McAfee Internet security

[cask is best]

Wouldn't be without it but sometimes it drives me mad. Every Time i log on it does the latest updates and when i do a scan it slows my browsing right down.
People use to say Norton was notorious for slowing you down but McAfee is worse.
I don't want a free anti virus i want to be safe that's why i subscribe to a bought one every year. People say that the free ones are just as good but i don't buy into that. They cant be.
However back to the question. Does anyone else have this problem.
: CIB

 

[calumscott]

People say that the free ones are just as good but i don't buy into that. They cant be.

You're right, they're not just as good. AVG is WAY better than Norton or McAfee. The free part of their strategy is to get on more PCs and make them safer (and also to have a bigger network of machines identifying new threats) so that it's easier for them to make the paid PCs safer!

AVG doesn't hog bandwidth or resource and more importantly doesn't nag you constantly to turn on more and more features or buy more stuff.

I've used it for a decade and never had a single infection, it nails everything.

 

[stevie1556]

Norton is dreadful. My PC was hardly running at all and the program said I was fine, installed McAfee and said I glad about 200,000 viruses! Never glad a problem after that. My new computer is from a work scheme where it's all tax and NI free, and got 3 years of AVG with it. Works great and I highly recommend it.

All anti virus programs will slow the computer down somewhat as they require the processor and the hard drive.

 

[oldbloke]

The last dozen years of my career were in IT Security.
Norton and McAfee's corporate products are OK if carefully configured, but I wouldn't touch their domestic versions with a bargepole. We used to see endless streams of students using them who (a) got infected anyway and (b) had machines that ran like dogs (not greyhounds...)
At home at the moment I use AVG - free, works, not a resource hog.
Microsoft Security Essentials is OK at the mo too.
Back at work they used Sophos which I rather liked but they don't really do a domestic version. They also had McAfee (corporate) but I was trying to get them to switch to Kaspersky in the year before I retired. Not sure what Kaspersky's domestic version is like though.

If you've paid, you may not want to switch just yet: have a wander through the options and switch off the bits you don't really need. Eg you don't really need a daily full scan if you've got a realtime scanner running anyway. You don't really need to scan files being read off your HD if you scanned them when they got written. Etc.

 

[BIGJIM72]

I think there is just far too much bloatware in some of the antivirus suites now. Personally I use MSSE (can hear the hisses now)-no problems for me.Tried Norton (never again,worse than a lot of viruses to completely remove), Mcafee (only used it as it came bundled with Sky/Virgin package-could this be one of the reasons for it's popularity?) AVG Free (found it slow & sometimes let through malicious javascript) & still prefer MSSE & Antimalwarebytes used together.

 

[cask is best]

Thanks for the imput guys.

Swmbo had avg free version and had 100s of Trojans got them cleared and bought McAfee and never had any nasties yet and neither have i. We did get told free avg does not stop Trojans. Might be the case as swmbo changed and the problem stopped
Maybe I'm just to critical of the product it might be doing a really thorough job that's why it slows down.
I feel at ease with a bought one rather than a free download. So i suppose it's just peace of mind and will stick with it.

:
CIB

 

[PD]

+1 for AVG. 7 years and working well.
But as you say its what your comfortable with. If you changed to one your not sure about, first time you have a problem ( and its always possible ) you will start screaming and shouting...I told you so...

 

[no1troyboy]

I use 2 1 on my laptop which is avg free find it great and never had a problem but also i use kisperski but i buy the 3 licence for aroung the £30 mark and then sell it to friends so realy it covers the cost and its a great antivirus and have never had a problem with that eather its worth thinking about u can buy the 5 licance at about £40 have one for your self sell the other for at £10 each theres your money back and you got a good internet security for free

 

[Frogfurlong]

I have a couple running concurrently, together they save a lot of hassle.
AVG and Spybot S&D (I also run Advance system care once a week too for full defrag and Digi-trub removal)

They were recommended for me since they can run alongside each other without problems and a multi-layered approach is harder to sneak stuff past.

 

[BIGJIM72]

+1 for ASC as well - though don't like the UI in version 6 Quite like their smart defrag utility as well.

