McAfee Total Protection (2021) review: How good is the antivirus solution?

19/09/2022 By gifsauce 344 Views

This McAfee review explores all the features of the Total Protection suite. This McAfee offer remains one of the benchmarks on Windows PCs in 2021 – to the point that McAfee Total Protection often comes pre-installed on certain machines (with trial period).

If you are looking for a rather cheap and effective antivirus and you don't want to rack your brains, in our opinion McAfee Total Protection is often a must since the suite often comes pre-installed on Windows PCs new. However, there is no guarantee that a pre-installed program, or one with a long history, will be especially effective for this purpose.

That's why it's worth taking a closer look at McAfee Total Protection's detection scores, the performance impact of the tools in the suite, their functionality, and the overall ease of use of this antivirus. Enough to realize the real value of this paid suite, its features and its subscription offers to give you an opinion on McAfee Total Protection more quickly.

Spoiler alert: McAfee is also one of the best free antiviruses we recommend in 2021. The program is among the most popular on the market. And, you will see, it offers rather effective and competitive protection against competing solutions. The firm claims some 500 million protected machines. Which is an undeniable sign of trust.

Especially since McAfee is based on a paid business model. Which means you are going straight to a solution that will never try to make money with your personal data behind your back. Everything is much clearer now!

Note: We have negotiated special offers for Presse-citron readers. The image below shows the discounts you may be entitled to. To take advantage of them, just click on the image below or follow one of the links on this page to access these rates on the McAfee site. You will be able to get more than 50% discount on the normal price of the formulas.

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Introducing McAfee Total Protection

McAfee antivirus is one of the best-known references in the industry, because of its age and history. What differentiates McAfee Total protection from alternative solutions in our opinion is that paying customers have access to a particularly complete suite with, among other things, protection against security breaches with automatic updating of Windows applications, a complete protection on the web with several agents and a powerful firewall, effective tools to speed up applications and Internet browsing, a password manager, a complete parental control system, and a system to lock your files more sensitive.

The True Key password manager included in the McAfee Total Protection suite is an easy, secure way to protect and better manage your passwords. The included manager is cross-platform, and meets the most demanding security standards. Your passwords are encrypted using the military-grade AES 256-bit algorithm. This encryption is so strong that security experts say it is not possible to brute force your passwords now or for the next 10 years.

Note, however, that unlike other password managers, True Key offers few different options for multi-factor authentication. The manager is not compatible, in particular, with physical security keys such as YubiKey. However, these keys secure your accounts much better while simplifying the experience of connecting to your most sensitive accounts. Therefore, if you need a manager, we recommend installing 1Password or NordPass instead:

See 1Password offers

See NordPass offers

From the first third you are entitled to almost all the most interesting features of this antivirus suite. In this respect, McAfee is as complete as competing solutions, including Kaspersky, Norton or Sophos. It is one of the “cleanest” solutions: there is no adware or spyware, or a free business model that involves exploiting your personal data. The only minor complaint we can make about it, we will come back to this, is that it integrates so deeply into the operating system that it can be quite difficult to uninstall it in some cases. However, an official tool simplifies the procedure.

The benchmarking sites AV-Test and AV-Comparatives regularly give it top marks in their rankings. The two organizations awarded it a “flawless” detection score of 100%. It is also one of those that has the least impact on the performance of the computers on which it is installed, in particular for the launch of demanding applications such as video games. In our opinion, McAfee Total Protection is an ideal choice for gaming machines.

Which platforms is McAfee available on?

PC

McAfee is available on all four major platforms. On PC, you can benefit from McAfee from Windows 8.1 32 and 64 bit editions provided that the operating system is up to date with the latest security patches. It is of course also compatible with Windows 10 32 and 64 bit editions, and we managed to install it without any problem on one of the first Insiders builds of Windows 11.

Web protection works with Internet Explorer 11.0, Firefox, Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge (Chromium). The anti-spam toolbar is exclusively compatible with Microsoft Outlook 2010, 2013, 201 and 2019 as well as Thunderbird 38.0+. In addition, there are the following minimum requirements:

McAfee Total Protection Notice (2021): What is the Antivirus Solution Worth?

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Mac

The latest version of McAfee Total Protection is compatible with all versions of macOS since version 10.15 (Catalina). However, McAfee continues to offer an older build (4.9.0.2) for older macs running macOS 10.12 to 10.14. It is no longer possible to download versions of the antivirus for older versions of macOS.

The minimum system requirements are the same as on PC:

Android

All smartphones and tablets running Android 7.0 (Nougat) and later are compatible with the McAfee mobile app. There is no minimum hardware configuration.

iPhone

All iPhones and iPads running iOS 13 and later are compatible with the McAfee mobile app.

