The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group
McAfee Internet Security 4.0  
 Bernadette Houghton

McAfee Internet Security (MIS) offers security and privacy protection while you're online.
 
Hopefully.

It took many hours over several weeks for me to overcome a series of installation problems with MIS and get it to function at a satisfactory level. For such a mainstream product, particularly one aimed at the general, non-technical, consumer, this is very disappointing. While it's quite possible that some of the problems I encountered are related to the particular setup of my PC - a fairly standard Pentium II with a recently clean-installed Windows 98b - many of the problems had nothing to do with it.
 
Main Features

First of all, a summary of MIS's features. The main program, MIS itself, offers a raft of security and privacy features, including the following
  • finding and blocking existing security holes
  • protecting personal information from being transmitted elsewhere via the Web
  • controlling which Web sites can save cookies onto your computer
  • clearing files left behind when you exit your browser
  • filtering out ads
  • blocking hidden Web bugs
  • controlling which programs can access the Internet
  • managing Web site passwords
  • protecting files and folders from unauthorized access
  • applying parental controls to specified users
Firewall
  • blocks specific IP addresses from accessing your computer
  • detects and blocks intruders
  • detects port scan attacks
  • controls access from shared networks

VirusScan offers anti-virus protection and cleaning. There are also a few smaller utilities, such as a file shredder, file cleaner, automatic update program, backup utility and task scheduler.


Figure 1. McAfee Internet Security main screen


Figure 2. Firewall main screen

The Saga Begins

When the box first arrived, my eyes latched happily on the words "out-of-the-box protection". Being rather busy at the time, I thought I'd install it and then leave it to go about its business for a few weeks before giving it a more thorough going over. Be a good test of that claim, I thought. Well. What idyllic dreams we dream sometimes.

What I hadn't bargained on was Murphy ("If anything can go wrong, it will") hiding in the box as well, and planning to have a merry old time. Installation appeared to go smoothly, but the first sign of trouble arose when my computer stopped during the first reboot following installation, with VirusScan's Bootscan utility claiming that my 160 MB RAM computer didn't have enough memory. From that point onwards, Murphy kicked up a veritable cacophony.
 
The Saga Continues

Over the past six weeks or so, I've spent a minimum of 30-35 hours just troubleshooting MIS. This doesn't include the hours spent testing it and working on this review. I've searched the Web for solutions, become intimately familiar with McAfee's Web site, and spent a couple of hours online with various McAfee technicians.
 
Here's A Summary Of The Major Problems 

  • MIS doesn't install correctly on International English versions of Windows, which, at a guess, is around 95% of Aussie PCs. This is a known problem, and a downloadable solution is available on McAfee's Web site. However, the instructions on how to apply the solution are just plain wrong. The instructions advise you to delete a specific DLL, and then run a repair, but the repair process refuses to work when the DLL is not present. Much troubleshooting ensued here, not helped by confusing and ambiguous error messages at every turn.
  • The McAfee technical support pages on the Internet are difficult to navigate, and it's almost impossible to find specific information. For instance, the solution to the International English problem was located on the VirusScan rather than the MIS pages. Apparently this particular problem is common to several McAfee products; however, if a consumer is having a problem with product ABC, it's not a given that he'll think to look under product XYZ for the solution.
  • MIS 4.0 sports a flashy new, completely redesigned, interface. However, the user guide is based on the old interface. Very helpful indeed, when all the menus, etc. have changed! So, with a useless manual, and online help for administrative tasks non-existent (despite the manual claiming that such is available), I had to learn how to use MIS by trial and error alone. Normally that's my preferred method, but I found MIS's new interface so confusing that I really needed some good documentation. 
  • Outlook Express refused to work when MIS was active. Indeed, it refused to work at any time in any session in which MIS had been active - I had to reboot my PC every time I'd finished with MIS. This was the issue on which I originally sought help from McAfee's technicians.
Technician No.1 was very keen to help and e-mailed me instructions that he claimed would solve the problem. Unfortunately the instructions he sent were for Outlook itself rather than Outlook Express, and simply weren't relevant.
 
Technician No.2 spent some time looking into things and finally advised that the solution was simple - don't use Outlook Express when MIS is active! When I suggested that this solution wasn't actually a solution, he simply wasn't interested.
 