 

[wezil]

Hi microsoft security essentials is good, it's a freedownload and if memory serves me right got into the top five of a which test! Didn't win as it dosn't have things like identity protection but works seamlessly with windows defender firewall. Also the auto updates happen in the background!!. Dosn't slow your pc down or flash up constant messages (unlike some)! I use it and also have malwarebytes(free) and this is reckoned to be one of the best and it never finds anything missed by the microsoft ware. As always common sense and a fully updated windows instalation is the first barrier (or try linux)!!

 

[Aleman]

I've used Kaspersky (and paid for it) It did the job, but like others just became too bloated and resource hungry. . . . I jumped ship to PrevX which is blisteringly fast, and very small footprint (will sit nicely and play nicely with other AV programs) . . . There is a free version which has the scanner, but no tools to remove. . . . Been using it for 4 years now and no infections etc

Last full scan took 00:01:32 for 32K+ files.

 

[mike383838]

I make money by removing Norton and McAfee from computers, have done for years. I used to have clients ringing me from Curry's asking if they need the Norton that the sales peeps spent most of their time trying to sell due to the fact it was making them more money than the sale of the computer.

AVG Free is fine for consumer unless you are very internet promiscuous, in that case you need a dirty PC which you don't use for normal stuff. I would not touch Norton or McAfee with a barge pole if you want to actually use your computer. After removal application benchmarks triple in some cases. Who wants a PC that should run 3 times faster but doesn't. Not me. I refuse to work on a PC if the client refuses to let me UN-install Norton. 25 years in the Network Business and consumer PC Building since I was 16.

 

[bobsbeer]

Another free option which I use is Comodo. Works faster than McAfee, and seems to find more bugs than AVG. Not had a problem since I started using it.

 

[cask is best]

Another free option which I use is Comodo. Works faster than McAfee, and seems to find more bugs than AVG. Not had a problem since I started using it.

That's got me thinking when you say Comodo seems to find more bugs than AVG. I run a full scan about once a week scans 180,000 Plus files and it never finds anything after the scan it comes back no viruses found nothing quarantined etc. So is it that McAfee doesn't let anything suspicious through in the first place.

I sometimes get McAfee advising me that this web site has not been checked by them or i get a WHAW do you really want to go there. As it is warning me there is potential danger on this certain site and it gives you the level of the threat ie amber or red and a brief of what they have found.

 

[evanvine]

25 years in the Network Business and consumer PC Building since I was 16.

How the hell do you find time to bake bread? :wha:

 

[richc]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-20395207

 

[wilsoa1111]

my 2 cents- your are 100x less likely to get a virus if u install "WOT" on your pc's browser to stop u entering a dodgy site before it loads up fully-job done. i also had avg, still killed performance and was buggy, moved to avast-was tolerable it got lots of nastys- unfortuately one or 2 get past which then bugger avast and you spend a wee bit cleaning them off with super anti spyware and malwarebytes- now on msse-after avast decided it would switch off some sheilds even after a reinstall- and u know what sky hasnt fallen in and life is good again- go microsoft (hopefully to big to fail...)

 

[oldbloke]

Swmbo had avg free version and had 100s of Trojans ... We did get told free avg does not stop Trojans.

It /should/ stop trojans. But even the best AV lags behind the malware creators - several times our guys at Manc Uni were first to report a new virus to Sophos - we had plenty of idiots on campus who were ripe for infection and connected to places all over the world so we always had a high chance of seeing anything new. Usually the lag is just hours though.
And once one gets in, all bets are off. We used to see AVs with important bits disabled (by the user being an idiot or by a new virus the AV hadn't had a chance to recognise) regularly. And we also used to see people who never updated. I used to grab updates from Sophos hourly and send them to all the campus desktops twice a day, more if there was a flap on.
AVG is OK now, but I think in the past it has had times when it wasn't so hot.

 

[Baz Chaz]

When my lad went to St Andrews Uni a number of years ago, the computer mob he was pals with recommended everyone remove Norton/Mcaffee from their PC's, nearly everyone went with AVG.

AVG started to run a bit slow (probably about 5 years ago) and I along with others moved to Avast, wasn't long before we've all moved back to AVG when they introduced the latest (free) edition, stuck with 'em ever since.