Is McAfee still bad?

[TriangleWasTaken]

Hey, 

I work in a shop that pushes us to sell mc afee, i honestly feel bad doing it because i belive it's a bad product, but it's based on old reviews and opinions. 

Am i still correct? 

Why is McAfee still a bad solution, or why is it good. 

[Mumintroll]

Well...

 

I haven't tried it myself, but many antiviruses really slows down the pc. Low-end and older pc will not be happy with it.

McAfee do have several posts about it slowing the pc down alot.

 

Also you're selling it, when there are good free options that is good enough for home users.

 

Then there's also the fact that no antivirus will protect 100% against everything.

Good common knowledge about virus and malware threats, and how to avoid it is essential.

A good routine to secure and backup what's important to you.

Have good passwords with 2-step verification on important accounts.

 

There are dumb people beliving an antivirus makes you immune to everything, then blindy step onto a bear trap.

[TriangleWasTaken]

Just now, Mumintroll said:

Well...

 

I haven't tried it myself, but many antiviruses really slows down the pc. Low-end and older pc will not be happy with it.

McAfee do have several posts about it slowing the pc down alot.

 

Also you're selling it, when there are good free options that is good enough for home users.

 

Then there's also the fact that no antivirus will protect 100% against everything.

Good common knowledge about virus and malware threats, and how to avoid it is essential.

A good routine to secure and backup what's important to you.

Have good passwords with 2-step verification on important accounts.

 

There are dumb people beliving an antivirus makes you immune to everything, then blindy step onto a bear trap.

You're right. 
But if you MUST buy an antivirus, other than slowing down, and that's still a valid reason, what else would you go against? Isn't it considered to be the worst at detecting? Just to not mention the fact that scammers are allowed to use official McAfee links?

Honestly I'm not updated on it. 

Selling it, or seeing people blindly accept it makes me think so much on why stores are meant to fail. The whole business model it's taking advantage of people.

[Mumintroll]

7 minutes ago, TriangleWasTaken said:

You're right. 
But if you MUST buy an antivirus, other than slowing down, and that's still a valid reason, what else would you go against? Isn't it considered to be the worst at detecting? Just to not mention the fact that scammers are allowed to use official McAfee links?

Honestly I'm not updated on it.

 

Well you can't trust random unknown reviews on sale sites nowadays, as they could have been bought. It's not uncommon.

Even some youtubers that has a tier list, especially if they're promoting one antivirus and gives affiliate links, coupon offers for that said antivirus, are scetchy sellers that'll of course rank what they're promoting to be the best....

 

Windows Defender, plus the common sense I mentioned, goes long way.

Plenty of people in this forum also say Malwarebytes is good.

There's also sites that you can upload a file or paste a link to scan it. Virustotal.com for example.

 

Now for your question

I don't know if I could answer that   must buy?

I have heard about the McAfee scams, fake emails.

 

39 minutes ago, TriangleWasTaken said:

Selling it, or seeing people blindly accept it makes me think so much on why stores are meant to fail. The whole business model it's taking advantage of people.

 

That's what capitalism (greed) is about. The best customer is the gullible newbie.

Perhaps the unscrupulous seller and the virus coder are motivated by the same thing, money? To scam people, just in different ways?

It is a very philosophical question indeed.

 

That you have doubts about selling it shows that you're a good person atleast.

 

[TriangleWasTaken]

45 minutes ago, Mumintroll said:

 

Well you can't trust random unknown reviews on sale sites nowadays, as they could have been bought. It's not uncommon.

Even some youtubers that has a tier list, especially if they're promoting one antivirus and gives affiliate links, coupon offers for that said antivirus, are scetchy sellers that'll of course rank what they're promoting to be the best....

 

Windows Defender, plus the common sense I mentioned, goes long way.

Plenty of people in this forum also say Malwarebytes is good.

There's also sites that you can upload a file or paste a link to scan it. Virustotal.com for example.

 

Now for your question

I don't know if I could answer that   must buy?

I have heard about the McAfee scams, fake emails.

 

 

That's what capitalism (greed) is about. The best customer is the gullible newbie.

Perhaps the unscrupulous seller and the virus coder are motivated by the same thing, money? To scam people, just in different ways?

It is a very philosophical question indeed.

 

That you have doubts about selling it shows that you're a good person atleast.

 

I just needed to know if McAfee got any better, seems like not xD

But thank you for your answer

[TriangleWasTaken]

Okay, i made some research on my own and i can say this:

 

Yes, it's still bad.

 

The long answer is:

Their claims are one worse than the other. Just for the antivirus functionality alone, their best claims are "it's more lightweight" and "we have a firewall" but the funniest being: "we got top-product label from av-test.org"

Yes, well done mcafee, 14/15 PRODUCTS FROM DECEMBER 2024 HAVE THIS LABEL. Including windows defender.