Finally, technician No.3 suggested a repair-reboot-update process which actually worked, and solved several other problems at the same time! It seems the key to a successful update is the initial repair process. At the same time, it's apparently only possible to repair a successful installation - which, in my case caused a bit of a Catch 22 situation.
  • All the components of MIS had newer versions available for download (roughly, from version x.0 to version x.02). However, despite them down-loading successfully several times, the updates for MIS and Firewall simply would not install. No reason was given, beyond the bald statement that 'XXX update was not installed'. In the end, it was technician no. 3's repair-reboot-update process which finally solved the problem for both programs and paved the way for a successful update for both.


Figure 3. VirusScan main screen


Figure 4. MIS security holes check

A Happy Ending?

It took lots of frustration and lots of patience and quite a while, but in the end I did get MIS working satisfactorily. Because of performance degradation issues on bootup, I removed MIS and Firewall from my startup folder, and opened them only when I actually connected to the Internet. MIS and its component programs seem to have done a reasonable job of protecting my computer, although I didn't perform any scientific tests to check whether this was actually the case. MIS warned me about cookies and web bugs and other iffy things , and there was a substantial decrease in the number of popup ads. Firewall blocked several port scan attacks from a Web site I was visiting (Microsoft!), and VirusScan detected the JS/Loop and WS/Klez.h viruses in 
e-mails and newsgroup posts I downloaded.
 
The parental controls feature worked well, within the limits of the program (it doesn't take much technical savvy to get around such controls, whether in MIS or any other monitoring program). And MIS checked with me each time before sending my personal information out over the Web (this feature doesn't work with e-mail).

One Program Or Three?

MIS, Firewall and VirusScan are separate programs, but interact to the extent that you can access some of the features of one program from another. There's a hierarchy, however, with MIS top dog. For instance, you can block or filter Internet traffic from all three programs, but when MIS is active, whatever settings are configured via MIS are the settings which prevail. This quite confusing at times, and it took me a couple of very frustrating days to figure out why Firewall was asking me every few seconds if I wanted to permit Internet Explorer to access the Internet, when I'd most decidedly configured it so within the Firewall options.


Figure 5. Firewall's intrusion detection options


Figure 6. VShield's background scanning options

Good Or Not?

Even apart from the installation problems, I found MIS one of the most difficult programs I've ever used. The interface looks pretty but lacks user-friendliness. One rudimentary example of this is that MIS screens are unreadable at the standard 256 colours.
 
I've spent far more time in this review talking about the problems I experienced with MIS, than I have about the features themselves, so overwhelming were they. Earlier, I blamed these problems on Murphy's Law, but that's unfair to Murphy. The real problem is that McAfee has shipped a product that is so difficult to install and update. It might work OK in the end, but it's unrealistic to expect users to spend so much time and effort on getting a program to do what it's supposed to do. And the average user wouldn't have the knowledge, anyhow, to troubleshoot such a mess.

The version of MIS that shipped in my box was 4.00. The updates that bring it to 4.02 are absolutely essential, fixing several other significant problems which I haven't mentioned here. If you're thinking of purchasing MIS, I suggest you ensure that - somehow - you get version 4.02 or later. You may still have to mount the update merry-go-round, however, if your version of Windows is set to International English.

Cost and Availability

Available from local resellers for around $120.
 
Minimum System Requirements

Pentium 100 MHz, Windows 95b, 32 MB RAM, 40 MB hard disk space, CD-ROM drive. Internet access required for some features.

Comment From The Vendor

Network Associates was informed that the reviewer had encountered problems with McAfee Internet Security (MIS). Unfortunately, the version tested was MIS 4.0 and an update is available via Instant Updater or manually at www.mcafee-at-home.com. The upgrade to MIS 4.0.2 was released in January.

MIS 4.0.2 addresses the issues raised as the reviewer states at the bottom of the review. Additionally, a new version of MIS 5.0 will be released in early August.
 
[Ed: The review package was received in late April 2002. It's unfortunate that outdated software was sent for a formal review, so long after a critical update was apparently available. Apologies to Bernadette for the trouble she was put through unnecessarily - GT]

Reprinted from the July 2002 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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