth mode makes your PCs invisible to other users.
- Easy to uninstall
Cons:
- Poor Firewall Settings
- High Resource Usage
- Parental Controls are too basic
- Data backup could have been more robust
- Paid support model for Customer service
- Long Installation time
Review:
The California based company McAfee is one of the most competitive players in the security technology market. With the users regarding it amongst the most trusted names in the security industry, it has constantly been launching versions of anti-virus suites. In February 2010, they have launched the latest version of McAfee Internet Security 2010 – another offering in the battle against viruses, spam, spyware and malware.
They have introduced a whole new interface and a host of new features. The Brand new Interface looks cool and Features like 2 way firewall protection, Artemis Security Engine make it a highly competitive model in the market.
McAfee’s Internet Security Versions:
A notable thing about McAfee’s updates is that the lesser products (in this case the Antivirus) have almost every important feature that the higher end versions (the McAfee Total Protection). Like most other security suites they have not reduced features in the lesser products so as to get more people to upgrade. The high-end version includes Mozy Online Backup along with McAfee Internet Security and a free storage of 1GB. Users of Total Protection 2 GB together with parental controls. The special Home Defense feature is available in Total Protection. It allows users to see network settings of the home PC as well as other computers on the network and also prevents intruders from accessing other computers on the network.
Is it recommended?
McAfee has proven itself time and against some rigorous tests such as the ISCA, West Coast Labs Levels 1 and 2 and Virus Bulletin 100 %. McAfee is one of the few companies to have passed all these tests and all of them concluded one thing – McAfee is recommended.
Simple Installation:
For Starters, Installation of an anti virus takes time, but McAfee Internet Security suite 2010 took a lot more time to download and install. The installer file is the actual downloader – it downloads all the necessary files. The downloader is useless and seems to make the process long. The Installation had no options to choose location or features to include. However, one pro is the fact that malware and virus definitions were current and hence there was no need for them to be manually downloaded. McAfee had no problems whatsoever in integrating with other programs like Internet Explorer and Microsoft Outlook. But was the 20 Minutes worth it? We are not really sure.
If you are swapping from another security suite to McAfee, you will need to know that it doesn’t play nice with the existing security apps and demands one to remove all of them before the installation is complete. It also provides the users links on information on how to uninstall them.
Simpler Uninstallation:
However, the Un-installation was far easier than installing it. Easily the best uninstalling suite, it does not have a self uninstaller but you can remove the program via the Windows Add/Remove Program. The whole uninstallation took about 45 seconds and we noticed there were several directories and registry keys left which were present after a forced reboot. It would have been easier provided McAfee had directly provided a self uninstaller.
Features:
For 2010, McAfee promised significant improvements over the Internet Security 2009 and with the brand name behind it, it surely manages to offer a vast list of features. It has not dropped the focus from Real time anti-virus protection, anti-spam and email spamming and has incorporated newer features to this product. The following are the list of the features present on the McAfee Internet Security 2010.
What’s NEW?
McAfee has revamped the older interface and has come up with a bright new colour coded easy to read interface. The older features present in the previous versions have been upgraded as well. SystemGuards has been replaced fully by Artemis and the local backup has been replaced by Mozy. The Personal Information Protection (which allowed users to enter personal data such as credit card numbers) was expected to disseminate information over the internet and was hence discontinued for not being effective. The PasswordVault that is responsible for securing net passwords has been swapped for a browser-bestowed password protection. Likewise the EasyNetwork responsible for local sharing has also been swapped for Windows 7’s file sharing technique.
Easy to Use Interface:
McAfee have not changed the interface in a couple of years and the new update promises a great new interface. The overhauled interface change is highly dramatic and the new look is much different than any major security program in the market. As stated earlier, there is really not much difference in between the Plus, the Internet Security and the Total Protection versions. The presentation is radical enough to ensure one would not notice the improvements among them. The user interface is easy to use and straightforward. The fully functional and well designed interface avoided the over flashy UIs (which tend to make most software slower). There is Basic and advanced options and the basic menu just show the more important options and hide the advanced options.
A “Colour Coded” Interface:
The top down design that McAfee 2010 Internet Security Suite uses easily stands out from the typical left navigation and tabs design. At the top of the vertical window is the notification bar (something that most suites have). McAfee uses a “Colour coded” Interface which tells you what each colour means. The “Your computer is Secure” message is now bolstered by another line: “No Action Required” reducing unnecessary confusion that the earlier versions caused (McAfee spent three years on testing features and researching on the new interface).
