We'd like to see this handy utility displayed more prominently. Hint: it's accessible via the Run The Utilities link on the Privacy Service menu. One interface gripe: McAfee Shredder, which overwrites deleted files to prevent snoops from recovering their contents, is too difficult to find. Unfortunately, unlike Norton's antispam feature, McAfee SpamKiller 2006 doesn't provide a toolbar for Eudora users. Its McAfee SpamKiller 2006 toolbar for Microsoft Outlook is much improved this year, adding new buttons that can quickly rescue e-mail from the spam folder or keep spam out of your in-box. For example, McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 adds a bare-bones toolbar to Internet Explorer that allows you to start an antivirus scan. McAfee's security components hook into other programs, too. The Security Index on the main screen uses colored bars-green means good security, red means bad-to display your current vulnerability to viruses, spam, spyware, and hacker attacks. The interface for McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 retains last year's clean, organized appearance. (By comparison, the postsetup scan is also optional with Norton Internet Security 2006, but that program scanned the same partition in 1 hour, 45 minutes-30 minutes faster.)
This is smart, as McAfee VirusScan 2006 took 2 hours, 15 minutes to scan a 19GB disk partition on our test PC. McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 speeds setup by making its postinstallation antivirus scan optional. As with Norton Internet Security 2006, however, once you've rebooted and configured McAfee's various security settings, setup becomes at least a 30-minute job. McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 installs in a jiffy-5 minutes in our tests. We recommend ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 2006 instead. McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 is good for loyal McAfee users, but its slow performance makes it a so-so choice for everybody else. During one support chat, our rep wasn't aware that McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 had a file shredder.
McAfee also needs better-trained tech-support reps.
#MC AFEE 2006 PC#
McAfee says this is by design a longer scan, it argues, uses fewer system resources and allows you to run your PC normally. McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006's laggardly virus scans take far longer than those of Symantec Norton Internet Security 2006. Despite its impressive security lineup and competitive $70 list price, McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 is a bloated sentry that slows system performance, particularly boot times. McAfee Internet Security Suite 2006 adds several new weapons to its defensive arsenal, including automatic spyware detection, an antiphishing plug-in for Internet Explorer, daily viral signature updates, and a Gaming Suspend feature that turns off firewall pop-up messages when a program is in full-screen mode.