McAfee Antivirus 2024: Does the Longtime Antivirus Still Offer What You Need?

McAfee is an antivirus program with everything you need, like multiple scan options and firewall protection. It also provides proven protection, thanks to its high third-party test scores and even acing our own malware and phishing protection tests. 

We also like that all McAfee plans come with lots of extras, and even the lowest-tiered plans still come with a VPN and identity monitoring. However, its full scan was disappointing due to its slow speeds and impact on our device.

Keep reading to find out if McAfee is the best antivirus software for your needs.

McAfee overview

Price	$29.99–$249.99/yr
Free plan	No
# of devices protected	1 to unlimited
Malware scans	Manual and scheduled
Real-time protection	Yes
EICAR test results	3/3
Firewall	Yes
Phishing protection	Yes
Compatibility	Windows, macOS, ChromeOS, Android, iOS
Extras	VPN, password manager, identity theft protection, data removal services
24/7 customer support	Yes
Details	Get McAfee

Our experience

McAfee was easy to download and there wasn't much to set up. The Advanced Firewall and Real-Time Scanning features are already turned on by default once the program is downloaded. 

Once your download is complete, you'll be prompted to run a smart scan. This includes an antivirus scan for new and existing viruses, a PC performance scan to check for junk files and registry issues, and an advanced issues scan to inform you of any data leaks. Just note that McAfee doesn't come with any PC optimization tools included, so you'll be prompted to purchase this software. 

We liked how informative the McAfee app is. It provides explanations for all of its features upfront as well as tips on certain tabs. 

However, McAfee's full scan on our device was incredibly slow. It took over an hour to scan 300,000+ files and the last few minutes of the scan made our device almost completely unusable. It was even toggled on for fast scanning, so we can't imagine how much longer it would've taken without that toggle on.

Who is McAfee+ Premium best for?

• Recommended for individuals who want top-notch protection with extras like parental controls and firewall security

McAfee is a robust software that offers premium security for your device. There are several pricing tiers, so you can fine-tune your antivirus selection for your specific needs. It is a full security suite, with a firewall, parental controls, phishing protection, and more.

McAfee prices and subscriptions

McAfee offers a wide range of pricing from its McAfee Basic plan for $29.99/first yr to its McAfee+ Ultimate plan for $199.99/first yr. There are several plan types to choose from that vary depending on how many devices you want covered and how many features you want in one subscription.

From the McAfee+ Premium plan and up, there are also family plans. Along with the standard antivirus features, it also includes parental controls and identity theft protection for two adults instead of one. 

McAfee's starting price is on par with some of the most popular antivirus programs: 

• TotalAV starting price: $29.00/yr (first year only)
• Norton starting price: $29.99/first yr
• Bitdefender starting price: $29.99/yr (first year only)

McAfee does seem to be significantly more expensive on its higher tiers, but it does cover unlimited devices starting with McAfee+ Premium. TotalAV and Bitdefender both cap out at eight and 10 devices, respectively, while Norton's only plan with unlimited devices is $299.99/first yr. 

	McAfee Basic	McAfee Essential	McAfee+ Premium	McAfee+ Advanced	McAfee+ Ultimate
Price for first year	$29.99/first yr	$39.99/first 2 yrs	$49.99/first yr	$89.99/first yr	$199.99/first yr
Family plan price for first year	N/A	N/A	$69.99/first yr	$119.99/first yr	$249.99/first yr
# devices supported	1	5	Unlimited	Unlimited	Unlimited
Manual and auto scan
Phishing protection
Firewall
Real-time protection
Ransomware protection
Parental controls
Performance optimization tools
VPN
Details	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan	View plan

McAfee security features

You know that antivirus software prevents viruses, but McAfee does offer more than a basic antivirus package. With this suite, you’ll have access to a secure virtual private network (VPN), identity protection, and tracking removal.

Malware and antivirus scan

With McAfee, you can run full device scans, custom scans on specific folders and files, and quick scans to review areas where threats are normally found. You can also schedule scans to run for the most convenient times.

The quick scan took less than five minutes to complete, despite mentioning a five to 10 minute estimate. However, the full scan took over an hour to scan over 300,000 files and slowed our device drastically. 

There's a toggle for fast scanning, which allows McAfee to use all available system resources for faster scanning. We can't imagine how long the scan would've taken if we had this option toggled off.

Unfortunately, we found that McAfee doesn't provide the quick scan option for Macs. 