Mail protocols and applications

McAfee specifies that the anti-spam function works with the following mail protocols and applications:

According to these data, we note that the protection does not work with the IMAP protocol, which has nevertheless become the standard in email clients in recent years.

What is the price of McAfee offers?

Depending on the number of devices and the use you want to make of them, McAfee offers three subscription plans, with small bonuses if you choose by advance automatic renewal. Note that while McAfee's site seems to differentiate between McAfee antivirus and McAfee Total Protection, subscribing to either will subscribe you to McAfee Total Protection.

Despite appearances, McAfee now has a unique antivirus offering for its consumer customers. Progress because a few years ago, in our opinion McAfee offered a much less readable subscription offer. So note if you browse the McAfee site that the Total Protection and Antivirus sections lead to buying exactly the same product at the same price but with different wording on the page.

McAfee thus offers three formulas depending on the number of licenses you need. The more expensive plans do not really give you any additional features except for the parental controls included in the Family subscription. The “Individual” subscription is normally offered at €69.95 per year. Then there is the “McAfee Multi-equipment” offer at €89.95 per year. Finally, you can also choose the “McAfee Family” offer (€99.95 per year).

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Why buy McAfee: comparison of subscription offers

The three McAfee subscription offers differ mainly in the number of machines on which you can install the antivirus. The Individual subscription includes a single license, the Multi-Device subscription includes 5 licenses and the McAfee Family subscription allows you to install the antivirus on up to 10 devices. This last third includes the parental control function that McAfee normally charges separately (39.99 € per year).

< td>✅

	Individual	Multi-Equipment	Family
Virus Scan	✅	✅	✅
Detection in real time	✅	✅	✅
Performance optimization	✅	✅	✅
Access to security experts (phone and online)	✅	✅	✅
Password Manager	✅	✅
Safe web browsing	✅	✅	✅
McAfee Shredder	✅	✅	✅
Encrypted Storage	✅	✅	✅
Compatibility with multiple platforms	❌	✅	✅
Parental Control	❌	❌	✅

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Note that some features, such as VPN access, require you to agree in advance to auto-renew your subscription. This is a commercial technique that simply aims to build loyalty. Note, however, that this VPN is not essential at all, and that it is actually rather advisable to fall back on third-party VPN providers. This will give you more freedom and flexibility without risking your safety.

Third-party VPNs do their job much better, and usually give you the option to connect through thousands of servers located in many countries. This can help you, for example, to unblock the geolocation of certain streaming platforms such as Netflix or Prime Video – in addition to protecting your connection with strong encryption in public places. They encrypt all of your internet traffic as securely as the VPNs offered by antivirus vendors. As a bonus, you will never be forced to renew your subscription.

How effective is McAfee?

According to independent AV-Test and AV Comparatives, McAfee is one of the best antiviruses on the market. As you can see in the screenshot below, McAfee enjoys an excellent detection rate of 100% at AV-Test (the industry average is more like 99.3%). The differential compared to the industry average may seem incidental, but when we take into account the number of threats on PC, we quickly understand how a few tenths of a percentage can make a difference.

AV-Comparatives goes into detail, noting that McAfee Total Protection works best when the antivirus is connected to the internet and the definitions are up to date. If so, the detection rate drops to just 71.7%. But as soon as the antivirus is correctly kept up to date, the detection rate rises to 98.7% for a protection rate of 100% – all with very few false alarms which are often more numerous than the average among solutions. most zealous antiviruses.

Very few antivirus programs do better than McAfee in this regard. We note, however, that Bitdefender, regularly crowned best antivirus on the market, enjoys better scores:

Discover Bitdefender

Does McAfee have an impact on performance?

AV-Test and AV-Comparatives performance tests tend to agree: McAfee is very light on performance, especially on application launch, the area where publishers typically struggle the most. However, it is this point that leads many users to refuse the installation of an antivirus. That's why McAfee is a good choice for security-conscious gamers.

This chart from AV-Test confirms the results from AV-Comparatives. McAfee antivirus is lighter than the industry average. However, there is a slightly heavier than average impact on the installation of applications. An area that is however less prohibitive than the actual execution of applications, since you will not really notice any perceptible slowdown on a daily basis:

Few competing solutions can claim less impact on performance. We nevertheless invite you to consider Kaspersky which is in our opinion even better on this side:

Discover Kaspersky

Is McAfee easy to use?

Scan your computer and enable real-time protection

If it is not yet installed by default, the first thing to do to protect your computer with McAfee Total Protection is to download the trial version of the antivirus from the official website. You can opt for McAfee Antivirus or McAfee Total Protection: it is exactly the same program, and at the end of the installation, you will in fact have McAfee Total Protection in all cases, i.e. the suite of functionalities more comprehensive from the editor.

