Mcafee Antivirus Protection 2022

Introduction

McAfee Total Protection offers security, VPN, and password management on all popular platforms, but unlimited device licensing is off the table, as are features including parental control and spam filtering. How many desktops, laptops, tablets, and smartphones exist in your household? Can you even count them? They all need antivirus protection, especially the PCs and Androids. Even the more inherently secure macOS and iOS devices can't protect data in transit'they need a VPN, for sure. McAfee Total Protection used to let you install security on every device in your household, but now that generous licensing is only found in McAfee AntiVirus Plus and the new McAfee+ suite. Without that all-devices licensing, and without several features that have been dropped or will be dropped soon, this suite doesn't bring as much to the table as it once did.s

McAfee Antivirus Plus contains a surprising number of features that go beyond merely protecting against malware, including a variety of performance-enhancing components. The Protect Your PC section in the features menu gives you access to antivirus scans and settings, but it also links to the integrated firewall, not a common feature for a nominally standalone antivirus.
The firewall component both protects against outside attacks and keeps programs from misusing your network connection. By default, it handles program control internally, which is much better than entrusting that task to the untutored user. The firewall mostly stood up to direct attack test, though I managed to disable a few of its Windows services, including WebAdvisor, using techniques available to a malware coder.
You access the firewall by opening the My Protection Menu and looking in the Protect Your PC section. Also in that section are Secure Apps and App Boost. Clicking Secure Apps brings up a vulnerability scanner that seeks out missing security patches for Windows and popular programs and, when possible, automates the update process. App Boost speeds up the loading of common programs, diverts extra resources to the foreground program, and looks for processes that could work better if given more resources.

After a recent makeover, the Android edition feels less like an Android antivirus than like a security-enhancement experience. It does include antivirus scanning, VPN, Wi-Fi scan, and Safe Browsing, but many features, from antitheft to App Lock, are no longer present. As with the Mac edition, upgrading to this suite opens up identity protection features, and the password manager works on Android. With the mobile revamp, McAfee's iOS edition is closer in appearance and functionality to the Android version. It doesn't offer an antivirus scan'the same extreme safeguards that keep malware out of iOS devices likewise make it very difficult for antivirus activity. But you get Safe Browsing, Wi-Fi Scan, and VPN.

Our Observation

A security suite protects your data on your devices, but when that data heads for the jungle of the internet it's vulnerable. Running your connection through a Virtual Private Network, or VPN, secures the data while it's in transit. The connection is encrypted between your device and the VPN server, so even if you've connected through a compromised Wi-Fi network your data is safe. A VPN also serves to mask your IP address, so nobody can track you or determine your (approximate) location using that address.

When McAfee acquired TunnelBear in 2018, that acquisition came with the VPN server network of the popular TunnelBear VPN, a PCMag Editors' Choice pick for VPN protection. McAfee's Safe Connect VPN, available as a separate application for $47.99 per year, is built on the same technology, but without animated bears. For users of McAfee Total Protection, the Secure VPN component is fully integrated with the main suite, appearing in the features menu under Protect yourself on the web.