McAfee Total Protection 2020 Test vs Malware

TL;DR

McAfee Total Protection is put to the test against malware, with mixed results and concerns about susceptibility to ransomware.

Transcript

hello and welcome to the PC security Channel hope you're unlike me having some amazing holidays somewhere that today we'll be taking a look at the legendary wanted only McAfee total protection this is of course no ordinary antivirus or anti-malware software this is the stuff of legend so much so that there is a roll called Lord McAfee on TPS II dis... Read More

Key Insights

• 👤 McAfee Total Protection has a legendary reputation but has some activation issues and a confusing user interface.
• ☠️ The software has a decent proactive detection rate but still had some malware processes in memory after the test.
• 🚠 McAfee Total Protection was able to prevent some malware from causing damage, but its susceptibility to ransomware is a concern.
• 😘 The software's low CPU usage during scans may contribute to system stability but could also limit its effectiveness against CPU-intensive malware.
• 🥶 McAfee Total Protection is seen as an outdated antivirus solution with associated nostalgia for older versions of the software.
• 🏆 Despite some shortcomings, McAfee Total Protection performed better than expected in this test.
• ❓ Its performance in preventing malware and ransomware could be improved, especially for networked systems.

Questions & Answers

Q: How does McAfee Total Protection perform in detecting and preventing malware?

McAfee Total Protection performs decently in detecting and preventing malware, with a final proactive detection rate of 95.61%. However, there were still some malware processes in memory, indicating potential vulnerabilities.

Q: Is McAfee Total Protection resource-intensive?

No, McAfee Total Protection utilizes the CPU fairly lightly during malware scans, which may lead to lower system instability when dealing with infections. However, it also raises concerns about the software's ability to handle more CPU-intensive malware.

Q: Does McAfee Total Protection effectively prevent ransomware attacks?

McAfee Total Protection was able to prevent a ransomware executable from causing damage to the host computer. However, the presence of a ".cryptolocker" file suggests some susceptibility to ransomware, especially on shared drives.

Q: How does McAfee Total Protection compare to other antivirus software?

In this test, McAfee Total Protection performed decently, but it didn't have a completely clean sheet. Other antivirus software like Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro also didn't detect any malware, but McAfee's susceptibility to ransomware raises concerns.

Summary & Key Takeaways

• The reviewer takes a look at McAfee Total Protection, citing its legendary status and mentioning some issues with activation and the user interface.

• The reviewer runs a test by executing malware from a network drive and observes the software's performance and proactive detection.

• McAfee Total Protection successfully detects and prevents some malware, but there are concerns about susceptibility to ransomware.