McAfee VirusScan 8.0 By Jay Munro November 25, 2003

• Product: McAfee VirusScan 8.0
• Price: Subscription version, $34.95 direct; download version, $49.99; boxed version, $59.99
• Company Info: Network Associates Inc., 800-338-8754, www.mcafee.com

Editor Rating:

McAfee VirusScan 8.0 matches the features found in Norton AntiVirus by including both inbound and outbound e-mail scanning, worm protection, and spyware/adware detection. Its new silent updating and simple scan scheduling are actually easier for novice users than Norton's. The subscription version lets you submit an unknown virus to McAfee's labs with just one click. But Norton still bests McAfee in reporting on your virus history and in independent virus labs' testing results.

If you're upgrading, you may be surprised that firewall software is no longer included with VirusScan. But McAfee offers bundled specials at prices comparable with the single AV product. The subscription version is cheaper than the boxed version, but your subscription copy stops working if you don't renew yearly.

With its new, simpler, nonthreatening interface, VirusScan puts two icons on the desktop: Scan for Viruses, which brings up locations to scan and a few options, or the more comprehensive McAfee Security Center. Connecting with McAfee's site, Security Center gets alerts and advisories, shows your "security index" graphically, and gives access to basic and advanced configurations. VirusScan is set for maximum protection and automatic updates by default.

Better late than never, McAfee adds POP3 (inbound) and SMTP (outbound) e-mail virus scanning, and its WormStopper feature can block unidentified worms from sending e-mails from your system. When worm behavior is detected, such as sending more than five e-mails within 30 seconds, VirusScan asks whether you want to block them. Since VirusScan alerts you on every message exceeding a set limit of addressees, you'll want to disable this feature before sending your next BBQ invitations.

Like Norton AntiVirus, VirusScan scans for nonvirus spyware, adware, and dialers. On our tests, we found that it did find and delete some of the malware we installed, but you'll probably want to back it up with antispyware software.

McAfee VirusScan and McAfee Security Center are easy to use, easy to install (either from disc or as a download), and provide good default