MCAFEE INTERNET SECURITY V6.0 ( MIS60EMB1RAA )

Rating:
Summary: Your Money & Patience Deserve Better
Review: As a former user of McAfee products, I used to recommend them to family and friends, being an IT professional, but no more, due to several reasons, like dependability, ease-of-use, price, and the list continues. I would recommend that PC & Microsoft users (both home & small business) choose instead either Symantec Internet Security or Trend Micro Internet Security, until Microsoft can release their upcoming anti-virus/anti-spyware products in early 2005.

Rating:
Summary: Install woes and (non)Support negate value
Review: I bought McAfee Internet Security 7.0 to upgrade from version 6.0. The one year subscription on 6.0 had expired and was nagging me every few minutes to upgrade: $29.95 for 6.0 re-license or $49.95 for version 7.0. I went to the local retailer and found the new 7.0 version on the shelf for $10 less! You would think existing customers would get a break.

Installed it, but got Explorer Script error on registration. The product won't download current virus definitions without registration.

Read FAQ's, no hits. Tried free online chat, where I get a support rep with a VERY "english" sounding name, but a limited grasp of the language. Stilted sentence structures and odd question syntax. "Please wait while I shall research your problem". "What is the difficulty you are experiencing?".

Sounds like India to me.

After an hour on the first call, the answer is Manually Un-install the old version, reboot, then reinstall the new. Must have read the MicroSoft technical guidebook. Ok, I ran through all the motions, hours later: same error.

Later that day I try the Tech Suppport Online Chat again. Different name, same grammer. Net result: No luck. Still trying to register to complete install.

Good Luck, you may need it.

Rating:
Summary: Solid Internet security suite for "free"
Review: I bought this program for "free after rebates" at a local Staples store. I was previously pleased with McAfee VirusScan 2004, and bought this suite to install on a friend's new laptop. The installation went well (I first uninstalled the terminally stupid Norton Anti-Virus that came with the laptop), and everything has been working fine. I had lots of problems in the past with Norton Firewall, so I'm praying that McAfee's firewall works better. But so far so good. It has stopped a few spyware trojans that my friend came across while surfing the web. I give this five stars because the rebates make it free.

Rating:
Summary: Installation Nightmare
Review: I can't review this product on its technical merits for the simple reason that I was never able to get it to work! Over the past two weeks, at the direction of McAfee's online tech's, I have gone through multiple install-remove-reinstall cycles (Including several that required line-by-line manual editing of my system's registry key.),all to no avail. To make matters worse, when nothing worked McAfee's Tech's told that my only alternative was to seek help via McAfee's 800-number at a cost of $2.39 per minute or $39.00 per incident.

Many of the installation problems I encounetered during my ordeal were the result of conflicts with common Microsoft programs such as Internet Explorer, Outlook and Outlook Express, to name a few. While most of these conflicts were eventually resolved, the procedures necessary were laborious and required lengthy sessions on McAfee's internet chat help line.

The one conflict that was never resolved,however, was the way Internet Security 6.0 handled Microsoft XP's multiple user accounts. On my computer each member of my family had their own accounts. I was the the administrator, and as such had the sole right to make setting changes. Even though McAfee theoretically had similar account provisions, changes made by the system administrator did not result in global changes. Consquently, users without administrative rights couldn't perform simple tasks such as accessing the internet without entering the administrator's password or having the administrator do it for them.

In the end I gave up trying to resolve all of the above referenced installation problems and had to reinstall the rudimentary software provided by my ISP. As a result this may be the last McAfee product I ever buy.

Rating:
Summary: Warning!
Review: Make sure you uninstall your previous version of Mcafee if you have one. I had problems getting this thing to work so much so that I had to email Dell to tell me how to uninstall the complete Dell Mcafee Security suite previously installed. I had to uninstall and reinstall this new one twice because the virus scan wouldn't work and I kept getting an error message stating that some of the features of the security center had been unistalled or not installed properly.

Now I'm still having problems accessing Internet explorer. I can't get into my ISP email or into email for my college classes without getting an error message and gettig kicked out.

This could be a memory problem as this security suite does take up a lot of disk space but what do I know I'm only a "web design" major. I don't know if it's neccessary to have some of the features like privacy and the spy software because you can download free spyware software that works just as good if not better.

Does anyone out there have any solutions as to why Internet explorer is clashing with this security suite? Your advise would be greatly appreciated.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent for Home / Home Office Use
Review: This provides the user with a fully functioning and easy to maintain (relative to other products) firewall - it is also a mini intrusion detection system. Set up is straight forward in comparison to other software firewalls (to be fair Norton is on a par).

Also bundled with good virus checker, file shredder and other security software. The rival product is Norton (the choice between the two is hard they are very similar. Many computers or routers are shipped with one or the other. McAfee wins for me).

Good value product. I would suggest a hardware router as well -in particular if you are using a high speed link (it provides an additional level of security). More choice for routers (Linksys, Microsoft, Netgear and Belkin - fairly similar).

The alternatives are assembling your own suite of programs from shareware/freeware - this is feasible and alot cheaper (e.g. Spam blocker: Use adware or spybot). However, to be realistic, virus checking will remain a 'must' purchase.

Worth the money.

PS: Support by eamail is cheaper and easier than satying on the phone (not instant though).