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(More customer reviews)There are two components to look at in McAfee VirusScan 2006, also known as version 10: The VirusScan component and the SecurityCenter component, also known by many as the blatant advertising component.
I'll talk more about SecurityCenter in a little bit. First let's review the actual virus scanning ability.
I was surprised when I pulled out the Quick Start Guide (which is the only guide that comes in printed form) and it did not instruct me to uninstall the previous version of VirusScan first. The last two or three versions have all said to do so. Maybe McAfee has finally worked through the issues that installing a newer version over an older version has always created. But I'm not one to take any chances. I still recommend not only uninstalling any previous McAfee VirusScan product on your computer, but also uninstalling ALL McAfee products. The conflicts that have been caused in the past by not doing this have been too great and too severe to take that chance. (WARNING: If you do uninstall your old VirusScan make sure you disconnect from the Internet first. There are too many viruses and worms out there today that can infect your computer just by simply being on the Internet. You can reconnect after you have installed VirusScan 2006.)
Even though I uninstalled all of my McAfee products first, I was able to install, update, and adjust the settings in less than 10 minutes. I experienced no problems with the set-up, or with conducting several test scans.
McAfee VirusScan 2006 is, for the most part, the same program as the previous version. The changes that were made back in version 8, which include the reduced number of settings to adjust, the reduced number of levels to navigate through, and the "virus map" feature, have been left relatively untouched. One welcomed improvement is the addition of a PUPs, or potentially unwanted programs, tab (you can find this by clicking on "Configure VirusScan Options" and then the "Advanced" tab). VirusScan will now notify you when it comes across a program it thinks might be unwanted. You can then tell VirusScan to remove the program or to add it to your trusted PUPs list, which you can manage.
This new version of VirusScan also comes with one major "update" change. Starting with VirusScan 2006, McAfee is now making DAT updates available nearly every day, instead of once a week or so as they have done in previous versions. Configuring VirusScan to install updates automatically will help to ensure that you have the most up-to-date virus fighting capability on your computer. For those with cable or broadband Internet connections, these updates are quick and should not interfere with any other surfing or downloading you are doing. If you have a dial-up connection, the update process will slow you down a little bit.
One update issue that first showed up back in version 8 and is still present in version 10 is when you choose to manually update. When you do this, and an update is available, VirusScan takes you to a McAfee page where you are suppose to log-in to continue. The problem is that the McAfee Website is notorious about refusing to log you out, even when you manually click the "log out" button on the site. So when VirusScan takes you to this page, and McAfee thinks you are already logged in, the page will tell you that you are already logged in but will not give you the ability to continue the update process. This happens to me about 80% of the time I try to manually update. For this reason, it's best that you allow VirusScan to automatically update itself if possible.
In all the years I have used McAfee VirusScan, I have never once had a virus or worm successfully download or install on my computer. For that reason, I give the virus scanning ability of McAfee VirusScan 2006 a 5-star rating.
So why the overall reduced rating? There are two reasons for it.
REASON 1: McAfee's customer service is one of the worst in any industry. Their live instant messaging help is a joke. The people who run this don't listen to your problem at all. They are only trained to have you run through a series of steps. Ask any current or previous McAfee customer about McAfee's customer service, and you are likely to send that person into a fit of hysterics followed by an hour-long commentary on just how awful their experience was. The last time I called McAfee customer service to fix a problem, their instructions screwed up my computer so badly that I had to reformat my hard drive and reinstall everything. And once I did that, I then had to pay to talk to someone to fix the problem that I was having with their product. It took them 3 weeks, and five different phone calls to speak to five different people before I got the answer I needed.
REASON 2: SecurityCenter. This program wraps all of McAfee's products together for easy access on your computer's taskbar. It has also been the source of many a McAfee user's ire. The good news is that there has finally been some improvement with SecurityCenter. It used to be that when you started your computer, the McAfee SecurityCenter splash screen would tell you which McAfee security products you had purchased and which ones you had not. Many people did not like paying for a McAfee product only to have nothing more than a pop-up advertisement show up on their screen. During version 9, one of the updates sent out by McAfee changed the SecurityCenter splash screen so that you only saw what McAfee products were installed on your computer. VirusScan 2006 goes one step further and actually allows you to disable the splash screen. Unfortunately, if you open SecurityCenter it will still list the McAfee items you have not purchased and, as usual, cannot tell when other programs that do the same things as those McAfee programs have been installed on your computer. Most people will never have to open SecurityCenter since all of the programs can be opened by right clicking on the McAfee icon in the taskbar and selecting the program you need.
Let me condense all of the above into the following: The PUPs detection notification and tab, along with the increased frequency in updates, are the only real changes in McAfee VirusScan 2006. If your previous McAfee VirusScan update is about to expire (you get one-year's worth of updates when you buy any VirusScan version) and you can find VirusScan 2006 with a good rebate, then it will probably be cheaper to buy the newer version than it will be to extend the old one. Otherwise, it won't hurt to wait for version 11 next year.
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McAfee VirusScan 2006 Version 10.0Proven security that protects against viruses and spyware, McAfee VirusScan prevents, detects, blocks, and removes viruses, worms, Trojans, and spyware, which may result in the loss or damage of irreplaceable documents, including digital photos, family movies, and tax returns. VirusScan's award-winning threat prevention technology also helps prevent identity theft and poor PC performance. VirusScan automatically scans files, e-mail attachments, Internet downloads, and instant messaging attachments. With automated, daily updates, VirusScan's always-on protection coupled with McAfee's worldwide virus and spyware monitoring activities protects your most important digital files and personal information from the latest security threats.
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