McAfee Antispyware |
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Product: McAfee AntiSpyware Price: $39.99 Company Info: McAfee Editor Rating: 2 1/2 stars |
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Pros
+ Provides decent protection against spyware
+ Attractive user interface
Cons
- Detects but fails to disable some spyware
- More expensive than most products
- Annoying registration process
- Sneaky upsell tactics
McAfee Antispyware Product Review
McAfee Antispyware provides average protection against spyware. The product sports a beautiful user interface, but has a number of annoying installation and usability quirks. It is more expensive than other products, and McAfee's marketing team takes every opportunity to upsell you on their other software, which results in a product that borders on "adware" itself.
Like other products, McAfee's product will immunize your computer against common invaders, such as browser hijackers, unwanted search bars, and pop-up advertising programs. We discovered no problems on either Windows XP or Windows 2000, unlike some of the other products which caused serious browser slowdowns on Windows XP.
Installation
McAfee's mercenary approach to selling their product became evident when we first placed our order. On the website, the product is advertised as costing $29.99. However, once you put the program in your shopping cart, they alert you to the fine print: this is after a $10 mail-in rebate. So while it is technically true that the software costs $29.99, you have to pay $39.99 up front. And the truth is, most people will never send the rebate form in.
And if this wasn't bad enough, McAfee adds an "extended download" product to your shopping cart without your consent. This comes with an additional $7.99 fee. The extended download service simply allows you to download the program for an entire year (rather than 30 days). Is this service really worth $8? We didn't think so and it struck as deceptive marketing.
Aside from the issues we had purchasing the product, McAfee Antispyware was particularly difficult to install on our spyware-laden test computers. We had to reboot several times and manually kill a number of spyware programs using task manager before the program would install, a problem we didn't experience with other products.
McAfee's marketing department has even influenced the install program with a mandatory registration form. In order to install the software you've already purchased, you are required to give McAfee your email address and other information, and then manually opt-out of their follow up email lists.
Usability
The first time we ran McAfeee Antispyware, we were bombarded with pop-up windows. If you don't know a lot about computers, prepared to be overwhelmed with information. Because we had a lot of spyware running on our test PC, we had to manually shut down dozens of popups warning us that "A suspicious component has been detected". Furthermore, McAfee bundles their "Security Center" with all of their products, which is little more than a constant reminder that you haven't purchased the rest of the McAfee security suite.
However, scanning was simple enough. Clicking a link on the main screen kicks it off, and we found that the product was quite fast in comparison with other products.
Spyware Removal
We ran McAfee Antispyware on two infected PCs running a
combination of old and new spyware programs. It did not flag any
legitimate applications as spyware.
In our spyware removal effectiveness test, McAfee Antispyware performed a bit better than average. While it detected about 70% of the spyware we tested for, it disabled only 54% of it. After we rebooted our PC, many spyware programs remained running, completely unaffected by the scan.
The scan results were very easy to read and scroll through, and McAfee provides a depth of information about each program. However, we discovered that pressing "ok" on the bottom of the scan results window didn't actually remove any spyware. We were forced to scan again, and discovered that we had to manually select each spyware to remove it. Not a problem for a savvy user, but we suspect many computer novices using McAfee antispyware are still running spyware in the background.
Rollback
McAfee Antispyware lets you rollback any changes it makes. This is helpful if you have wiped out spyware that is needed by an otherwise useful program (Real Player and Kazaa are typical examples of software embedded with spyware on your PC that won’t run without it).
Other Options
McAfee Antispyware lacks a scheduler, meaning that you will have to manually run your own scans. Not only do you have to remember to do this, but it also slows down your PC while it runs. We felt this was a major omission with the product.
Summary
McAfee is a major brand name in consumer software, and we had high hopes for this product, especially given PC Magazines' quote: "McAfee's spyware detection and removal functions placed it among the best antispyware tools we've tested". However, we found the program to be downright average, disabling only about half of the spyware we tested it against. Furthermore, McAfee's marketing team has tainted the product with fine-print rebates, unauthorized shopping cart additions, opt-out email lists, and aggressive upselling. Perhaps that's what it takes to be a name brand, but there are much better (and cheaper) products on the market.
Purchase Price: $39.99
Free Trial/Scan: No
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