Status Notifications:
Below the status bar are the supplementary status notifications which are also colour coded for ease of legibility. There are the Real Time Scanning, Firewall, Updates and subscription status towards the left and towards the right one would find the timing of the upcoming scheduled scan along with a link provided for alteration of the same. Click on any of the four categories to drill deeper into the security status of your computer. The interface is similar to its competitors, although the big font and simpler language make things easy. The status notifications are separated into four categories: Virus and Spyware protection, Web and Email protection and Parent Controls (on McAfee Internet Security and Total Protection). Each opens a small group of links to let the users know further information on scan settings, fire and anti spam controls, network notifications and parent control options.
Enterprise Class Anti Spam:
The McAfee IS 2010 uses a powerful industry grade spam protection which makes sure your inbox is free from unwanted fraudulent offensive or phishing emails. McAfee has an anti-spam filter that is very easy to use. There is no need to learn anything unlike other providers. There is a tool bar available that marks emails as spam. One can even add friendly emails to this list and mark them as spam too. There are settings regarding the aggressiveness of the spam filter. When configured for the highest setting, the spam filter tended to block some of the friendly emails as well; but 2 friendly mails out of 20-25 spam ones is not a bad result. Sure, this did not thrill us. But it was easy to use and passed our spam test well.
Parental Controls:
One feature that most anti-virus packages pay attention to is Parental Controls. They determine the content your children should be exposed to while on the Internet. This enables you to make sure one can block all sorts of adult sites. The Parental controls on the McAfee Internet Security 2010 are available only on the Internet Security and Total Protection Pack only and are very basic and limited. One can block websites, limit the time your ward spends on the Internet and even filter keywords as well. But that is all about it. However, an option to monitor email or IM is un-available. Neither is the keylogger software present. These are essential areas that all Parental controls should address.
Let us discuss about the keyword filter: It lets you assign an age group to any keyword you choose. If the site has this keyword, the parental controls will block the site from view. There was this one minor issue: We issued a keyword gay and the controls made sure we could not read about Tyson Gay either. For Maximum Child Internet Safety, this is perhaps not the best controls to rely on. All you can expect is basic security and safety.
Data Backup:
One of the most extensive features on the Internet security 2010 is the file backup feature. Unlike the previous versions, the newer version runs on Mozy. It allows you to save copies of your files to a CD, DVD, USB, External and Network drives. One can set it to monitor specific directories and modify archives whenever a file is changed or configured for that matter. There is an option to scan and backup on a schedule as well. The interface here falters and is incomprehensible. Several buttons and text link makes it hard to navigate around. We were unable to find Manual backup and we guess that only scheduled backups are available. The help files are not very informative either. What was expected to be promising was quite disappointing.
Online Backup:
The McAfee Internet allows storage of 1GB of free online data. Important files such as Word Documents, Spreadsheets or Photos can now be stored securely on McAfee’s servers. In case of theft, hard drive crash or fire, these documents can be accessed easily. Their offerings are not really robust but it offers protection for your data. It also can be used as a rudimentary file sync tool. All you need to access your stored files is an internet connection.
Email Protection:
Both real time protection and email protection caught the same number of threats about 75 percent. For you to use email protection, real time protection needs to be engaged. One interesting point to note is that IMAP and POP3 clients are supported (Unlike most manufacturers, who give second class status to IMAP in spite of it being popular amongst users who use Outlook or Thunderbird). We are glad that McAfee provides protection to clients irrespective of the protocol they use. Though the average email protection rate was average, McAfee did not slow down the computer.
Anti-Phishing Filter:
McAfee offers an anti-phishing filter which is as good as the default filter offered in web browsers such as Internet Explorer 8 or Google Chrome. It blocks websites that potentially offer the threat of stealing the users’ identity. McAfee has gladly included Anti-phishing but we wonder why the feature is incorporated when it is no better than the anti-phishing filter provided for free with IE 8 or Chrome.
Manual Anti-virus Scan:
Another noticeable improvement in the 2010 version of McAfee is its ability to detect malware and viruses when scanned for manually. Compared to the older version, the newer one has been able to scan a lot of threats and about three fourths of them were removed. A full manual scan should be able to remove more threats than that considering McAfee’s real time antivirus detection. Also, there was this one piece of software that McAfee could not remove even when scanned manually. But there are packages that can do much better than McAfee over here. On the whole, McAfee Internet Security did an average job even with manual scanning.