Phishing protection

McAfee's phishing protection includes a firewall and the WebAdvisor extension to reduce online phishing threats. The McAfee SafeSearch extension also helps verify your search results and points out any potentially dangerous sites.

McAfee goes a step further and invites you to report suspected fraudulent emails. If you use the antivirus and think you’ve received a phishing email, send the information to spam@mcafee.com.

Firewall

A firewall is great to have with your antivirus software because it filters information coming through your internet connection. Your McAfee firewall is the first line of defense for stopping malicious attackers and programs from gaining access to your device.

The Advanced Firewall is included with all McAfee+ plans. It's automatically turned on but if you navigate to the tab, you can toggle it off or create rules like allowing or blocking connections. 

Real-time protection

Your real-time protection is always on with this antivirus. Individual files and apps are scanned when you access them. There’s also a scanner that continually monitors your device, even if you don’t schedule a scan. If there’s a threat, the Real-Time Scanning will block it, which stops it from spreading throughout your device.

Real-Time Scanning is automatically turned on. You can navigate to the tab to turn it off or to add files that should be excluded from real-time scanning.

Ransomware protection

To tackle ransomware, McAfee uses cloud-based threat analysis. That way, your device should stay protected against even the latest threats. 

The Real-Time Scanning feature also keeps you protected from ransomware attacks.

Anti-fraud protection

All McAfee+ plans include identity theft protection. From the Identity Monitoring tab, McAfee will lead you to its web portal. You'll be able to enter 60 types of personal information to be monitored. McAfee will send you alerts if any of your information is found on the dark web. 

Higher tier plans will include more extensive identity theft protection features like identity theft insurance, bank and credit card transaction monitoring, and credit monitoring. 

Along with identity theft protection, you get McAfee WebAdvisor, which protects against malicious websites. You can block by category, rating, and website.

Bonus features

With McAfee, you get a suite of extra features included like identity features, privacy options, and security features.

Identity features

McAfee’s identity features include the following: 

• McAfee True Key password manager
• Up to $1 million in identity theft coverage
• Bank and credit card transaction monitoring
• 1- to 3-bureau credit monitoring and credit score updates
• Ability to freeze bank, credit, or utilty accounts
• $25,000 ransomware coverage
• 401(k), investment, and loan transaction monitoring
• Credit lock

Each feature depends on your selected McAfee+ tier.

Privacy features

McAfee's privacy features include the following: 

• Safe Connect VPN 
• Personal data cleanup: Scans high-risk data broker sites to see if any of them are collecting and selling your data. You can request the removal of your information or McAfee will contact the website broker for you.
• Online account cleanup: Scans your old accounts and alerts you if any are still holding on to your information. 

Security features

McAfee will provide you with a protection score to see how safe you are online, provide tips on security weak spots, and improve your cybersecurity. 

McAfee test results

For our antivirus reviews, we go over three different aspects during testing: scan speeds, EICAR tests, and third-party test results. 

First, we record how long antivirus scans take. Then, we conduct EICAR testing to see how well our antivirus works against test files. Finally, we review any available third-party test scores to see how well the antivirus was rated by independent parties.

Scan speed

• Result: Slow

With McAfee, you can choose from two types of scans: quick scans and full scans. You can scan specific files and folders on your device by right-clicking, then selecting Scan.

McAfee noted that its quick scan could take anywhere from five to 10 minutes, and it completed it in a shorter amount of time. 

On the other hand, McAfee noted that is full scan could take 30 minutes or more, but ours took over an hour to complete. It also significantly slowed our computer speeds, and toward the end it was nearly impossible to do anything else while the scan was going on. 

For reference, Aura Antivirus's full scan on our device took under six minutes, and the TotalAV scan took under 20 minutes. 

Scan type	Time spent
Quick scan	3 minutes
Full scan	1 hour, 17 minutes

EICAR test results

• Result: 3/3

We test all the antivirus programs on our site ourselves using the EICAR (European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research) method. It provides different file types that mimic cyberthreats like malware and phishing sites so you can test if your antivirus program catches it. 

McAfee passed all three tests with ease.

Test	McAfee score
Malware detection	Pass
Drive-by malware downloads	Pass
Phishing pages detection	Pass

McAfee didn't allow our device to download either of the fake malware files. And once we installed the McAfee Web Advisor extension, it blocked Chrome from opening the page and gave us a warning about the site. 

