McAfee Review

McAfee Total Protection has pivoted heavily toward identity protection and now bundles credit monitoring, identity theft insurance, and a VPN alongside traditional antivirus. Detection rates are solid, though not quite class-leading.

McAfee scored well in independent lab tests with a 98.9% detection rate for zero-day threats. While not the absolute best, this is still strong protection for everyday use. Real-time scanning caught most threats before they could execute.

Full system scans are noticeably resource-heavy, briefly slowing down other tasks. Background protection is lighter and does not interfere with daily use. Scheduled scans during off-hours are recommended for the best experience.

McAfee offers good value, especially on family plans that cover unlimited devices. The personal plan at $39.99 is competitive for the first year. Like Norton, renewal prices jump significantly, so consider setting a reminder before auto-renewal kicks in.

Support is available via phone and chat around the clock. Chat wait times averaged about 5 minutes in our tests. The virtual assistant handles basic questions well, and escalation to a human agent was smooth when needed.