Mac Powell and the Family Reunion Back Again

Our Verdict

McAfee AntiVirus Plus' generous multi-license pricing makes this production an alluring selection for families.

For

Protects x devices
Depression passive system impact
Firewall

Against

Unproven detection rates
Huge slowdowns during full scans
Confusing interface

Tom's Guide Verdict

McAfee AntiVirus Plus' generous multi-license pricing makes this product an alluring option for families.

Pros

+
Protects x devices
+
Low passive organization touch on
+
Firewall

Cons

-
Unproven detection rates
-
Huge slowdowns during total scans
-
Confusing interface

You're surrounded by devices, and it can feel overwhelming when yous consider that each may exist under attack and you endeavour to figure out how you're going to afford to continue them all safe from malware and other potentially unwanted programs. This is why McAfee AntiVirus Plus (only like Sophos Dwelling house Premium) supports 10 devices for an annual price of $59.99, including non just Macs but PCs also.

There are downsides, though. McAfee has super-long scan times, untested Mac-malware protections and a mixed bear upon on system performance, and the plan doesn't offer much in the fashion of extras to persuade you that costless alternatives aren't better. Still, information technology's skillful enough that nosotros can include it among the best Mac antivirus software.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Costs and what's covered

McAfee AntiVirus Plus costs $24.99 for the outset year and $59.99 for each subsequent year, unless you get the two-year packet that goes for $29.99. Those prices cover licenses for x devices, including Macs, PCs, and iOS and Android devices. (You lot really don't need it on your iPhone, though.)

In the by few years, McAfee 10-device licenses were actually unlimited, and we don't call up that has changed, making them tiptop bargains among the best antivirus software and the best Android antivirus apps.

McAfee'south other home antivirus products — McAfee Internet Security, McAfee Total Security and McAfee LiveSafe — also support Macs every bit well as PCs, while tossing in extras such as a password managing director, parental controls and identity-theft protection. If you lot could apply any of those features, they may exist worth looking into; read our review of McAfee'southward Windows antivirus software for more.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus supports macOS 10.12 Sierra and later and requires 2GB of RAM and 500MB of storage.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Antivirus protection

McAfee AntiVirus Plus matches suspicious files against known Mac malware. Scans accept place passively and on demand, and the user tin can schedule scans in advance.

This software also uses heuristic-based analysis, meaning information technology monitors the organization for behavioral patterns that malware typically exhibits to find and thwart new malware that hasn't been identified nevertheless.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Antivirus detection

Neither AV-Test in Deutschland, nor AV-Comparatives in Austria, the independent antivirus-testing labs whose results we ordinarily rely on, tested McAfee's products in the labs' well-nigh recent surveys of Mac antivirus software.

The merely time either lab tested McAfee's malware-spotting abilities in Macs in the past 2 years was in November 2017, when McAfee scored 99.6% in AV-Test's evaluations. That's not a terrible score, only the Mac malware engines of 5 other brands we've recently reviewed — Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton and Sophos — all scored 100% in the same round of tests.

Avast Free Mac Security, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Net Security for Mac tied for 100% on the virtually recent (July 2019) AV-Comparatives test, while Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton Security Deluxe for Mac all earned 100% marks on the nearly recent (June 2019) AV-Examination report. Neither exam analyzed Sophos or Malwarebytes for Mac.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Security and privacy features

In a paid selection, McAfee AntiVirus Plus includes a few extras for Mac users. While macOS includes a firewall to stop applications from connecting to risky websites, McAfee AntiVirus Plus also offers its ain for Macs.

McAfee'south spider web-browser extensions, including McAfee WebAdvisor (available for gratis online from McAfee and the Chrome and Firefox extension stores), warn you earlier yous visit potentially malicious web pages. The extensions likewise scan downloads for threats and flag risky search results. Unfortunately, those tools don't support Safari.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Functioning and system impact

McAfee AntiVirus Plus had a midsize impact on Mac organisation performance. We assessed this past running our custom Excel VLOOKUP benchmark examination, which matches 60,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. Our test car was a 2017 MacBook Air with a 1.8-GHz Intel Cadre i5 CPU and approximately 54GB of information stored on a 128GB SSD.

