2013 Antivirus Software Reviews

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McAfee AntiVirus Plus 2013 Overall Score: 74%

McAfee has been a respected name in antivirus software for a long time and they still offer good real-time protection. However, they fall down in all other areas, in our opinion.

Virus removal is a bit of a challenge for them.

They have not yet mastered the efficiencies in resource usage that their competitors have.

Their user interface is not fun or easy to use.

Their self-help technical support is good, but the fees for additional assistance are high.

For these reasons, McAfee is not a recommendation from us this year.

Certified by:

• AV Comparatives
• Anti-Malware Test Lab
• PC Security Labs
• Malware Research Group
• AV-Test
• ICSA

McAfee did perform well in real-time virus protection, blocking nearly all threats it encountered.

However, in system scans, it missed almost half of the known viruses we had embedded in our test system. It also failed to remove more than 20% of these. This is truly unacceptable.

In addition, SiteAdviser needs to be enabled by hand in Internet Explorer for full web protection, yet this isn't stated anywhere.
McAfee used an unacceptable level of resources during our tests.

While running idle, it used around 18% CPU — most antivirus programs hover around 1%.

During a full system scan, it used at least 60% CPU, with spikes often to 100%.
McAfee's user interface is definitely not designed with the user in mind.

The interface appears initially small, too small for easy use, all contained in one little box. You are able to resize the box, but why should we have to do this?

In addition, there is significant wasted space and you still need to use scroll bars to view everything on a screen.

Setting options are presented as links that open up pop-up windows, which we found disorienting. We'd prefer checkboxes or buttons and content all in one place for easy review.
McAfee offers both free and paid technical support.

Their free support is quite extensive and includes FAQs, forums, video tutorials, chat and email. Most problems from installation to registration should be resolved with these resources. There's also an optional download called McAfee Virtual Technician that scans your system and attempts resolution.

If additional help is needed, paid support (for virus removal) is available for either a one-time fee of $89.95.

This is one of the highest fees we've seen this year.
Updates are automatically downloaded and installed.

There is an option to be notified before installation. However, while you can turn updates on or off, there is no way to change the frequency or timing of updates.

During our tests, we found a future update set for four hours and believe that's not quick enough in today's world of instant virus infection.
McAfee offers a few good extra features this year:

Vulnerability Scanner locates any holes in security for your browsers and computer applications and downloads relevant updates and add-ons.

Home Screen provides a user friendly home screen for common computer security tasks including support for touch screen computers.

PC Tune-up maximizes speed and efficiency by removing unused applications and cashing browser and other unnecessary files.

Though somewhat adequate, we do not recommend McAfee Antivirus Plus 2013.

Their basic virus protection is good, but resource-intensive.

Their scanning missed entirely too many threats and McAfee wasn't able to remove all that it did find.

Their technical support is good, though entirely too expensive.

McAfee simply cannot stand up to the many other superior programs out there.