McAfee 2006 

Both the products I am looking at came in shiny red boxes but sometimes it might be worth considering downloading, it may be slightly cheaper and that would also get you any new applets launched into new features, if you buy a boxed product you get updates – for a year – to that product.

McAfee VirusScan 2006

Anyone who ever has contact with another computer be it from a floppy disc – remember them – a pen drive or most likely via a modem to the Internet simply must have anti virus software. If you are really broke there is some free software out there. If not then one of the major vendors such as McAfee can provide software and once you have it you must keep it updated. Provided you have Internet access this should not be a problem.

See also: Anti virus/spam

more

It is now reckoned that less than a minute browsing the Internet is quite long enough to collect a virus. Some viruses are a pain some are worse and require dramatic action, of course maybe the worst are the ones that sit there and send out your private information. The first you may know about them is when someone steals your identity.

McAfee pride themselves that they have real staff available to help you 24 hours a day 7 days a week via Internet Chat.

This version not only detects and blocks viruses but also removes them. The other major form of virus is Spyware some are required sometimes called cookies but then there are items that spy on you, what you do and worst of all send out your private details such as credit card and bank details. Needless to say McAfee VirusScan 2006 blocks and removes the unwanted Spyware. Add virus security alerts and wormstoppers and you may even be able to sleep soundly in your bed.

McAfee Personal FireWall Plus

Should you ever connect to the Internet then a FireWall is important as there are pieces of software zooming round looking for unprotected PC’s. The latest version of Windows XP (service pack 2) has a basic FireWall that provides some protection but it is basic and not all seeing all dancing.

It is important to be able to manage traffic in and out of your PC, the level of protection is user definable and it is easy and quick to change. A lot of people find pop up’s a pain especially when in the middle of something, this product can control them. Much of what I said about some viruses above can equally apply here as some programs that can enter your PC – without a Firewall – can send out your personal information making your next credit card bill or bank statement the first time you know you have a problem.

As with VirusScan above there are other FireWall programs above some better than others whatever you do have some protection, if not I guarantee that you will regret it.

McAfee Personal FireWall Plus 2006 and VirusScan 2006 are both priced at £39.99. Two facts to leave you with, 63% of users have a virus on their PC and nearly a million users have suffered from online identity theft fraud.

Link to McAfee site VirusScan 2006

Link to McAfee Personal Firewall Plus 2006