Artemis:
The biggest feature update perhaps of the McAfee Internet Security 2010 is the older real time defense engine is now replaced by Artemis. This engine, now a common place features in better antivirus programs, was first introduced in the year 2008. The 2010 Version of McAfee IS has Artemis working in conjunction with the McAfee SiteAdvisor to be able to scan downloads as they occur. These scans include features such as using real time URL, IP Address and domain data to evaluate such downloads for threats before they land on the drive.
This revamped engine makes sure one can change the threat ratings on the go. The users also have the option to over ride the rating and push through if the protection falsely flags a site malicious. However, there is no user override for malicious / infected files.
Regular Updates:
One can download security definitions when available either manually or automatically. One can set McAfee to download them and install these updates when available or one can download them and install it a later date. There would be a notification before any of the antivirus definitions download or an installation.
Protection without Interference:
Remember how annoying it can get when you happen to play this action game and all of a sudden a notification from your security suite pops in? McAfee IS 2010 now defers tasks in full screen mode without interrupting us while we watch movies or play games.
Other Features:
Apart from the host of features McAfee has incorporated into IS 2010, there are other features such as: Identity protection, Shredder and Stealth mode. The Identity protection will allow one to shop, bank or trade online safely without the threat of exposing confidential information such as credit card numbers. The Stealth mode allows the user to make his computer invisible to intruders online and hence eliminating the chances of getting the PC hacked. There is also the shredder feature that “shreds” the stash of confidential files from your computer giving an extra bout of security.
Performance:
Massive Improvement in Start-up time:
McAfee claims that the start time would be 300 percent faster than the 2009 version and that the shut down time would be 30 percent faster. We did test it and McAfee got this right. The reason for such a huge improvement in startup time is because like a few other players, McAfee does not fully load all of its processes by the time one starts using their desktop. This does not however affect the security of the system but the interface is accessible only 90 seconds after all the other icons in the system tray appear.
Faster than Before:
Quick Scans now take about 10 – 15 minutes to run and full scans take up to 40 minutes. That makes it faster than Norton Anti Virus and 55 minutes faster than the 2009 version of McAfee. The Full Scan time is also an astounding 120 minutes faster than its predecessor. The feature of file marking made sure subsequent scans were finished in lesser than 2 minutes.
Real Time Protection:
The most important aspect to evaluate an Anti-virus / Internet security suite is how it offers real time protection from all the baddies out there. The 2009 version of McAfee IS works extremely well. It might not have been very fast but delivers decent protection. McAfee Internet Security 2010 has a fast acting real time virus and malware protection. Most of the malicious files were quarantined and not deleted. Yet, McAfee has dealt with them adequately and it is unfair not to give it a high score in this segment.
IM Protection:
Any files that are sent to the users or are transferred to the users through IM like Yahoo! Messenger are immediately scanned for viruses and threats. It was successful at capturing malicious threats as long as real time protection was enabled.
An Average Firewall:
It feels great when a true firewall antivirus software is provided along with Internet Security. The Firewall like all other features is very easy to use; but that is because there are not many features here either. The user interface does not let you open individual ports or protocols. One can choose which programs can have access and traffic is managed by each individual program setting. One click can lock down the Firewall blocking all network traffic in between the PC and the Internet. This also stops remote connections from accessing your PC. Initially, we were alarmed by the fact that not even a single piece of malware was detected by the firewall with its default settings. When set to standard setting, all programs that were attempting to access the Internet were detected and this included virus/Malware/spyware as well. . One can allow only outbound access if they choose to and in the Standard mode the outbound access is denied. Also another point to notice is that when the firewall is in the default mode, no sort of notifications are provided. There is the “Maintain Computer” function that cleans out old and unused files.
One of the most disturbing fact is that most users would probably know not to set their firewall to a tougher Standard mode and hence their computers will be exposed to more threats than they should be. Since users expect certain levels of performance from a firewall without even knowing how it works or why they would need it, McAfee should have had a stronger and more stringent settings for the default mode.
