It seems there’s only so far that big version numbers and scare tactics can take you, as this release of Internet Security Suite is the first we’ve seen where McAfee seems to have run out of steam. If this is the first time you’ve seen it, it’s a collection of McAfee’s top security software that provides you with antivirus, spam protection, online privacy and a firewall system all in one. In terms of cost savings, ISS is a bargain: the retail value of its component parts is just shy of £130, but the suite can be picked up for just £50. A huge difference, to be sure, but in our opinion the individual parts are hugely overpriced to start with – you would be crazy to pay £25 for McAfee SpamKiller, for example.

New in this version is automatic daily updates, which means you get new antivirus definitions downloaded and installed nightly. This isn’t as annoying as it sounds, because McAfee lets you disable nearly all its pop-up messages so you can work undisturbed. That said, one major new irritation introduced with this release is a more restrictive privacy setting by default. If you want to access the Internet in any way, McAfee brings up a window asking you to provide your login name and password to prove you should be allowed access. Dare to click Cancel, and the window will come back – repeatedly. Click that little Firefox quick launch icon by accident, and expect to have this irritating window appear eight more times until it finally decides you really did mean to click Cancel. Sometimes this window appears even when you’re doing nothing: with this McAfee has managed to get irritation down to a fine art.

The worst thing of all, however, only becomes apparent once you have finally signed in and finished whatever you were doing, because when you choose ‘Sign out’ you get the message ‘You might want to clear your local cache to ensure a child doesn’t access web pages you may have recently visited.’ Surely that’s what we’re paying McAfee to do for us?

A smarter firewall
One area that has seen real improvements is Personal Firewall Plus, which takes the place of the much leaner Windows Firewall if you’re running XP with SP2. PFP is all the firewall you’ll need as a home user: it blocks all the bad guys while letting your programs through, announces when new programs want to access the Internet, and even has a special gaming mode option where warnings are hidden until you come out of your game. Two features stand out in particular: timed Internet access, where you can grant an application access to the Internet on one specific occasion, and also Smart Recommendations, which can automatically add certain known applications to the access-allowed list (have a look at ‘Smart Recommendations explained’ below).

A sore point is the new anti-spyware functionality that claims to identify, block and remove potentially unwanted programs. There are a number of great tools out there that do this exact same thing for free, so you might think that McAfee went the extra mile to make its version worth paying for. No, no and no again: this ‘searched’ our test computer for spyware in less than 10 seconds, a job that takes AdAware or Spybot several minutes.

What’s worse is that ISS doesn’t actually include the full functionality of McAfee’s AntiSpyware product, because it’s unable to scan your system for changes – it can’t even spot when spyware has installed itself. Instead, you need to scan on a regular basis and hope it finds something.

McAfee vs Windows
During installation, ISS still requests that you deactivate Windows Security Center. Forgive us if this sounds overly cynical, but despite Microsoft’s patchy security record, we would much rather have it in control of overall security. Not because we trust one more than the other, but more because there are dozens of books out there that have trained the masses to follow Microsoft’s Service Pack 2 security practices; changing that will confuse people. If McAfee really wants more control, it needs to talk to Microsoft and ask to be able to extend Windows Security Center to add its own content.

In the grand scheme of things, Microsoft gets a touchdown for its Security Center (7-0 to Microsoft), another touchdown for its own AntiSpyware tool (14-0), then a field goal for its little firewall. McAfee fights back with a proper firewall tool (17-7), a virus scanner suitable for even the most incestuous of file sharers (17-14), and more options that you could tweak in one lifetime. If computer security really was American football, the final score would be 21-17 to McAfee: in the lead, but by no great amount. For £50 and with annoyances like the privacy service pop-ups, someone at McAfee needs to get sacked – in the American football sense, of course. We can only hope that Microsoft releases a good virus scanner in the next year so that McAfee finally has something to compete against. Roll on ISS 2007.