The Trouble with McAfee Free

Like most software companies, McAfee offers a no-cost version of their software that is severely stripped down. The intent is to give you a taste of what you can have in order to promote the full version of the software. McAfee free is a weak attempt by McAfee to capitalize on the success of other free antivirus software. McAfee free is little more than an automated advertisement that gives limited protection and limited assistance to users who want the software to do anything beyond reminding them to pay McAfee for the full version. It is an unlikable little application that provides little protection.

AVG was the first on the scene to provide strong antivirus protection at no charge. At the time, McAfee and Norton generally dominated the antivirus market. McAfee Free is an attempt that provides too little too late in an effort to recapture a market that has rapidly slipped through its fingers. While still a powerful contender in the antivirus market, McAfee nonetheless has seen fit to distribute this intrepid little antivirus software in an attempt to increase their dwindling market share. McAfee free is one of the few free antivirus software options that are not worth the nonexistent price tag.

While McAfee free is better than using nothing at all to protect your computer, it will not give you anything but the most basic safeguards against viruses, spyware and other malicious software. It will not protect against dangerous website content, and will not automatically scan downloaded email attachments. The only thing it can truly accomplish is finding a virus if it is specifically told to scan the computer. McAfee free does not provide protection; it will only remove viruses that might have already infected your machine.

McAfee free will prompt you with reminders to update to the latest version, often adding in all the quick and easy ways you can register for one of their other paid software products. It does not scan in the background, but rather ties all of your computer’s resources into checking for viruses, which it may or may not decide to remove. Often it will find infections and then make it difficult to find instructions for removal, if it doesn't outright declare that McAfee free is unable to assist with removal and a higher version of McAfee is necessary.

What McAfee free excels at doing is telling you what you are missing by not upgrading to one of McAfee’s full line of antivirus products. It will never miss an opportunity to inform you of all the marvelous features and twenty-four hour tech support that you are missing out on by not purchasing their software. It will even warn you of potential infections or hazards for which your computer might be at risk in a shameless fear campaign to try to entice your business. It is rare that your computer will boot without some inane sales pitch from the software, which in itself feels like a virus. With a market full of comprehensive virus software that costs nothing, it is unclear why McAfee would scramble to distribute this software.

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