Spyware and Adware Protection:
One of the major problems that threaten most users is the large amount of spyware and adware they are exposed to. The McAfee IS 2010 identifies, blocks and eliminates spyware, viruses and adware. The ISCA gave their approval and could detect adware and key- loggers, Trojans etc. One peculiar thing we have noticed is the fluctuation in the spyware and adware removal. McAfee managed to remove about 75 percent of the spyware and another test revealed that it removed only 60 percent. The scanner missed many tracking cookies and a few pre installed spyware tool bars. Tests proved that it was not reliable, it was still satisfactory. The fact that we have got varying results confused us regarding McAfee’s reliability to correctly handle spyware.
Resource Hogger:
The McAfee Internet Security Suite 2010 has a poor resource usage. Though during real time protection scan memory usage was as low as 3 percent, during a manual full time scan, a huge 250 MB of memory was used. The McAfee Antivirus 2010 also has similar problems. Low virtual memory warnings from Windows are not really a good sign. A manual scan had the CPU Usage shoot up to 85 percent during the scanning process. McAfee should seriously focus more on better resource usage the next time.
Technical Support provided:
In order to get all your queries clarified one can access McAfee Support either by telephone or the “Virtual Technician”. On the site to access their forums or chat, one needs to run a program named Virtual Technician which is altogether a separate program that has to be downloaded. Forum and Chat support are provided free of cost and all you would need is an account to log in. For issues such as sales and registration, phone support provided is free. But for actual technical support, McAfee charges fees per incident for live phone support.
This is where it falters: Most antivirus companies such as Kaspersky and BitDefender offer free support and we think that the paid support model McAfee uses is unfair.
Requirements:
The McAfee Internet Security 2010 requires the Users to have Microsoft Windows 2000 (32-bit) together with (SP4) Service Pack 4 or higher, Vista (32 or 64-bit) and XP (32-Bit) with (SP`) Service Pack 1 or higher. It also requires the users to have a RAM of 256 MB or greater and a minimum resolution of 800 x 600. A Drive space of 150 MB would help in smooth running of the suite. An Internet connection is essential if you would want the upgrades McAfee provides.
Warranty:
McAfee offers its Internet Security 2010 limited software warranty and it has a 3 User license for a subscription period of one year.
Verdict:
The 2010 version of McAfee Internet Security is a glad improvement over its predecessor. Like most program overhauls, McAfee promises faster installs, faster scan times, a small memory footprint and effective scans. The Great easy to use Interface, the Enterprise Class Anti Spam and the Artemis Security Engine make it an amazing suite.
The Anti spam and Email protection, list amongst the most improved features of the suite. Both were not only easy to use but effective as well. However, the firewall and the data backup could have been much better as we expect more from an Internet Security suite than an extremely simple firewall. The parental controls are a tad bit basic and so is the online data backup. The Anti spam filter and the Manual scan were able to detect most of the viruses and it provides a satisfactory protection against viruses / spam/ malware/ adware. It is a bit anemic in a few necessary areas and slows down your computer especially during a real time scanner.
McAfee Internet Security is good for most users, but there are far better firewalls from other companies. The core protection has an excellent real time antivirus detection, but on the whole, it isn’t perfect as of yet.
McAfee Internet Security 2010 – Specification Details
| Lab | McAfee |
| Software name | McAfee Internet Security Suite 2010 |
| Suite type | Internet Security |
| License Type | Complete package |
| License validation period | One year |
| License quantity | Three users |
| System requirements | Windows XP (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 (SP2) or higher Windows Vista (32-bit and 64-bit) Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit |
| Minimum Processor Type | 1GHz or higher |
| Other requirements | 800 × 600 or higher resolution 256MB RAM or higher 200MB of available free drive space Internet connection |
| Supported Browsers | Microsoft Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Mozilla FireFox 2 |
| Supported Email Programs | POP3 MAPI Windows Live Mail |
| Core protection | Blocks viruses, spyware, Trojan horses, worms, bots, and rootkits Defends against hackers with firewall |
| Advanced Protection | Filters spam
Parental controls |
| Networking | Helps secure and monitor your home network Automatically secures your PC when connecting to public wireless networks |
| Identity Protection | Yes |
| Backup and Restore | Yes |
| Other Features | Faster PC Performance Simplified Security Management Better PC Health |
| Other Key features | Web, File, Email protection Anti-Spam Network Monitor Anti-Phishing |
| Support | Free forums and chat “Virtual Technician” – Paid support |
June 8th, 2010 at 1:55 pm
Thank you very much for so interesting article. Great job!
December 30th, 2010 at 3:53 pm
The review is informative. Safety is very important, great post about this subject, thank you for sharing.