You can then test all the features of the antivirus free of charge for 30 days. At the end of this trial period, you will have to opt for one of the three subscription formulas. If you have children, we recommend the Family subscription which delivers a comfortable number of licenses and includes McAfee's excellent parental control system.

View McAfee offers

Once you have signed up and created a McAfee account, all you need to do is enter your credentials into the PC application. All you have to do is connect your other devices with your McAfee account to enjoy your subscription.

Protect your activity on the web

As soon as the antivirus is installed, McAfee automatically activates all the protections included in your subscription. You are therefore immediately protected against threats from the web. This includes the fight against fraudulent sites, typojacking and phishing. Features that are coupled with a firewall in our opinion very effective.

Boost PC performance

All McAfee offers include access to tools to optimize the execution of applications on your computer and speed up your web browsing. These two features do not work miracles: ultimately your computer will remain slow if it does not have the correct hardware configuration.

In addition, speeding up your web browsing means above all using a caching and compression system more aggressively, which makes it possible to load more quickly the pages that you consult often. It does not in any way speed up your internet connection. These two tools are offered by the McAfee Total Protection suite, but they must be downloaded separately.

Configure parental controls

Parental controls are not included in all offers. You must have a Family subscription or buy the separate subscription to Safe Family (€39.95 per year) to benefit from it. Like the optimization options, Parental Control also forces the user to download a separate program.

The Safe Family parental control allows you to block certain sites, keywords or restrict internet use individually on the devices in your household. You can control everything, if you want, from a single device.

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Is McAfee easy to uninstall?

Here and there on the web you will see an avalanche of McAfee user reviews that report difficulties in uninstalling the software. We noticed the problem ourselves on our test machine, following an error during installation (which was our fault).

The problem is that the McAfee entry in Windows 10 Add/Remove Programs then fails to complete the antivirus uninstallation. We don't really know why this is the case, or why the problem has persisted for years.

Just be aware that McAfee offers a tool that fixes the problem, called MCPR.exe. We managed to completely uninstall the antivirus on our machine, which allowed us to reinstall it properly to complete this test.

If you want our opinion on McAfee: given the existence of the tool, these uninstallation problems are ultimately not very serious. All you have to do is do a little research in Google to find the solution.

Who publishes McAfee?

McAfee was founded in 1987 by John McAfee, an engineer who worked for NASA, among others, and who developed the very first antivirus on the market. However, he did not stay there very long: in 1994, the founder left the company. McAfee, however, retains its name and continues to publish antivirus solutions.

McAfee passed through several companies before being acquired by Intel in 2010. In 2014, the firm even announced its intention to change its name to Intel Security. A way to strengthen the Intel brand while drawing a line under the surname of John McAfee.

The latter was indeed regularly in the headlines for various scandals before his arrest, then his suicide in a prison in Barcelona. If the hectic life of John McAfee interests you, we recommend that you read our article on the subject. But we emphasize that, despite its name, McAfee has no longer had any connection with its founder since 1994, that is to say for a very long time.

So McAfee should not be seen as a sulphurous publisher like its founder. On the contrary, McAfee is a trusted publisher that offers one of the best antiviruses on the market. In 2017, Intel separated from the antivirus firm which continues to be called McAfee, simply because it is a well-identified brand with customers. The antivirus has since gone public. McAfee's capitalization was, at the time of this writing, over $12 billion.

In our opinion, is McAfee Total Protection a good antivirus suite

In our opinion, McAfee (Total Protection) has been around for ages, so no one is really surprised when a manufacturer preinstalls the antivirus on new PCs. McAfee is however very far from being a has-been. It offers one of the three most complete and effective antivirus suites on the market for a price that is, in our opinion, very reasonable. Especially if you opt for the intermediate Multi-equipment offer.

We especially like its relentless 100% detection rate, its offer of tools to boost the performance of your PC, as well as the parental controls included in the most complete version. Given its added value and that of competing options, in our opinion it is not necessary to succumb to the “free” VPN offer which requires you to activate automatic renewal.

Instead, check out our guide to buying the best VPN services to find the one that will deliver the most utility to you, while encrypting your connection in public places. We also advise you to take advantage of the offers we have negotiated with McAfee for Presse-citron readers. You can indeed benefit from more than 50% reduction on subscription offers:

View McAfee offers

In addition, regarding the McAfee password manager, you should know that it does the job for a ridiculously low price. However be careful. If you wish to have access to the latest security recommendations, in particular the best in terms of multi-factor authentication, it is strongly advised to opt instead, alongside, for 1Password or LastPass and avoid using True Key:

See 1Password offers

See NordPass offers

The McAfee True Key password manager does indeed suffer from a lack of options for two-factor authentication – options that can be used to better secure your accounts. For example, you cannot currently strengthen your security with physical security keys such as the YubiKey.