McAfee - a Free and Effective Internet Security Suite

As a long time Norton user I was surprised to find that McAfee was offering a free version of their software. I have always been happy with my Norton Security Suite, but after hearing all of the complaints from other users about how much Norton slowed down their systems, I decided that perhaps I should review an alternative.

As far as Norton goes it is in my opinion simply the best security suite out there and perhaps that is my own bias. I did have some issues with my computer slowing down after installing the Norton Internet Security 2008, but there was a fix available and it was just a matter of defragging the hard drive after the installation process.

The first thing that I noticed when I installed the McAfee Security Suite was that there was no difference in the speed of my PC. It seemed to fall seamlessly in line with the rest of my software and I did not have to do anything special to make it work. I must say that Norton did a fine job of keeping my system free of viruses and such, but then again I do not really do anything with my PC that would make it subject to such things.

My friends PCs on the other hand are a different story, and this is where I was able to see the difference between the two security suites. My friends were Norton users as well, however, when their subscriptions expired I installed the McAfee software for them and low and behold Trojans were found in the form of mp3s downloaded from Limewire.

Yes, believe it or not, downloading from Limewire may lead to your PC being infected with viruses. Just kidding but not really, the actual point of the matter is that McAfee found infections that Norton did not. I have noticed that my Internet connection and even my computer slows down when there is an update or a virus scan active. However, these can be scheduled through the "Scheduled Tasks" tool in Windows.

Just go into the McAfee listed tasks and edit the settings so that they only happen when you are least likely to be using your computer. The only catch to receiving McAfee Security Suite for free is that you must sign up for an AOL email account. Nevertheless, an AOL email account is totally free as well and you can always use it as a junk mail account for when you sign up to win those free notebooks online.

When all is said and done I would have to give McAfee Security Suite a 4 out of 5 sunsets. This is due in large part to the simple installation process, the limited amount of user interaction needed, and the detection of Trojans that other scanners managed to miss.

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