McAfee VirusScan 7 Home review

The proliferation of Internet-borne viruses and worms has reached such a level that only the foolhardy fail to have some form of protection on their PC. There's certainly no lack of choice, and McAfee's latest VirusScan 7 aims to deliver high levels of security to home users, with the Internet as a priority.

Installation only takes a few moments, after which VirusScan offers to check the McAfee website for updates. An Instant Updater tool then automates this process and keeps an eye out for program updates and new signature files whenever you're on the Internet. This works fine on a simple modem or ADSL link, but, unlike many anti-virus products, VirusScan has major problems with proxy servers, so you may find you have to manually download the DAT files if you're using this type of connection.

Real-time scanning is dealt with by the Vshield background utility that keeps a close eye on all file-related activity, blocks access to any dubious files and checks all Internet downloads along with ActiveX controls and Java applets. McAfee's HAWK (hostile activity watch kernel) adds an extra safety layer by rooting out suspicious email activity, watching for attempts to send bulk emails or forward multiple emails in quick succession. The new Script Stopper feature adds a further security layer, alerting you to any suspicious script-related activity on your PC. Along with Microsoft Outlook, VirusScan now supports other SMTP clients, including Outlook Express and Eudora.

Users who don't want to have any interaction with the software will find the sparse main interface to their liking. However, those who want more control over VirusScan will discover these tools are hidden deep in the Advanced Tasks section, with barely a mention of them in the documentation. Vshield, email and HAWK scanning behaviour can be modified, along with the available actions for an infection. File types to be checked may be specified, and a file extension exclusion list can be used to speed up scanning. Vshield may be disabled from the System Tray, and a useful timeout option will automatically fire it up after a user-definable period. HAWK reactions can be customised as well, letting you select the number of emails it will allow to be sent during a specific number of seconds, as well as the number of recipients one message can be sent to (or a percentage of the Outlook address book).

On-demand scans can be run swiftly from the main interface and applied to specific drives, folders or files. If an infected file is discovered, the scanner will deny access and offer to clean, delete or quarantine the file. You're also able to create an emergency boot floppy, but, unlike the CD supplied with Norton AntiVirus 2003 (see Reviews, issue 98, p166), the VirusScan CD still isn't bootable.

One problem that surfaced during testing indicated clearly how important it is to have the latest updates. We tested detection capabilities using VirusScan installed straight from the CD and it failed to spot the Bugbear worm, only identifying and nullifying this nasty after the latest DAT file had been applied.

In terms of performance, there's little between VirusScan 7 and Norton AntiVirus 2003. However, the Symantec alternative does offer a more powerful and accessible set of features and it's still easier to update and use. There's nothing wrong with VirusScan, but Norton holds the edge.

Author: Dave Mitchell