Comments on: Why I don’t recommend McAfee security software

By: Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:37:02 +0000

Well, I haven’t looked at it closely in at least two years, so I can’t give a recommendation. I will say though that the free MS Security Essentials is more than adequate for any home or home-based business user. Being free, it’s the obvious choice.

By: Michael W.

Michael W. — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 17:35:15 +0000

So, do you still recommend Trend Micro, http://us.trendmicro.com/us/home/, as you did a few years back? Thanks.

By: Mike

Mike — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 23:11:32 +0000

We switched from McAfee to Forefront a few months ago because an intrusion if failed to detect for several days.

Client PC speed has improved dramatically.

By: Rich Gowran

Rich Gowran — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 18:24:44 +0000

I used McAfee and later Norton Anti-Virus for several years… Up until about 5 years ago. Sluggish performance and failure to address a virus that a free solution (AVG) caught, caused my switch. Since then, AVG has become bloated and sluggish, so now I use Avira or even better, Microsoft Security Essentials. With Windows 7, MSCE, and Firefox 3.6, I use my PC and surf the web with confidence, and I notice no performance hit machines 2 to 5 years old.

By: Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:50:54 +0000

Ray, did someone have to repair each machine manually? How long did it take?

By: Ray Ebersole

Ray Ebersole — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 13:47:30 +0000

Our school district uses McAfee Enterprise and was hit to a degree, 800 computers out of 40 some schools and support sites. I don’t make those decisions, but myself and the IT staff dealt with the issue and resolved it quite quickly.

By: Paul G

Paul G — Sat, 24 Apr 2010 10:40:39 +0000

I read about the latest McAfee stinker with a mixture of sadness and surprise — sadness at the state of a company with which I used to trust my computers’ security, and surprise that anyone still used their software.

Back in the mid-’90s, I used McAfee for years, because it was fast and reliable. That changed for me, IIRC, toward the end of the decade, when it seemed to become bloated and intrusive.

In any case, I agree with others here to laud Microsoft for its Microsoft Security Essentials. As a home user, it is an application that I trust, and I’m grateful that MS provides it.

My employer uses Symantec, and I don’t know whether the IT dept. is happy with it, but I assume that a continuing use of it over the years means they’re not unhappy. Could be wrong about that, though

By: Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:16:31 +0000

Bill’s right! The whole point of Windows Intune is to give small businesses the kind of central monitoring and administration tools that big enterprises get with McAfee’s ePolicyOrchestrator server or the ForeFront management console.

I wrote about Windows Intune here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=1985

By: Bill W

Bill W — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 21:08:45 +0000

I agree with Ed (wow!!!) I think those same monitoring tools are available in Intune.

By: mgo

mgo — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 19:08:36 +0000

The only real way to protect a machine is to image it, and if disaster strikes, lay down the good image and then fire the company responsible for their catastrophic failure to serve.

By: Ed Bott

Ed Bott — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:55:35 +0000

Scott, the primary requirement for enterprises is central monitoring and administration of updates. You can’t just install MS Security Essentials on 5000 PCs and then count on the users to keep them up to date and not disable them or change settings. For that, Microsoft has an excellent product called ForeFront. Uses the same engine as MSE but offers central mgmt and monitoring. McAfee has very good central admin tools as well, which is why enterprises use their products. The QA issues are the real problem here.

By: Bill W

Bill W — Fri, 23 Apr 2010 15:52:28 +0000

I been using MSFT antivirus products (now MSE)for a few years. I se it not because it’s free, but because it’s free and it works.

By: Dale

Dale — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:27:39 +0000

“If you’re a McAfee customer, are you considering a switch? Hit the comments below and tell me why—or why not.”

To answer this, on a 1,000+ desktop fleet, this sort of decision wouldn’t be made at a technical level. Rather at a vendor paid for “let’s do lunch away from the howls of angrish coming from the tech folk” lunch.

By: Brett

Brett — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 22:00:26 +0000

McAfee was used in my workplace some years ago and after consultation it was decided to dump it. For (1) its bloated software which slows PC performance and (2) its A\V engine is not up to scratch. It seems incredulous that McAfee could have released this update before thorough testing knowing the consequences. For what its worth Microsoft Security Essentials is highly recommended for home users using Windows XP\Vista\7.

By: Scott

Scott — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:51:11 +0000

I don’t understand why Dell, HP, Sony, ASUS, etc etc don’t put Microsoft Security Essentials on computers yet. I know, there is probably some kick-back that these OEMs get for putting a paid AV on. But in the interest of the users, they should wake up.