McAfee subscription. Do I renew?

[Yellowmellow2]

The virus protection is due for renewal on my laptop. It’s £59.99 a year. Is it worth it?

I got a notification about renewing my McAfee a few months ago. Completely ignored it and still have it for free.

I'd say it's worth it if I had to pay though.

What’s the context - do you mean compared to free anti virus? I haven’t found those as good as the ones you pay for. My computer is really important for me so I pay for anti virus and I have McAfee.

It always seems expensive, but you have to weigh up the cost versus risk. The risks are having your laptop infected by a virus and you data lost or stolen. If you do online banking or shopping you also run the risk of being redirected to bogus pages and your card or bank details stolen.

About 7 years ago my DP decided to not renew his antivirus software and his bank account was somehow breached. Someone trying to set up payments etc. It was a faff to sort out and the PC was never the same again despite the malware being removed and multiple scans being done with different softwares. It probably needed a complete wipe and rebuild, but DP decided to get a new PC instead.

You can shop around and see if Norton or one of the others is cheaper, or perhaps see if a voucher code is available. Another thing to check is the level of cover that the McAfee is quoting, if you only use it on one device then make sure you are not paying for more than that.

Another cheeky tip, we found that McAfee alerts you really early to renew...if you wait until a week or two before it expires sometimes the price miraculously drops.

You can get cheaper than that with other suppliers. I use ESET. It does depend on how risk averse you are. There are free suppliers too, and free malware scanners, like malwarebites

Can you wait for Black Friday, it's usually lower in price then

It's 14.99 online at A well known site.

Which we’ll known site?

McAfee is an awful antivirus; even the guy who created it has cut ties and said how awful it is.

You don’t need to pay for any antivirus; doing so is a mugs game and they capitalise on people not understanding technology and their computers. Free Avast does the trick just fine.

Our family uses AVG Free and have been happy with the results. My 3 kids are old enough to online shop but have managed to avoid anything nasty.

How much?!

I paid less than £10 in Argos for 12 months,

I say purge it from your system. Windows Defender is included in Windows 10 and offers strong protection without the slowdown and snake oil.

But whatever you do, don't do nothing. Expired antivirus is worse than useless, it gives a false sense of security and lets all the new malware in.

Oh yea, much cheaper in Argos! Hadn’t thought of doing that.

@emilyfrost

McAfee is an awful antivirus; even the guy who created it has cut ties and said how awful it is.

You don’t need to pay for any antivirus; doing so is a mugs game and they capitalise on people not understanding technology and their computers. Free Avast does the trick just fine.

So.... are you saying that Free Avast will give me the same level of protection?

Avg free has protected all our family computers since the early 2000s. I can't recommend it enough

Don't bother, it's a scam nowadays. Remove it, install Microsoft Security Essentials, it's free.

Reasons:

1. In the bad old days, we downloaded programs and ran them all the time, sometimes they had viruses. Nowadays we use websites to do everything.

1. In the bad old days, people would hack your browser and install viruses for profit. Nowadays your browser automatically updates as soon as a new way in is found. Nowadays a hack sells on the darknet for £500,000 and the hole is plugged once it's discovered, so they aren't going to target you unless you deal with million pound invoices.

1. In the bad old days, software cost money so people pirated it. Pirated software and cracks to get around paying for it often came with viruses. Nowadays open source software and websites can do everything you need. Unless you have teens who pirate games, you don't need antivirus.

1. In the bad old days, websites could be impersonated by hackers in coffee shops or anywhere else you used free WiFi, this is because it cost £500 a year to make a website secure. Since Edward Snowden snitched on the USA for spying, they're secure by default.

1. In the bad old days, Windows updates could be disabled. They can't today, because China stole every blueprint for every piece of machinery made in the US, so the US government made Microsoft tighten up security and give everyone free antivirus. So use the free one.

Also, here's the legend John McAfee's take on his antivirus (nsfw)

If you go free or use windows defender, consider Clearscore which costs £2.99 a month and this will scan the dark web for your details, like phone number and passwords you use. Also malwarebytes is free and scans your PC.

So.... are you saying that Free Avast will give me the same level of protection?

I’m saying that it’s unnecessary to pay for antivirus; you absolutely don’t need to. It’s a mugs game, snake oil, they prey on people like you who don’t understand tech to make their money.

You don’t need to pay for antivirus, just use a free one. You won’t be putting yourself at risk or losing out by doing so.

Thanks everyone. Really useful to hear your opinions. It’s an eye opener!