McAfee VirusScan Home Edition 7.0 By Greg Alwang April 22, 2003

• Product: McAfee VirusScan Home Edition 7.0
• Direct Price: $49.99 direct; yearly subscription renewal, $14.95
• Company Info: Network Associates Inc., 800-338-8754, www.mcafee.com

Editor Rating:

With firewall and PDA protection, McAfee VirusScan Home Edition 7.0 ably secures your system against multiple threats. At $49.99 direct—the same price as some AV products without firewalls—VirusScan is a good deal if you know what you're doing. But its plethora of configuration options can leave less experienced users perplexed by tough decisions about suspicious files.

VirusScan's improved HAWK (Hostile Activity Watch Kernel) looks for behavior redolent of mass-mailing worms, malicious scripts, attachments with double extensions, and even rapid forwarding of e-mails in succession. It also scans files transferred to and from a PDA and Microsoft Office documents.

The revamped interface is now better suited to beginners but not as streamlined as that of Norton AntiVirus (NAV). It takes some digging to get to advanced settings, but home users shouldn't need to change the defaults, which scan all files. In case you need to change settings, VirusScan, like NOD32, allows detailed control over scanning and actions taken when viruses are detected.

As with Panda Antivirus and PC-cillin, generic heuristics are turned on by default, but you have to activate macro and script heuristics manually. As with NAV, the initial definition file is big (over 4MB on our tests), but regular updates are small. You have to register VirusScan to receive updates. (By contrast, NAV doesn't require registration.) As a bonus, VirusScan's Instant Updater displays outbreak alerts.

When VirusScan detects a virus, it asks you to choose an appropriate response—putting undue responsibility on inexperienced users. For instance, if it detects an infected file within a ZIP file and you choose Delete, VirusScan deletes the entire ZIP, not just the infected file. You can change the default actions as you see fit. In-depth e-mail alerts, similar to those of NOD32, describe the detected virus, and auto-replies can be directed to the sender of an infected e-mail.

VirusScan offers comprehensive control over scheduled scans, even letting you choose a window of time so that scans won't always begin at the same time. Configurable logs show minute details of each scan, including engine version and settings.

As with NAV, you're encouraged to seek help for basic questions on McAfee's Web site via FAQs, user forums, and live chat. Paid phone support starts at a steep $39 per incident or $2.95 per minute. A downloadable Stinger tool repairs hidden damage caused by viruses, and a slick McAfee Security Center applet can check the overall security of your PC, including the status of virus definitions (for any popular AV product, not just VirusScan) and the existence of firewalls and spam filters.

With a firewall included at no extra charge, VirusScan offers bang for the buck, but it's best suited to experienced users who relish adjusting advanced settings.