Mac Powell and the Family Reunion Back Again

Our Verdict

McAfee AntiVirus Plus' generous multi-license pricing makes this product an attracting choice for families.

For

Protects ten devices
Depression passive organisation impact
Firewall

Confronting

Unproven detection rates
Huge slowdowns during total scans
Disruptive interface

Tom's Guide Verdict

McAfee AntiVirus Plus' generous multi-license pricing makes this product an alluring option for families.

Pros

+
Protects ten devices
+
Low passive organisation impact
+
Firewall

Cons

-
Unproven detection rates
-
Huge slowdowns during full scans
-
Confusing interface

You're surrounded by devices, and it can feel overwhelming when you consider that each may be nether assault and you lot try to figure out how you're going to afford to go along them all safe from malware and other potentially unwanted programs. This is why McAfee AntiVirus Plus (but similar Sophos Dwelling Premium) supports 10 devices for an almanac toll of $59.99, including not just Macs but PCs also.

There are downsides, though. McAfee has super-long scan times, untested Mac-malware protections and a mixed impact on system functioning, and the program doesn't offer much in the way of extras to persuade you that gratuitous alternatives aren't meliorate. Still, it'south good plenty that nosotros tin can include information technology among the best Mac antivirus software.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Costs and what'south covered

McAfee AntiVirus Plus costs $24.99 for the first twelvemonth and $59.99 for each subsequent yr, unless you get the two-yr packet that goes for $29.99. Those prices cover licenses for ten devices, including Macs, PCs, and iOS and Android devices. (You really don't demand information technology on your iPhone, though.)

In the past few years, McAfee 10-device licenses were actually unlimited, and we don't think that has inverse, making them top bargains among the best antivirus software and the all-time Android antivirus apps.

McAfee's other domicile antivirus products — McAfee Internet Security, McAfee Total Security and McAfee LiveSafe — also support Macs also as PCs, while tossing in extras such as a password managing director, parental controls and identity-theft protection. If you could use whatsoever of those features, they may be worth looking into; read our review of McAfee's Windows antivirus software for more.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus supports macOS 10.12 Sierra and later and requires 2GB of RAM and 500MB of storage.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Antivirus protection

McAfee AntiVirus Plus matches suspicious files confronting known Mac malware. Scans take place passively and on demand, and the user can schedule scans in advance.

This software also uses heuristic-based analysis, pregnant it monitors the system for behavioral patterns that malware typically exhibits to observe and thwart new malware that hasn't been identified nevertheless.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Antivirus detection

Neither AV-Test in Germany, nor AV-Comparatives in Republic of austria, the independent antivirus-testing labs whose results we unremarkably rely on, tested McAfee'south products in the labs' well-nigh recent surveys of Mac antivirus software.

The merely time either lab tested McAfee'due south malware-spotting abilities in Macs in the by two years was in November 2017, when McAfee scored 99.half-dozen% in AV-Examination'due south evaluations. That's not a terrible score, only the Mac malware engines of five other brands we've recently reviewed — Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Norton and Sophos — all scored 100% in the same round of tests.

Avast Free Mac Security, Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac and Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac tied for 100% on the most recent (July 2019) AV-Comparatives test, while Avast, Bitdefender, Kaspersky and Norton Security Deluxe for Mac all earned 100% marks on the most recent (June 2019) AV-Test study. Neither exam analyzed Sophos or Malwarebytes for Mac.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Security and privacy features

In a paid choice, McAfee AntiVirus Plus includes a few extras for Mac users. While macOS includes a firewall to stop applications from connecting to risky websites, McAfee AntiVirus Plus too offers its own for Macs.

McAfee's web-browser extensions, including McAfee WebAdvisor (available for free online from McAfee and the Chrome and Firefox extension stores), warn you before yous visit potentially malicious web pages. The extensions also scan downloads for threats and flag risky search results. Unfortunately, those tools don't support Safari.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Performance and organisation bear upon

McAfee AntiVirus Plus had a midsize impact on Mac system performance. Nosotros assessed this by running our custom Excel VLOOKUP benchmark examination, which matches 60,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet. Our exam car was a 2017 MacBook Air with a 1.8-GHz Intel Core i5 CPU and approximately 54GB of data stored on a 128GB SSD.

Afterward we installed McAfee AntiVirus Plus on our MacBook, the VLOOKUP test finished in an average of 3 minutes and 35 seconds, ii seconds more than the same organization took before the installation. That's a passive system hitting of 1%, which is on the low end of the range we found. Past dissimilarity, Sophos rated 5% (the high end), and Bitdefender rated 0%(the lowest). You probably wouldn't notice whatsoever of those slowdowns.

