McAfee Antivirus - Is it Worth using?

Most of the cybersecurity threats you might face are finding their way to your PC via the internet. McAfee is not like any other traditional antivirus. Apart from keeping your PC free of malicious programs, the package covers your internet security.

Today, McAfee is one of the top cybersecurity programs. It recently got into the limelight, but you will be surprised to find out the company started way back in the late 80s. McAfee has undergone various tests in AV-Comparative labs beating significant players with the enterprise product and showing impressive results. The company offers various solutions in various products, whether for your PC/mobile or enterprise.

McAfee Features and Performance

Unfortunately, these guys do not provide any free package for their antivirus. If you want something free, you can only get the free 30day trial for the total protection product. With this trial, you can protect up to 10 of your devices. This is not bad since you will get to test out what they offer before upgrading. And the fun part is you won’t have to provide a credit card number to access the download.

Performance

So I downloaded the free 30-day trial version for my PC and tested it. After installing the program, I downloaded two viruses I used for this test. Get them here in case you want to test them yourself. Make sure you turn off real-time protection for your Windows Defender. Otherwise, the files won’t be downloaded.

Test 1

Once I had the package installed, my first test was to extract the zip files to see whether the antivirus would detect the viruses immediately after being extracted. Well, that didn’t happen.

Test 2

My next test was to conduct a manual scan on the extracted folders by right-clicking on the folders and selecting “scan.” It detected the viruses and immediately removed them.

Test 3

Lastly, I downloaded the viruses again to see if they detected and prevented the files from being stored on my computer. The browser add-on detected the viruses. The extension scans your files every time you download and gives you options: accept the risk or block the download.

McAfee Windows 10 PC Features

Real-time scanning
Web protection
Scan for available updates on your PC
Browser Cleanup. History, cookies, and trackers
Scheduled scanning
PC performance tuning. Apps and browsing speed.
Manage passwords for your favorite sites
Identity theft protection
Parental control
Lock important files
Network protection
File shredding

McAfee Antivirus Different Products

They have two product categories:

For customers
For business

For customers,

Apart from the free trial, here are the product offered to customers

For business,

The enterprise solution has gained quite a reputation. Packs rich features suited for whichever modern enterprise. Read more from their website.

McAfee Download and Install on Windows 10 Laptops

Downloading and installing this tool on your Windows 10 PC is pretty straightforward. I would advise starting with the free trial version so that you can assess whether the antivirus works for you.

A simple guide to getting McAfee

Step one: Open this McAfee homepage tab on your browser to access the McAfee homepage. Next, tap “FREE TRIAL” at the top left of the screen.

Step two: On the next page that appears, click the “Free Download” button. The file is lightweight, around 5MB.

Step three: Open the installer from your download directory. While installing, the program will fetch the rest of the files. Wait for the download to complete, which will take a couple of minutes. Afterward, the McAfee antivirus will install. Add-on will be automatically added to your browser. Now you are ready to go.

You can also download the McAfee Free Version.

My verdict about McAfee Antivirus

Based on the tests I conducted, I would give McAfee a 7. I’ve rated it above average because the software has passed two of my tests and comes with more features. Furthermore, some programs usually don’t detect viruses even when you can manually.