VirusScan Professional 7.0

To work effectively, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 Professional operates on many levels. The new Hostile Activity Watch Kernel (HAWK) constantly monitors your PC for viruslike activity and integrates well with many e-mail clients. VShield runs constantly in the background, checking files as you open them. Even if you choose to disable VShield, the program still protects Microsoft Office files by checking them before you open them. It also protects against dangerous e-mail scripts by looking for suspicious behavior. Any suspect activity is stopped immediately.

For users using Windows 98, 98 SE, or Me, there is the Safe & Sound function that takes copies of your documents and keeps them safe in the event they are corrupted or damaged. Note that this does not work with Windows 2000 and XP.

Some of the latest viruses can stop antivirus programs from working properly once they have infected a machine. If you suspect this is the case, you can boot your PC directly from the McAfee VirusScan 7.0 Professional installation CD-ROM, ensuring a clean environment for it to run in. You can also create a boot floppy to do the same thing.

Like the other products in McAfee's security range, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 Professional uses Instant Updater to constantly check for and automatically download product updates when you are online.

Of course, any antivirus product is only as good as its ability to stop viruses from infecting your system. Happily, McAfee VirusScan 7.0 Professional has been given a 100% rating by Virus Bulletin (although this assumes you keep your product up-to-date with Instant Updater).

The Professional edition of VirusScan 7.0 has several features not included in the standard one. The secure erase feature allows you to remove files from your PC in a far more secure way than by simply deleting them, thus protecting your sensitive data. You can also tidy up your temporary files and browser files automatically. This saves disk space and can make your PC run a little faster, too. A final privacy feature is the ability to remove MRU data. This controls the most recently used files list you see at the bottom of many programs File menus.

McAfee VirusScan 7.0 Professional Edition is a worthy update, and existing users will appreciate the improved security this release offers, as well as its additional features. --Iain Laskey, Amazon.co.uk

Amazon.com Product Description
Stop viruses and keep your PC safe with McAfee VirusScan Professional 7.0. When you're surfing the Internet there's more to worry about than just viruses. VirusScan includes extra firewall protection to keep your computer safe from worms, Trojan horses, as well as viruses, when you're online. It destroys threats at all entry points to your PC, including e-mail and synchronization with your PDA. It constantly monitors and stops virus-like activity on your computer to prevent any new threats from spreading.

VirusScan Professional Edition also includes quick cleanup of your PC, complete shredding for privacy, and more.

It also helps greatly when downloading, as it IMMEDIATELY notifies you if you have a "worm" or other sort of virus. It has even saved me from other viruses sent to my computer over p2p software.

I have a decent knowledge of anti-virus software, but I haven't used Norton since Windows 3.11 (YES, 3.11 not 3.1) in 1994.

The software works as it's supposed to--it can scan every single file on your computer, skip certain ones if [for some reason] you want, you can query tasks, etc. It also has options like "file shredder" to totally erase data off your HD if you need that much security.

I honestly haven't tried auto-update with this version, I manually installed; but I have done auto-update with versions in the past.

The BAD is that although this program seems to use little resources--ocassionally (TWICE A DAY!) it eats up a TON of your virtual memory for no apparent reason. At first I thought it was some large files I was moving but I've done that several times after and the problem is not specific to that. This problem lasts at least 3 minutes--where your computer will slow to a crawl. CPU usage in "Task Manager" will remain low--like 10% or 12% but your "Page File" will be huge (500+ mb).

This may have something to do with the size of your page file--but that's a ridiculous glitch.

OTHERWISE the program is easy to install and maintain, it uses very little resources* except for that HUGE glitch imo. [Windows XP seems to operate at the same level as it does without the program.] The options on how to set this program up are fairly simple, e.g. "enable system scanning" to scan downloads, system files, etc.

*(The important specs--my computer has an AMD Athlon XP 1800+, 256MB DDR 2100, 40GB 7200 rpm HD + 20GB 5400 rpm HD, GeForce 4 Ti4200)

***EDIT: In case anyone was confused I meant I have used McAfee in Windows 3.11 and stopped using Norton's antivirus programs at that time. I've stopped using this program, but it can come in handy when getting rid viruses.

Also I meant that I manually installed the program and disabled auto-update [for virus database files] but kept it up to date. Auto-updating in previous software seems to have worked correctly.