McAfee VirusScan is an

antivirus software Antivirus software (abbreviated to AV software), also known as anti-malware, is a computer program used to prevent, detect, and remove malware. Antivirus software was originally developed to detect and remove computer viruses, hence the name. ...

created and maintained by

McAfee McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

(formerly known as Intel Security, and

Network Associates McAfee Corp. ( ), formerly known as McAfee Associates, Inc. from 1987 to 1997 and 2004 to 2014, Network Associates Inc. from 1997 to 2004, and Intel Security Group from 2014 to 2017, is an American global computer security software company head ...

prior to that). Originally marketed as a standalone product, it has been bundled with McAfee LiveSafe, McAfee AntiVirus Plus, McAfee Total Protection and McAfee Gamer Security since 2010. McAfee LiveSafe integrates antivirus,

firewall Firewall may refer to: * Firewall (computing), a technological barrier designed to prevent unauthorized or unwanted communications between computer networks or hosts * Firewall (construction), a barrier inside a building, designed to limit the spr ...

and anti-

spyware Spyware (a portmanteau for spying software) is software with malicious behaviour that aims to gather information about a person or organization and send it to another entity in a way that harms the user—for example, by violating their priva ...

/anti- ransomware capabilities.
In 2006, British telecom company BSkyB started offering

Sky Broadband Sky Broadband is a broadband service offered by Sky UK in the United Kingdom. With the introduction of Sky Fibre, Sky Broadband now refers to ADSL broadband products. History In October 2005, Sky UK agreed to purchase the ISP EasyNet for � ...

customers a branded version of VirusScan for free upon broadband modem installation.

VirusScan Enterprise

McAfee also produces an enterprise-level product named VirusScan Enterprise: McAfee has designed this for use on larger networks designed to make management of antivirus software on multiple computers easier. Unlike the home-user edition, the Enterprise edition consists of a client application for networked computers, and a server application, which the system installs updates and configures settings for all client programs. Clients can be controlled using the included ePolicy Orchestrator (ePO), which is a unified console that can control VirusScan and other McAfee products. On September 8, 2020, McAfee has announced End of Support date: December 31, 2021

VirusScan for Mac

In November 2008 McAfee announced VirusScan for Mac OS. (Earlier versions used the name

Virex McAfee VirusScan is an antivirus software created and maintained by McAfee (formerly known as Intel Security, and Network Associates prior to that). Originally marketed as a standalone product, it has been bundled with McAfee LiveSafe, McAfee An ...

, developed by HJC Software.) Key changes in VirusScan 8.6 included Leopard Compatibility, a universal binary package that ran on both Intel and PowerPC-based Macs, On access scanning and Apple Mail support.

Controversies

Poor independent test results

In tests by

Virus Bulletin ''Virus Bulletin'' is a magazine about the prevention, detection and removal of malware and spam. It regularly features analyses of the latest virus threats, articles exploring new developments in the fight against viruses, interviews with anti-vi ...

and additional independent consumer-organizations, McAfee VirusScan has not fared well, frequently failing to detect some common viruses. A review of VirusScan 2006 by CNET criticized the product due to "pronounced performance hits in two of our three real-world performance tests" and some users reviewing the same product reported encountering technical problems. Some older versions of the VirusScan engine use all available CPU cycles. , McAfee virus-scanning products did not handle false positives well, repeatedly removing or quarantining known clean files, even after user restoration of these files.

Customer support criticisms

Reviewers have described customer support for McAfee products as lacking, with support staff slow to respond and unable to answer many questions.

2010 reboot problem

On April 21, 2010, beginning approximately at 2 PM GMT, an erroneous virus definition file update from McAfee affected millions of computers worldwide running Windows XP Service Pack 3. The update resulted in the removal of a Windows system file ( svchost.exe) on those machines, causing machines to lose network access and, in some cases, to enter a reboot loop. McAfee rectified this by removing and replacing the faulty DAT file, version 5958, with an emergency DAT file (version 5959) and has posted a fix for the affected machines in its consumer "KnowledgeBase".

2012 update issues

An August 2012 update to McAfee antivirus caused the protection to become turned off and users to lose internet connections. McAfee was criticized for not notifying users promptly of the issues when they learned about it.

Current standing

McAfee, though well-known, continues to have mixed reviews by industry sources, and the company has prepared a 2015 release series to address current market conditions. This repositioning includes voice and facial recognition authentication for cloud-based data security.

References

External links

VirusScan for Windows
McAfee
VirusScan for Mac
McAfee
Tabular Comparison
Comparison Between Livesafe and Total Protection versions of McAfee {{Antivirus software McAfee Antivirus software Windows security software 1988 software MacOS software Classic Mac OS software