McAfee Total Protection Review

Full review

With several computer protection found on the market, McAfee kept a tag on how they can improve their product. The release of McAfee Total Protection 2023 is an improvement on previous versions. McAfee Total Protection has the same user interface and added features that answer the need of many computer users. It has faster speed for scanning and it plugs of a pre-installation scan as an improvement to the scanning software. McAfee is among good choices for a total security protection of computers.

Setup

Initially, McAfee conflicts with the old security software installed on pc, but installation becomes smooth and easier when completely removed. The best part of its installation process is that it does not need confirmation or registration e-mail to download it. Users can immediately download the system from online account on the website of McAfee.

The previous version forced users to remove security software that conflicts with the edition manually. With McAfee Total Protection, it automatically assesses your computer and removes any software that is not compatible with the system.

Another improvement is the additional function of pre-installation scan that cleans computer of any malignant software before using Total Protection. Other security software has this feature long before this improvement. Now, it is good to know that McAfee acknowledges its benefit. If during the pre-scan, there are still some hard to remove malware, McAfee’s Clean Boot would solve the problem. It scans the system outside Windows. Good thing about McAfee Total Protection is that it will only take you five minutes to install it despite additional features.

Security

Anti-virus - An additional protective feature is the Deep Page Protection. It blocks websites that poses security threats, and redirects search to siteadvisor.com. The NetGuard feature of McAfee utilizes McAfee Global Threat Intelligence to learn if the website's sending data from IP address that are high risk. Total Protection will then prevent the connection and sends report on the problem. Its Hacked Page Protection prevents sidebar ads from popping on your screen and informs you if there’s some attempt of hack.

Parental controls - McAfee made some considerable improvement on its Parental Control features. Other than the usual web page blocking and schedule of usage, it now has parental control usage reports. This provides a much-detailed report of their children’s online activity, how many hours they stayed online, how many times a child entered unsuitable sites for children and if they attempted to go online on schedules, which they are forbidden to log in. Total protection also has this time change monitor, which does not allow your child to change the computer’s time to evade your set schedule.

Identity theft

This software also features Anti-Theft File Protection. It provides a secure storage space for files, which you want to hide from hackers or data theft. Simply setup a vault that can store an amount of data file between 50MB to 4GB. Protected with password, you have options to place the vault in any other drive on your PC. It still has feature for password management, password generator, file encryption, file shredder and website authentication.

PC Tuneup

The QuickClean feature is good for removal of unnecessary and old files from your hard drive to improve your pc performance. However, deletion is not total since it goes to your recycle bin. You have to delete permanently removed files through the recycle bin.

McAfee retained the usual PC Tuneup features - registry cleaner, disk defragmenter, diagnostic report and startup manager.

Features

In terms of the report format or Total Protection’s home screen format, nothing much has changed. It still shows the software’s real-time scanner, firewall status, updates and subscription status. On top of the home screen, you will still see the green banner that tells you the update status of your scanner and firewall. If the banner turns red, it indicates that the software is already obsolete.

Under the status indicator, you will see the same feature section for collapsible menus on Virus & Spyware protection, Web/Email Protection, parental controls, data backup & protection, and PC & Home network Tools. The user interface provides a lot of options and description for each feature, thus providing ease of navigation for new users.

McAfee added some cool feature that social networks would appreciate. It now has the Safe URL Sharing, which warn user’s Facebook friends if they would try to click on a spam link posted on user’s wall. In addition, it now has a feature that shortens URL, this examine and ensures that the URL is safe.

Another added feature is the process of scanning USB or other removable drives. This blocks malware before it gets to transfer from the disk to PC’s system.

Ease of use

Users of previous versions will find ease navigating with the latest release. McAfee is simple and easy to use. It is easy to configure and adjust according to the user’s need.

Help & support

McAfee can immediately provide technical support through telephone, email or live chat, but this several services rendered requires service fee. They provide setup help, virus removal, troubleshooting and other technical services advice but with equivalent service charge.

Overall

Overall, McAfee Total Protection is a very good computer security suite that is easy to use and parents would truly appreciate the Parental control feature to keep their children safe and secure in the vast world of online web.