Author Topic: Is McAfee Security Center /w Comcast "good enough" (Read 904 times)

SunKing · « **on:** April 09, 2007, 01:38:51 PM »

Is the free McAfee Security Center that comes w/ Comcast account a good choice? Where does it rank with the big names in being a resource hog? Which product should a gamer look at?

Eagler · « **Reply #1 on:** April 09, 2007, 01:50:10 PM »

If it is anything like Norton Security it is bloatware.
Look at the number of process it requires to run and watch your cpu usage.
Norton had mine going from 0 to 10% all the time with way too many process tied up.
I dropped it and spent the $30 on NOD32.
Way better and much lighter than norton ever was.

Vulcan · « **Reply #2 on:** April 09, 2007, 06:13:34 PM »

Agreed. McAfee's retail product is awful. Thing is some vendors have multiple product lines, so you have to be careful to match what is being reviewed/tested against what you're looking to buy. In McAfee's case theres 3 primaries, a retail product, a small business product, and an enterprise product. The first two suck, the 3rd rocks but the only way for an individual user to get it is not legal.

Nod32 definitely rules the retail product space.

Fulmar · « **Reply #3 on:** April 09, 2007, 06:43:05 PM »

My security center runs free for me (well extra $ for electricity). I use an old IBM Aptiva that runs a linux firewall as my main internet security. And for anti-virus I use Avast (its free and works pretty good, while not being a resource hog).

Vulcan · « **Reply #4 on:** April 09, 2007, 08:41:04 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by Fulmar
that runs a linux firewall as my main internet security. And for anti-virus I use Avast (its free and works pretty good, while not being a resource hog).

FYI Avast rates quite poorly, especially the free version. What sort of modem/or router do you use?

Fulmar · « **Reply #5 on:** April 09, 2007, 10:44:57 PM »

IPCop

http://www.ipcop.org

I'll take a look into nod32

Speed55 · « **Reply #6 on:** April 09, 2007, 11:18:17 PM »

I installed Kapersky on my new comp. It seems to be doing what it's supposed to. 28 processes total running right now, with windows xpsp2, and aim running.

Vulcan · « **Reply #7 on:** April 10, 2007, 01:13:44 AM »

http://www.matousec.com/projects/windows-personal-firewall-analysis/leak-tests-results.php

and

http://www.av-comparatives.org/

Please make sure you read the reports thoroughly, score cards don't tell the whole story.

Fulmar · « **Reply #8 on:** April 10, 2007, 03:12:49 PM »

Good to know. I'll take a look at some other products. I've used Avast basically because it was free and I use it on my computer, my g/f's, her parents, and my parents computer. No problems with those computers for the last year.

In retrospect I've only had one serious virus infection of my own and that was the sasser virus. I've tried to fix other peoples computer with massive spyware infections before (they had no anti-spy software) and no matter what program you use, stuff still gets by and a good ole format is the real trick.

Reschke · « **Reply #9 on:** April 11, 2007, 04:09:26 PM »

In my experience any ISP provided "security suite" is a waste of time. I use Charter and they offer FSecure as their security suite package. I tried it and my PC went from 27 processes running to over 60 process running and then to top it off I still got a monster of a virus that required me to trash the HD completely and get a brand new one just to reinstall everything. Now I use NOD32 and like the others mentioning it here I only have about 30-35 processes running and it seems to work flawlessly.

SunKing · « **Reply #10 on:** April 12, 2007, 09:48:04 AM »

Thanks for the info people. I'll be trying the NOD32 30 day trial.

Brooke · « **Reply #11 on:** April 13, 2007, 07:55:43 PM »

I've been using the free version of Avast and like it. I got fed up with McAfee and Norton, which were just horrible resource hogs. Avast seems to catch things, work well, and it doesn't seem to have a bad impact upon performance.

I tried Avast because of recommendations from this AH message board. Thanks, folks!

DREDIOCK · « **Reply #12 on:** April 17, 2007, 04:15:15 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by SunKing
Thanks for the info people. I'll be trying the NOD32 30 day trial.

Im on the 30 day trial. Think I have like 10 days left or something like that.
So far so good.

Like with any of them its not foolproof or absolute
AVG microscanner picked up a couple of things Nod32 didnt spot.
But Nod 32 picked up somet hings that AVG didnt either.

Vulcan · « **Reply #13 on:** April 17, 2007, 05:23:00 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by DREDIOCK
Like with any of them its not foolproof or absolute
AVG microscanner picked up a couple of things Nod32 didnt spot.
But Nod 32 picked up somet hings that AVG didnt either.

AVG is known to bring up full positives (it is one of the reasons it gets rated poorly).

I'd trust what NOD32 says.

ozrocker · « **Reply #14 on:** April 18, 2007, 08:58:13 PM »

Mcafee sux. Better is Avast(http://www.Avast.com). It is free
Oz