During a McAfee full-system scan, the VLOOKUP examination finished in v minutes and xv seconds, signifying a performance dip of 47%. That's the biggest performance slowdown during a full scan that we saw. Most of the programs got a ii-digit functioning slowdown — from Norton at 13% to Kaspersky at 41% — and only Sophos (7%) had a one-digit bump. (McAfee AntiVirus Plus doesn't offer a quick scan for Macs.)

On boilerplate, McAfee's full scans took ane hour and 17 minutes, so you'd spend a while waiting to notice said slowdown. Still, that'south less than half of Sophos' total-browse completion time of 2:56, but much longer than Malwarebytes' blink-and-you-miss-it total-scan time of 16 seconds.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Interface

McAfee AntiVirus Plus makes you click effectually more than yous should to perform simple tasks. Both its menu-bar icon and its habitation window show your system's status, but if yous want to showtime a scan, yous'll need to click upward to three times, which is three times equally many clicks as information technology should take.

Seriously, the home window has a Run a Browse button, only clicking it doesn't start a scan, which makes me feel like it's labeled incorrect. Instead, you lot're taken to some other window, which has two options: Full Scan and Custom Scan.

Clicking on Updates opens another window, where yous have to click some other button (Kickoff) to check for malware-definition updates, adding some other layer of unnecessary interaction.

Dorsum in the main window, the Mac Security tab splits the window betwixt a side card of statuses for existent-fourth dimension scanning, firewall, updates and scheduled scans, along with three bigger buttons to send y'all to the browse options, file quarantine and device history. Yes, that Run a Scan button is dorsum (which makes sense in a Security section), but information technology still sends you to the aforementioned window.

Then, you have the Identity tab, which feels sparse. On the left, you have a status push for McAfee WebAdvisor, which gives yous controls for fugitive risky and unverified websites and blocking sites co-ordinate to such nefarious categories as pornography and phishing (both blocked by default).

In the Preferences window, yous'll find toggles to disable scanning and updating and McAfee's firewall. You'll also encounter granular options to suit how the system scans files and grants permissions to applications. Here, you'll also find McAfee Antivirus Plus' firewall controls.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac): Installation and support

After yous purchase McAfee AntiVirus Plus, you lot'll download a deejay-epitome file. Information technology contains an installer app that requires you to enter your serial number. Later on completing the installation, McAfee AntiVirus Plus volition inquire if you're connected to a public network or a private (home or piece of work) one, which the programme asks each time y'all connect to a new network.

During installation, the software volition install the SiteAdvisor web plug-in in Chrome. (Firefox didn't get it automatically, and in that location isn't a version for Safari.) SiteAdvisor warns you of maybe malicious web pages and suspicious search results and also scans downloads for threats.

More than: How to Choose the Antivirus Software That's Right for You

For technical support, click Help in the Menu Bar, select "Mcafee [sic] Services and Support," and and so scroll down to the very lesser of the page and click Contact Support. So, click Technical Help, select Mac, and click Chat or Phone. Or yous can go to McAfee's global contact page, select Support and choose your state from the driblet-downward bar. The toll-free number for Home & Dwelling house Office Support in the U.S. is ane-866-622-3911.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (for Mac) review: Bottom line

The third-party labs we regularly rely on have not recently tested McAfee's Mac malware-detection operation, so we cannot definitively recommend McAfee for Mac. Also, while its passive functioning hitting is negligible, McAfee'southward organisation touch during a full scan (which takes forever) could slow you downwardly when you're trying to work. McAfee AntiVirus Plus' lack of of import special features, and lack of support for Safari, make other antivirus options amend for Mac users.

The best office of McAfee AntiVirus Plus is its ten-device license, which makes it worth looking at for large families. But anyone with just 1 or a few Macs to protect should check out Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac, our meridian Mac antivirus pick.

Updated with pricing changes. This review was originally published in September 2019.

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Henry is a senior editor at Tom'south Guide covering streaming media, laptops and all things Apple, reviewing devices and services for the past six-plus years. Prior to joining Tom'due south Guide, he reviewed software and hardware for TechRadar Pro, and interviewed artists for Patek Philippe International Magazine. He'due south besides covered the wild globe of professional wrestling for Cageside Seats, interviewing athletes and other industry veterans.

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Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/reviews/mcafee-antivirus-plus-for-mac