Others say...

"Great so far!"
I haven't had any problems with this like other users writing reviews have. It has really helped my system run smoothly, and it takes out a trojan virus or so just about every day. I just hope they come through with the rebate they promised.

"Much better than Norton"
First off, let me tell you what I believe: there's no single piece of perfect anti-virus software on the market today. Different users swear by different products. I have tried all the major anti-virus packages: McAfee, Panda, Trend Micro, NAV, AVG, etc. All have pros and cons. My strong feelings are: NAV 2004 is absolutely the worst (kills your system, screws up your e-mails, leaves undocumented files on your system...); AVG has a free edition which is good for basic anti-virus needs; Panda is buggy (disabled my IE); and you'll do well with either McAfee or Trend Micro.

I run MVS 2004 v8.0 on my Dell desktop which is exposed to lots of potential Internet security risks, and the software runs seamlessly, unlike the terrible experience I had with NAV 2004 Professional. It also scans faster than NAV, and has not crashed once so far. Updating virus definition could be simpler, and McAfee likes to push ads on you (just like Symantec), but at least my system is well protected. For this alone, I think MVS deserves four stars.

My recommendation: stay away from NAV 2004 - it's the worst program ever written; try Panda for 30 days to see if it works for you; get AVG free edition (at grisoft dot com) if you don't surf the web endlessly like me; get McAfee (...); get Trend Micro if all else fails.

In any case, do not let more than one anti-virus program run at the same time on your system. Also, download free spyware busters like Ad-Aware and Spybot Search & Destroy (from download dot com) regularly until Microsoft improves IE security.

"Good antivirus software"
I've been using McAfee VirusScan software for about 6 years, and Version 8.0 for almost a year and I've never had any problems with it. The updates are automatically installed, and lately seems like there is an update every couple days .. I just get an informational message that it's been installed for me. I've never been infected with a worm or virus in the last 6 years, so I can't speak to what kind of experience one has with the McAfee support staff if does happen. But then again, I consider it must have pretty good protection if I've never been infected even once when many people I know have been. (I am also running the ZoneAlarm Pro firewall, which I very highly recommend.) I bought Ver 8 because I was used to the McAfee user interface, and several PC magazines rated it tops recently. One thing that disappointed me about the most recent version is that they no longer have a logging mechanism to keep track of what happens during a scan (I was trying to run scans through WIN XP Task Scheduler and wanted to make sure scans were running properly ... And by the way, when I sent McAfee support an email message asking about this, I received a response in less than 24 hours, explaining that indeed the logger was removed in version 8, and by the way there's currently a bug in WIN XP Task Scheduler functionality.) All in all, I'll stick with McAfee...

"Stupid"
This program is stupid. It makes you download 5 things before you can update your definitions, along with registering. You have you remember your email and password just to update! McAfee has this stupid securitycenter... Just buy Norton. You'll smile.

"Works ok, but has significant drawbacks."
I did some research before I bought this and felt like it would be my best bet. Benchmark testing and my own experience with the corporate version at work confirm that this is significantly faster than Norton/Symantec, and less of a drain on the system. Norton also has a well deserved reputation of causing lockups and other problems in Windows. Lastly, McAfee does seem to take the role of finding new viruses very seriously.

Others have mentioned the annoying interface of this software, which is a thinly veiled attempt to sell you other software. I could look past this aspect if it weren't for some of the other issues, but it is pretty cheesy.

My only real issues with this software are:

1) The software is very tightly integrated into the Internet Explorer web browser. In order for it to run, I had to lower my security settings in the *Internet Zone*, even just to open the software when not connected to the web. Specifically, you have to enable ActiveX and JavaScript (again this isn't in the local intranet or trusted zones it is in the Internet Zone, so every site you visit will now have these permissions!). This even goes against Microsoft's recommended settings. This is the software equivalent of a burglar alarm making you keep your deadbolts unlocked. What were they thinking? Hopefully they will fix this in the future, but for now this is a deal killer for me.

2) Less important but still a nuisance is the way the software updates virus definitions. Instead of the software connecting directly to the home server to download updates behind the scenes like other packages do, this one always opens a browser window. This slows the process down, and requires you to customize IE security settings further unless you are running IE wide open (good luck protecting your PC if you are!). It also requires a two stage process with 2 different applications using different ports and going to different IP ranges, so configuring the firewall is much harder than it should be.

I ended up buying Panda Titanium anti virus, and am truly delighted with it. No weird integration into the web browser so I can keep security settings high, and it downloads 60-80 new virus definitions daily without the complicated McAfee process. Because the overhead is less the downloads are really short. Perhaps most important, it scans far faster than McAfee and requires fewer system resources. I scan my PC daily now because it is so painless. I still own the McAfee software, but wouldn't dream of re installing it instead of Panda.

One last note: Most IT guys I've spoken with have stopped using Internet Explorer for general web browsing at home (still use it for the near weekly windows critical security updates). IE has become a hackers magnet, with several major exploits occurring just in the last 6 months. Instead they use Firefox by Mozilla (free), or Opera (free and paid versions). I've switched to Firefox, and so far have had excellent luck.