McAfee promises “instant, silent, and complete” security for your computer. The complete, at least, is debatable. Depending on your point of view, the $79.99 (direct) McAfee Total Protection 2009 is either the most feature-rich or the most feature-bloated of the current suites. The suite isn’t much different from last year’s edition–the company’s continuous-update policy doesn’t seem to foster radical changes. McAfee promises better malware protection with reduced impact on system performance. Its new anti-malware technology does seem to work, but the suite is sluggish and has made little or no progress in the bulk of its many modules.

I remember when systems came installed with McAfee. Personally, I don’t recommend you use McAfee. I’ve been using Kaspersky, which works like a charm but is not perfect. I’ve been hearing good things about Norton 360, you might want to check it out.

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