Rating: 
Summary: McAfee going backwards
Review: I uninstalled it an hour after I installed it. I upgraded from 7 professional and it seems like 8 has less features.
- You can't disable the splash screen like you can in 7
- You can't get rid of Security Manager (basically just their marketing software) like you can in 7
- You can't define directories to exclude like you can in 7
I wish I could give it 0 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Where went the control?
Review: I was hoping McAfee would improve on the very good Version 7. Complete spyware detection and removal would have been an excellent feature addition. But after installing the new Version 8 these hopes quickly flew out the window.Most of what made VirusScan Pro a better virus scanner is gone. The single powerful interface, the ability to select specific drives to scan, manual DAT file downloads, and the ability to disable any splash screen or background process has been removed. The new updater now works only through an Internet browser, and there is a good chance you will have to lower your browser security settings and/or disable pop-up blockers just to allow updates to complete. There is spyware detection but it will not remove all spyware so you may need another program to complete the task. The Security Center main screen is nothing more than forced marketing to get you to buy more products and it cannot be uninstalled. Even the informative VShield tray icon has been replaced by a simple "M" icon. McAfee needs to bring back user control to VirusScan Pro and lose the advertisements.
Rating:
Summary: McAfee Products are not for the Faint of Heart
Review: I won't pretend to do any full review of VirusScan but do want to warn others of what to expect when using anything sold by McAfee.
I am a retired programmer and I can beat these things into submission, and I will continue to use McAfee products (the devil you know. . .), but do expect trouble. Often the trouble is worse than the virus you are trying to avoid. Here are a few examples:
I had VirusScan 7 and paid for 2 years' service, thru Sept. 2005 (it's Feb. 2005 as I write this). All was going fairly well until recently, when I upgraded hard drives and had to reinstall the program. This required that I do all the updates I had done ovr the last year to get back to where I was. Well, at least one of these updates had become corrupted on their site and, since the update process is automatic, there was no way around it. The program crashed as soon as it was updated. I called McAfee and said I had paid for 2 years' service and that there was no way to get that since their files had an error. All I could get out of them was that V7 wasn't supported and I should buy a later version. I bought V8 and wrote off the rest of my subscription.
V8 has the advantage of pestering you less BUT the update feature is very shaky. It is common to try to turn off the computer and be told by McAfee that I must not do so because it is updating in the background. This is not true and in fact nothing is happening or ever will happen, so you have to Ctl-Alt-Delete and kill the updater. The next time you power up Windows (I use XP SP1) McAfee reports that it is broken. You can then run your update and it does recover, but this is just another maddening McAfee blunder.
Since I have used every version from 3-8 I have no reason to believe that McAfee will change their ways (and do some testing) in future versions. The programs do work and other virus-scanning programs are hateful in their own way, so what are you going to do?
Rating:
Summary: Horrible company - avoid McAfee products like the plague
Review: Pros: -It can detect most viruses and updates are available almost every day - It can be obtained free after mail-in rebates. Cons: - It won't always be able to delete/disinfect virus files that it detects - Starting around a month before your update subscription ends, McAfee "Buy New Subscription" pop-ups appear, you click on the x to close and they disappear...... for 60 seconds. Then they reappear, you click on the x ..... a minute later it comes back. There are only two ways to stop these popups - go online with your credit card number to McAfee.com to resubscribe to their update service or uninstall the McAfee program. Customer service and tech support both refused to tell me how to disable these continuously reappearing and incredibly annoying pop-ups. - Tech support is virtually non-existant, unless you call in to their $2.95/minute or $39.99/issue support lines. E-mails get canned, non-responsive answers. The FAQ section of their website has no responses to real questions and the "24/7" tech support chat system is always busy or non-functional - its unavailable 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. - Having registered a previous version of a McAfee product may prevent you from getting updates on subsequent versions that the user legitimately acquires. I bought both Viruscan Professional 8.0 and Personal Firewall Plus, after getting VS Home 7.0 (both were free after rebates - the only reason I purchased them) and when the auto update tries to give me the current update of my new programs when I go online, it tells me "You are not authorized to receive this service." An e-mail to customer support got me back a confirmation that I am properly registered for the two new programs and I should have no problems. I guess continuing to receive the "You are not authorized to receive this service" response when I try to update the virus database isn't a problem for McAfee. However, it is a damn big problem for me. -Who knows what sort of spy-ware McAfee installs on your computer with its standard installation? A quick check with Windows Explorer reveals that their uninstallation procedure does not uninstall 100% of the components of the McAfee software you have installed, that is for sure. Avoid this horribly run company and its products. Even though it's not costing me any more than tax and postage after the rebates to re-subscribe, I think that's still the opposite of a bargain and I regret my decision to stay with McAfee. In retrospect, I should have gone with either Norton or one of the several freeware antivirus programs.
Rating:
Summary: Cure is worse than the disease
Review: This program should be renamed "The McAfee Virus", maybe
Norton will start selling a program to remove it. o Brings the computer to a halt
o Installs it's advertising into your tool tray
o To get rid of the ads you have to uninstall the program
o Claims to remove addware and spyware and promptly installs "Avenue A" and "Double Click" Don't buy it. If you bought it, return it.
Rating:
Summary: Cure is worse than the disease
Review: This program should be renamed "The McAfee Virus", maybe
Norton will start selling a program to remove it. o Brings the computer to a halt
o Installs it's advertising into your tool tray
o To get rid of the ads you have to uninstall the program
o Claims to remove addware and spyware and promptly installs "Avenue A" and "Double Click" Don't buy it. If you bought it, return it.
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