Product: McAfee Internet Security Suite v9.0
Rating: 4/10
Pros:
Easy to install/use
Nice features
Cons:
Buggy
Annoying
Causes several problems
Product: Systmec Norton Internet Security 2005
Rating: 9/10
Pros:
Uses less system resources then previous versions
Easy to install
Easy to use
Easy to configure
Cons:
Cost
1 Computer for "standard" edition
Alright boys (and girls if there are any) its that time again. Product review #2 is McAfee's most recent edition of Security Suite v9.0.
After comparing both Norton and McAfee, I decided to try McAfee due to the fact that it was cheaper, and seemed to have the same features, along with some extra little programs such as a stealth key logging detector. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Don't get me wrong, perhaps for the average user McAfee ISS is nice, but not to me. First off, it requested me to verify my subscription status every single day. Sometimes everytime I booted up. Not only that, but you need Internet Exploerer and an ActiveX plug-in, just to do so. This will NOT work with Fire Fox or any other browser. So needless to say it was a hassle having to copy and paste the URL into IE everytime (I use Fire Fox as my default browser). As if that wasn't bad enough the script that was written to do this, was extremely poor. It would sometimes fail to work, and thus leave me without one of the programs I paid for (most commonly Privacy Service, which I find most important).
Oh but wait, theres more! Several times I tried to update McAfee. Upon the reboot, I got a .dll error which would cause my system to go unresponsive. The only way to correct this issue was to uninstall McAfee Privacy Service or the offending program (which by the way, I needed to look up on my other computer, because it only gave a file name, and since McAfee's file names don't always look like the corrosponding program, it gets annoying). It got so bad once, that I actually had to reformat my entire machine (thank god I have a file server where I store all my important data). This problem occurred several times, and I contact McAfee about it atleast twice. They have several programs which will uninstall and clean everything from McAfee ISS. The worst part is, if you try to do an uninstall and it fails, you're basically screwed since it seems to attach or add code to certain other programs so that if the program doesn't detect ISS running, it won't run as well (great idea McAfee!).
Now for the real kicker. I recently bought a laptop and with it, I got Norton Internet Security for $20. A great deal, so I bought it (naturally). I have used Norton in the past, and wasn't all that impressed with it. I have the 2003 version in my possesion, but my laptop came with 2005. All I can say is wow. Norton ISS is about 20 times better then McAfee. It takes up minimal amount of system resources (on a laptop with a 1.7Ghz Pentium M, and 512MB DDR333, that is crucial) and doesn't annoy the crap out of you. It even configures itself to your network, be-it wired or wireless, automatically, and even helps you set up file/print sharing.
Bottom line. Norton wins hands down. I would never go back to McAfee. Infact, I haven't. I now run free firewall and virus scanners on my desktop. Until I can afford to get Norton Internet Security Premium (which allows for install on more then 1 computer).
Rating: 4/10
Pros:
Easy to install/use
Nice features
Cons:
Buggy
Annoying
Causes several problems
Product: Systmec Norton Internet Security 2005
Rating: 9/10
Pros:
Uses less system resources then previous versions
Easy to install
Easy to use
Easy to configure
Cons:
Cost
1 Computer for "standard" edition
Alright boys (and girls if there are any) its that time again. Product review #2 is McAfee's most recent edition of Security Suite v9.0.
After comparing both Norton and McAfee, I decided to try McAfee due to the fact that it was cheaper, and seemed to have the same features, along with some extra little programs such as a stealth key logging detector. But as the saying goes, you get what you pay for.
Don't get me wrong, perhaps for the average user McAfee ISS is nice, but not to me. First off, it requested me to verify my subscription status every single day. Sometimes everytime I booted up. Not only that, but you need Internet Exploerer and an ActiveX plug-in, just to do so. This will NOT work with Fire Fox or any other browser. So needless to say it was a hassle having to copy and paste the URL into IE everytime (I use Fire Fox as my default browser). As if that wasn't bad enough the script that was written to do this, was extremely poor. It would sometimes fail to work, and thus leave me without one of the programs I paid for (most commonly Privacy Service, which I find most important).
Oh but wait, theres more! Several times I tried to update McAfee. Upon the reboot, I got a .dll error which would cause my system to go unresponsive. The only way to correct this issue was to uninstall McAfee Privacy Service or the offending program (which by the way, I needed to look up on my other computer, because it only gave a file name, and since McAfee's file names don't always look like the corrosponding program, it gets annoying). It got so bad once, that I actually had to reformat my entire machine (thank god I have a file server where I store all my important data). This problem occurred several times, and I contact McAfee about it atleast twice. They have several programs which will uninstall and clean everything from McAfee ISS. The worst part is, if you try to do an uninstall and it fails, you're basically screwed since it seems to attach or add code to certain other programs so that if the program doesn't detect ISS running, it won't run as well (great idea McAfee!).
Now for the real kicker. I recently bought a laptop and with it, I got Norton Internet Security for $20. A great deal, so I bought it (naturally). I have used Norton in the past, and wasn't all that impressed with it. I have the 2003 version in my possesion, but my laptop came with 2005. All I can say is wow. Norton ISS is about 20 times better then McAfee. It takes up minimal amount of system resources (on a laptop with a 1.7Ghz Pentium M, and 512MB DDR333, that is crucial) and doesn't annoy the crap out of you. It even configures itself to your network, be-it wired or wireless, automatically, and even helps you set up file/print sharing.
Bottom line. Norton wins hands down. I would never go back to McAfee. Infact, I haven't. I now run free firewall and virus scanners on my desktop. Until I can afford to get Norton Internet Security Premium (which allows for install on more then 1 computer).
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