McAfee Internet Security Suite:

The Internet was originally started as a free source of online information and offered all sorts of opportunities for consumers and retailers. When people first dialed up to the Internet and cruised the World Wide Web there was no reason to feel unsafe or fearful of computer viruses, but as the Internet has become more complex so have the threats against PC users. It used to be that if you opened an email with a malicious attachment you got a virus, but now the spyware and viruses run rampant and can come onto your computer in a variety of ways. There are known viruses that spread just by someone visiting a website (not downloading anything) which is scary to think of. These viruses and spyware used to be pretty harmless but the authors of these software programs have headed them in a direction that no longer is worth just brushing off. The top antivirus software companies on the Web are McAfee and Norton and below we wil review the McAfee suite of programs that are available to help stop these threats.

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The new McAfee Internet Security Suite is an 8 in 1 Identity Theft Protection software package that sells for $49.99 after the rebate. It stops viruses, blocks spyware, stops hackers, improves PC performance, secures your identity online, backs up & restores files, prevents spam & email scams, and protects children online. You can download and install the suite of software in minutes and it also comes with the McAfee SiteAdvisor. We feel that the Internet Security Suite from McAfee is the most complete set of software you can get for your personal protection while online. Todays broadband connections leave you open to all sorts of online predators and you would be crazy to go online without serious security software to protect yourself. I use McAfee on my computers at home and the McAfee Security Center sits in my system tray and when I right click on the program I get options to control the McAfee VirusScan program, McAfee personal firewall, and the McAfee Privacy Service. One of the latest releases in this suite is Spamkiller and because I use Yahoo email and my wife uses Google Email I have no use for the Spamkiller program. When I tried to disable Spamkiller from the McAfee Security Center I was forced to disable all the software (doesn't make sense). I called the support # and was referred to Dell support since the software was pre-installed by Dell on the computer I bought. After a few minutes on the phone with the tech support guy I was told to go to Add/Remove programs and click on the McAfee link and then choose Spamkiller in order to remove that specific program (no other way to disable it). These are the type of roadblocks you can run into when accepting all these programs in 1 suite of offers. Overall I prefer McAfee to Norton only because I've worked online for 10 years now and am familiar with how to protect myself and McAfee gives me more freedom than Norton does. My wife had installed Norton on her work computer and whenever I used that system it was always blocking me from regular sites and saying the sites were not secure enough to be on. We got tired of dealing with the problems of Norton antivirus and security software and switched the computer to McAfee software. One last note, there is a piece of software called McAfee Stinger which is a stand-alone utility used to detect and remove specific viruses. It is not a substitute for full anti-virus protection, but rather a tool to assist administrators and users when dealing with an infected system. Stinger utilizes next generation scan engine technology, including process scanning, digitally signed DAT files, and scan performance optimizations". You can get more information online at http://vil.nai.com/vil/stinger/.

McAfee Viruscan Plus:

$39.99 will get you a 1 year subscription to McAfee VirusScan Plus which comes with AntiVirus, Firewall & AntiSpyware software. You will be protected from viruses, hackers, and spyware during your web surfing. The McAfee Shield is always on, always updating and always protecting your PC from malicious intruders. It even warns you about websites that are known spammers, install adware though downloads, or have attempted online scams. With more and more people shopping online each year, PC users on the Internet need to be prepared for anything and having a watch dog like McAfee on your side is great protection. There are online virus scan sites that will allow you to do a scan for viruses on your hard drives from their websites. This virus fighting software comes down to "who do you trust". McAfee is a leader in this field and they have their entire reputation on the line each day with millions of users relying on their security software to help them wade through all the junk we come across online. I trust McAfee and hope that they stay 1 step ahead of the hackers and spyware authors. You can get all McAfee software online at Us.McAfee.com or in stores like Frys Electronics. They even offer site licenses for multi-users. VirusScan will scan your hard drive for viruses (including all emails) and give you a report as to which files are infected to hazardous. I have also seen my VirusScan/Firewall block files that immediately came onto my system as malicious and I never even had to scan for them. That's a nice feature to have, blocking bad files before they can even get on your system.

McAfee Updates - Help and Customer Support:

If you have any McAfee software on your system and you are connnected to the Internet it is always running in the background trying to protect your system and it is checking with their homepage to see if any updates are ready to download and install. Periodically you will see that McAfee software is being downloaded to your system as an "update" or "patch" and it will ask you if you want to update or install the latest features. I remember when the program ran once a day or week to get updates and now it seems like it is running continually (I assume that is because the threat level for viruses is 24/7). You can get customer support for all McAfee software products (if you are a registered user) via the Internet and live chat or with toll free #'s. You can start at Mcafeehelp.com and see that some of the most common issues are "how to install or uninstall the software" or "error messages". When you consider all the variables that McAfee has to deal with on your computer everyday it is amazing that the antivirus and other softwares work as good as they do. I was able to use their live chat feature to solve my Spamkiller uninstall recently and the instructions were right on. I like the McAfee support website since you can always go there and read about the latest viruses and spyware cases that are effecting the online world.

Uninstall McAfee - How to Remove:

Since McAfee software tends to be bundled on many computers these days sold through stores and online with Dell, Gateway, or HP, chances are you will eventually use it someday. It's always good to know how to uninstall or install software on your computer the proper way. The hard part is when you have a software suite and you only need to get rid of a portion of the software. What McAfee should do when their software is installed on someones PC is to place each of those seperate pieces of software into the Add/Remove programs menu so you can selectively choose which ones you want to uninstall if you need to. As I mentioned earlier, McAfee only puts 1 main link in the Add/Remove programs area which can be misleading to even intermediate computer users. If you want to delete/remove Spamkiller from the Internet Security Suite you would normally go to Add/Remove programs and look for McAfee or Spamkiller or a combination of the 2 which is not what you will find. Like most software companies good or bad, they don't want to make it easy for you to uninstall their software.

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