Want to talk about their vpn? Why would i choose you? WE HAVE ENCRYPTION!! This is the only claim they make about VPN, not to mention that they say NOTHING regarding no-log policy or something about user privacy that is not the abc of VPN advertisement.

 

The scummy behaviors they have dont stop here.

if you navigate on their website in italian, the page for "antivirus" has a browser tab title of "best antivirus 2025". 

Yes, according to my drunk grandpa, i asked him last weekend.

More than that, aggressive ads, still allowing scammers to be able to use official links and pushing stores to sell their product.

 

The only reason it's not failed as a company is because they keep tricking their customers.

 

 

[Timme]

Actually, it's not that bad: Tom's Guide, Security.org

[TriangleWasTaken]

8 hours ago, Timme said:

Actually, it's not that bad: Tom's Guide, Security.org

The reviews say nothing that is relevant and the test that made Security.org looks like simple EICAR files, which are the bare minimum. Honestly i dont think theyre relevant.

 

 

[Timme]

10 hours ago, TriangleWasTaken said:

The reviews say nothing that is relevant and the test that made Security.org looks like simple EICAR files, which are the bare minimum. Honestly i dont think theyre relevant.

 

 

Know what's funny in this "review"? It contradicts itself. Just from the first test when "Mcaffee not good" and opens VirusTotal


Here's a bit more reliable source.

[TriangleWasTaken]

2 hours ago, Timme said:

Know what's funny in this "review"? It contradicts itself. Just from the first test when "Mcaffee not good" and opens VirusTotal

Okay i see, thank you for linking that review and it looks like im mistaken, and McAfee reached a decent level.

 

But i would still say, that one of the points i made in this post was the behaviors of McAfee itself; not just how well it works.

I was strongly complaining on how its sold, how its advertised and the shady behaviors it's still using.

[Timme]

5 minutes ago, TriangleWasTaken said:

Okay i see, thank you for linking that review and it looks like im mistaken, and McAfee reached a decent level.

 

But i would still say, that one of the points i made in this post was the behaviors of McAfee itself; not just how well it works.

I was strongly complaining on how its sold, how its advertised and the shady behaviors it's still using.

The truth is that stand-alone antiviruses are a questionable choice anyway. For the vast majority of users a Windows Defender is enough these days. All the learning models and stuff improved protection by a lot as a whole. For fringe use cases - Surfshark has a great Anti-Virus, NordVPN offers real-time protection, etc. VPNs also are cheaper.

[Timme]

22 minutes ago, TriangleWasTaken said:

the behaviors of McAfee itself

Speaking of which, BitDefender Total Security is straight-up locking some user controls and is pain-in-the-ass to uninstall. 

[TriangleWasTaken]

3 hours ago, Timme said:

The truth is that stand-alone antiviruses are a questionable choice anyway. For the vast majority of users a Windows Defender is enough these days. All the learning models and stuff improved protection by a lot as a whole. For fringe use cases - Surfshark has a great Anti-Virus, NordVPN offers real-time protection, etc. VPNs also are cheaper.

Oh yes absolutely, 

don't get me wrong I'm fully into "your brain is the best antivirus"

I was just talking about McAfee in particular; simply based on its past and the fact that i see it selling a lot.

But of course, everything you're saying is correct and i agree with that. Even tho idk about surfshark and nordvpn much.

 

[Dat Guy]

On 3/17/2025 at 1:03 PM, Timme said:

For the vast majority of users a Windows Defender is enough these days.

 

And even that is not really a requirement.

[Timme]

3 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

 

And even that is not really a requirement.

I mean, if you like to live dangerously... All people make mistakes. Making mistakes is how you do the human properly.

[Dat Guy]

58 minutes ago, Timme said:

I mean, if you like to live dangerously...

There are only a couple of common sources for malware infections:

• Shady internet downloads. (Solution: don’t.)
• Security holes in your operating system and/or software. (Solution: keep your software updated.)
• Shady e-mail attachments. (Solution: don’t open them.)

Is there any obvious thing left that makes “anti” virus software a good supplement? Note that software running with full system rights has its own set of possible vulnerabilities.

[Timme]

10 minutes ago, Dat Guy said:

There are only a couple of common sources for malware infections:

• Shady internet downloads. (Solution: don’t.)
• Security holes in your operating system and/or software. (Solution: keep your software updated.)
• Shady e-mail attachments. (Solution: don’t open them.)

Is there any obvious thing left that makes “anti” virus software a good supplement? Note that software running with full system rights has its own set of possible vulnerabilities.

Zero-click exploits?

[Dat Guy]

Secure your browser.