AV-TEST results

• Result: Received perfect scores for Windows and Android, no tests for macOS

AV-TEST is an independent research institute that tests and rates antivirus programs based on a number of factors. The malware protection test determines how well an antivirus program can detect malware and protect your device from malware attacks. The performance test calculates the average influence of the antivirus program on your computer speed. And the usability test measures how well an antivirus program can detect false positives.

Each test can lead to a maximum of six points, with 18 points being the best possible result per operating system. 

McAfee received perfect scores across the board for both Windows and Android. It had zero false positives across the board, while the industry average in some cases was one or two. 

Test type	Windows 11 score	macOS Monterey score	Android 11 score
Protection	6/6	N/A	6/6
Performance	6/6	N/A	6/6
Usability	6/6	N/A	6/6
Date	August 2024	N/A	September 2024
Link to test	Link	N/A	Link

Although McAfee aced its Windows and Android tests, its Mac program wasn't tested. While this is disappointing, it doesn't necessarily point to McAfee being a bad antivirus for macOS. Security brands are required to pay for evaluations by AV-TEST, and many tend to focus on Windows and Android.

AV-Comparatives test results

• Result: Great protection, lowest impact

AV-Comparatives is another independent organization that tests security software like antivirus programs and parental controls. It tests antivirus programs for their real-world protection ability, malware protection ability, and performance impact. It also tests antivirus apps.

Test type	Mobile security	Real-world protection	Malware protection	Performance impact (Lower is better)
Score	Approved	99.6%	99.95%	2.6
Platform	Android	Windows	Windows	Windows
Date	July 2019	August 2024	September 2024	September 2024
Link to test	Link	Link	Link	Link

During the real-world protection test, McAfee blocked 99.6% of AV-Comparatives' malware samples, the highest achieved score. It tied with other antivirus programs like Avast, Avira, Bitdefender, and others. It detect 10 false positives during this test, which was among the highest rates. 

During the malware protection test, McAfee detected 13 false alarms, which was significantly more than programs like Trend Micro and ESET. By AV-Comparatives standards, this is consider to be many false positives. However, it still had online detection and protection rates over 99%. 

Finally, McAfee had the lowest impact score at 2.6, which is almost half the score of second place (Kaspersky at 5.0). This means McAfee had the smallest impact on system performance out of all the antivirus software that were tested. 

SE Labs results

• Result: 99%

The final third-party tester we consult is SE Labs. It tests antivirus programs for protection accuracy, which is the ability to detect and stop cyberthreats, as well as legitimate accuracy, which measures how many false positives are detected. 

Test type	Home Anti-Malware Protection
Total accuracy rating	99%
Date	2024 Q3
Link to test	Link

McAfee received a near-perfect SE Labs score, having had a 98% protection accuracy and 100% legitimate accuracy rating. It also detected 0 false positives.  

McAfee compatibility

You want to check compatibility when shopping for an antivirus program. When you're defending your device against the latest malware, you'll need to know whether the antivirus you choose can defend the devices you own. 

McAfee is compatible with the following operating systems, mobile devices, and browsers:

• Windows
• macOS
• ChromeOS
• iOS
• Android

You can download the McAfee WebAdvisor extension on the following browsers:

• Google Chrome
  
• Mozilla Firefox
• Microsoft Edge

McAfee customer support

McAfee offers 24/7 customer support via phone and live chat. We tested out the live chat and were connected to an agent in less than a minute. They didn't seem to have the most technical knowledge, but they were friendly and helpful. 

We've also called support in the past, and were pleased with their service. We were connected with a knowledgeable and courteous rep within three to five minutes. The representative was able to help us look into the issue and gave us the information to move forward.

McAfee also provides online guides if you wish to do some troubleshooting on your own. There's a community forums page, but it's currently under construction. 

Top alternatives

Although McAfee is one of our favorite antivirus programs, it did have some performance issues during our testing and might be lacking for macOS. That's why we like to recommend alternative programs if you find McAfee isn't right for you:

McAfee FAQs

Bottom line: Is McAfee good?

McAfee is high quality software with lots of cybersecurity features, like a firewall, VPN, identity theft protection, and data removal services. It's also consistently at the top of third-party test scores. 

We were disappointed by how how long it took to complete our full antivirus scan. This may have been a fluke, but it's worth noting if optimal PC performance is important to you.

See how McAfee compares to some of the best antivirus software:

• McAfee vs. TotalAV
• McAfee vs. Bitdefender
• McAfee vs. Aura
• McAfee vs. Norton