SAN JOSE – Security suite vendor McAfee in its 2010 product line introduced an overhauled interface and new features in a bid to remain competitive.
The change to its interface is as dramatic a shift as the one that Avast introduced in its 2010 suites, although McAfee’s look is drastically different from any major security program currently on the market, CNET News.Com reported. Most of the features in McAfee AntiVirus Plus, McAfee Internet Security, and McAfee Total Protection are not new, but the presentation is so radical that the improvements are likely to be glossed over. Users of older McAfee should note that VirusScan Plus has been renamed AntiVirus Plus.
The biggest feature update comes to McAfee’s real-time defense engine called Artemis. These engines are now a commonplace feature in the better antivirus programs. First introduced in late 2008, Artemis is McAfee’s blend of blacklists, whitelists, and cloud analysis. In the 2010 versions, Brian Trombley, McAfee’s director of consumer product management, said, Artemis works in conjunction with McAfee SiteAdvisor to scan downloads as they occur. The scans include using real-time URL, IP address, and domain name data to evaluate downloads for threats before they land on your hard drive.
The revamped engine allows McAfee to change its threat ratings on the fly, although the procedure has an escape hatch built in, so if it falsely flags a site as malicious, users can override the rating and push through. There is no user override for malicious files. By using McAfee’s labs, malware research, e-mail research, and Web research, Trombley said that “the goal is to tie together actors and sites.”
The firewall has changed, too, as McAfee has upgraded its home consumer firewall to match the one the company markets to businesses.
McAfee’s new interface refocuses its features in a top-down format, which stands out from the typical left-nav and tabs design. At the top of the vertical window sits a notification bar, as many other security suites have. McAfee’s stands out for not only color-coding what your status is, but also adding in what that means. So the “Your computer is secure” message is bolstered by a secondary one, “No action required.” This may seem like a redundant statement, but Trombley said that three years of researching, the new interface and testing the improved features concluded that the change was essential for cutting down on user confusion.
Just below the status bar are supplementary status notifications, color-coded as well for ease of use. Real-time scanning, Updates, Firewall, and Subscription status sit on the left of the interface, while the time of your next scheduled scan and a link to change it reside on the right. Click on any of the four categories and the right pane change to reveal links to drill deeper into your security status. The Real-time scanning link, for example, offers additional links to scan, change your scan settings, or adjust real-time settings. This aspect of the interface is most similar to its competitors, although the big font and simplified terminology are appreciated for streamlining tasks.
Below all the status notifications are the guts of the program. Separated into four categories are Virus and Spyware Protection, Web and E-mail Protection, and Parental Controls (on McAfee Internet Security and Total Protection). Each one opens a small group of links that open further information about your scan settings, firewall and anti-spam controls, network protections, and parent control options.
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