After we installed McAfee AntiVirus Plus on our MacBook, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 3 minutes and 35 seconds, 2 seconds more than than the same system took earlier the installation. That's a passive system hit of 1%, which is on the low finish of the range we constitute. By contrast, Sophos rated 5% (the high end), and Bitdefender rated 0%(the lowest). You probably wouldn't notice any of those slowdowns.

During a McAfee total-system browse, the VLOOKUP test finished in 5 minutes and xv seconds, signifying a performance dip of 47%. That's the biggest performance slowdown during a full scan that we saw. Most of the programs got a two-digit performance slowdown — from Norton at thirteen% to Kaspersky at 41% — and simply Sophos (seven%) had a one-digit crash-land. (McAfee AntiVirus Plus doesn't offering a quick scan for Macs.)

On average, McAfee's full scans took 1 hour and 17 minutes, so you'd spend a while waiting to notice said slowdown. Still, that's less than half of Sophos' full-browse completion time of 2:56, but much longer than Malwarebytes' glimmer-and-you-miss-information technology full-scan fourth dimension of 16 seconds.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Interface

McAfee AntiVirus Plus makes y'all click around more than you should to perform elementary tasks. Both its menu-bar icon and its abode window show your system'southward status, but if y'all want to start a scan, you'll need to click upwardly to three times, which is three times as many clicks equally it should accept.

Seriously, the home window has a Run a Browse push button, but clicking it doesn't start a scan, which makes me feel like it'due south labeled wrong. Instead, you're taken to another window, which has two options: Full Scan and Custom Scan.

Clicking on Updates opens another window, where you lot have to click another button (Offset) to bank check for malware-definition updates, adding another layer of unnecessary interaction.

Dorsum in the main window, the Mac Security tab splits the window between a side menu of statuses for real-time scanning, firewall, updates and scheduled scans, forth with three bigger buttons to ship you to the browse options, file quarantine and device history. Yes, that Run a Scan button is back (which makes sense in a Security section), only it nonetheless sends you to the same window.

And then, yous have the Identity tab, which feels sparse. On the left, y'all have a condition button for McAfee WebAdvisor, which gives you lot controls for avoiding risky and unverified websites and blocking sites according to such nefarious categories as pornography and phishing (both blocked by default).

In the Preferences window, you'll detect toggles to disable scanning and updating and McAfee's firewall. You'll besides meet granular options to adjust how the system scans files and grants permissions to applications. Here, y'all'll also detect McAfee Antivirus Plus' firewall controls.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Installation and back up

Afterwards you purchase McAfee AntiVirus Plus, you'll download a disk-image file. It contains an installer app that requires yous to enter your serial number. After completing the installation, McAfee AntiVirus Plus will inquire if you're connected to a public network or a private (home or work) one, which the programme asks each time you connect to a new network.

During installation, the software will install the SiteAdvisor spider web plug-in in Chrome. (Firefox didn't get it automatically, and at that place isn't a version for Safari.) SiteAdvisor warns you lot of possibly malicious spider web pages and suspicious search results and also scans downloads for threats.

More than: How to Cull the Antivirus Software That'southward Correct for You

For technical support, click Help in the Menu Bar, select "Mcafee [sic] Services and Support," and then curl downwards to the very bottom of the folio and click Contact Support. Then, click Technical Help, select Mac, and click Chat or Phone. Or you can go to McAfee'southward global contact page, select Support and choose your state from the drib-down bar. The price-gratuitous number for Home & Home Part Support in the U.Southward. is 1-866-622-3911.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) review: Bottom line

The third-political party labs we regularly rely on accept not recently tested McAfee's Mac malware-detection performance, so nosotros cannot definitively recommend McAfee for Mac. Likewise, while its passive performance hit is negligible, McAfee'southward organisation touch on during a full scan (which takes forever) could ho-hum you downward when yous're trying to work. McAfee AntiVirus Plus' lack of important special features, and lack of support for Safari, make other antivirus options better for Mac users.

The best part of McAfee AntiVirus Plus is its 10-device license, which makes it worth looking at for large families. Only anyone with just one or a few Macs to protect should bank check out Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, our top Mac antivirus pick.

Updated with pricing changes. This review was originally published in September 2019.

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Henry is a senior editor at Tom's Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past half-dozen-plus years. Prior to joining Tom's Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He'south also covered the wild earth of professional person wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/mcafee-antivirus-plus-for-mac