 TotalAV
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 McAfee
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|---|---|---|
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Pricing
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| Price | $19 | $34.99 |
| Money back Guarantee | ||
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Scanning
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| Real-time Antivirus | ||
| Manual Virus Scanning | ||
| USB Virus Scan | ||
| Registry Startup Scan | ||
| Auto Virus Scanning | ||
| Scheduled scan | ||
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Threat type
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| Anti-Spyware | ||
| Anti-Worm | ||
| Anti-Trojan | ||
| Anti-Rootkit | ||
| Anti-Phishing | ||
| Anti-Spam | ||
| Email Protection | ||
| Chat/IM Protection | ||
| Adware Prevention | ||
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Compatibility
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| Windows | ||
| Mac | ||
| Android | ||
| IOS | ||
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Usage
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| Ease of use | ||
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Extra features
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| Personal Firewall | ||
| Parental Controls | ||
| Gamer Mode | ||
| VPN Service | ||
| Smartphone Optimizer | ||
| Device Tune-up | ||
| Safe browser | ||
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Support
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| Live Help | ||
| Phone support | ||
| Email support | ||
| Ticket support |
McAfee or TotalAV: Which one to choose?
If you’re a Windows user looking for a reliable and affordable antivirus solution, Total AV will be the better pick. It offers a competitive price-quality ratio and will make sure to keep you safe from any outside threats. McAfee, in turn, might be a more reasonable investment for the owners of macOS devices.
Yes, there aren’t any brick-strong right or wrong choices here – it all depends on your current situation, and the OS you’re using. With that out of the way, let’s take a closer look at both products and compare TotalAV vs McAfee in terms of protection, feature sets, customer support, available packages, pricing, and more.
McAfee vs Total AV: Main Features Comparison
Let’s start this TotalAV vs McAfee comparison by checking out the feature sets. In some ways, these two programs are similar to each other. Here are some of the tools/services that they have in common:
- Real-time antivirus protection;
- Protection against ransomware, phishing, Trojans, and worms;
- Safe browsing for online transactions;
- Device tune-up tools, disk cleaner;
- Personal firewall;
- Password manager;
- Automatic, manual, and scheduled scans;
- Registry Startup and USB Virus scans;
- Fully compatible with the leading desktop and mobile platforms.
As you can see, the main set of features is pretty much the same. However, TotalAV is a slightly better pick, as it provides access to a couple of highly useful extras. With it, you’ll get optimization for your Smartphone and a VPN service – both features are mandatory in 2022. The Virtual Private Network will make sure your online activity is hidden from prying eyes. The optimizer, in turn, will keep your mobile devices in shape.
Plus, it includes adware and chat/IM protection. The McAfee antivirus, in turn, comes with anti-spam/email protection, along with parental controls, a data shredder, and a gamer mode. Compared to the TotalAV exclusive features, McAfee isn’t as impressive. A VPN is available (Safe Connect), but only as a stand-alone tool.
Security Comparison
Protection is the key function of any antivirus software, and we’re not only talking about anti-malware protection. Modules that keep ransomware, phishing, and adware away are also very important. Both TotalAV and McAfee implement all the latest technology to locate and eliminate emerging threats. By using signature and heuristic scanning simultaneously, they manage always to stay one step ahead of the outside attacks.
Now, phishing is an area where McAfee prevails. It’s got one of the best fake website detectors and makes sure to keep the user away from all the suspicious resources. TotalAV is good enough against this type of threat as well, but not on par with the competitor. It does, however, outshine McAfee in terms of ransomware protection. During our thorough tests, we were impressed by how effective the anti-ransomware module was against our planted samples.
As for protection against malware, TotalAV is, again, slightly ahead of its rival. First of all, McAfee is average-at-best in real-time protection, while TotalAV is a top-5 solution. On top of that, McAfee lacks consistency and reliability, which is very important for a security tool.
Plus, it requires more system resources to run in the background and perform full system scans (that take a lot of time to complete). If you own a brand-new desktop computer/mobile device, that won’t matter much to you. Users that are still running older hardware and operating systems, though, will appreciate TotalAV’s low system impact. Overall, we’re calling TotalAV the winner in this round of the competition.
Compatibility Comparison
Along with security and the features, compatibility is another important aspect we need to discuss. As we mentioned briefly in the beginning, TotalAV is a better pick for the Windows OS, while McAfee is preferable for the macOS users. Let us elaborate on that a bit. McAfee has always been a Mac-oriented product and provides an impressive list of features for that system.
TotalAV, in turn, used to be a horrible pick for the Mac owners. Over time, they managed to improve the app vastly, and now it works decently. Still, compared to what McAfee has to offer, it’s not nearly as flawless. The situation is vice versa when it comes to the most popular operating system in the world – Windows.
TotalAV has a highly intuitive interface that’s easy to navigate, and everything is within reach. McAfee’s Windows app is also good, but that’s not the problem here. The problem is that the Windows edition lacks some important features that can be found in TotalAV.
The verdict: the fans of Windows need to purchase TotalAV; Mac users should pick McAfee. As for the mobile platforms, we can’t pick a side, as both McAfee and TotalAV provide excellent clients for iOS and Android.
Extra Features Comparison
And what about the additional security features, you might ask – which antivirus will be a better investment in terms of the extras? It’s safe to say that today, you can’t be 100% protected unless you have a VPN. Well, TotalAV has its own Virtual Private Network – it’s on par with the leaders. And, it can optimize your Smartphone performance in a couple of clicks, which is also very important.
Add chat/IM protection and adware blocking, and you’ll get a decent product. However, TotalAV lacks parental controls – something that users with children will want to have. McAfee includes highly configurable parental controls and a data shredder. It allows you to get rid of unwanted files completely. Anti-spam filters are also a part of the deal.
As for the shared features, they’re mostly the same. It is true for the password managers, optimization tools, firewalls, and all the other extras. Summing up, we have to (once again) call TotalAV the winner in this McAfee vs TotalAV comparison. That’s because, without a VPN, you’ll be continuously monitored by hackers, government agencies, your ISP, and pretty much any website – that’s no fun at all.
But, if you’re running a standalone VPN and want to safeguard your kids and your email, then McAfee might be a more reasonable pick. A quick note: social media protection isn’t available with either antivirus.
Support Comparison
As far as customer support goes, both companies make sure to keep their clients satisfied. Our team of experts took its time to check how fast and helpful the phone and email support are. On average, the TotalAV and McAfee agents take the same time to get back at you and are available 24/7. And don’t worry: your rights will be reserved, meaning customer support is strictly confidential, and the information you share won’t be published anywhere.
TotalAV is ahead of its rival because it also includes the ticket system, and for some users, that’s the best way to reach support. As for the live chat, TotalAV only provides help for the owners of one of their products. If you don’t own a TotalAV plan, you won’t be able to get live help. McAfee doesn’t follow the same policy; instead, it has a virtual assistant (essentially, a robot) that can help with basic stuff.
If you’re not satisfied with the live help of any of these products, we recommend checking out the knowledge bases and FAQs for information. They are very well structured and written in a plain, simple, and easy-to-understand language. So, despite the less-than-perfect live chat, you’ll be equally impressed by the professionalism of the TotalAV and McAfee customer services.
Pricing and Packages Comparison
The final stop in our Total AV vs McAfee “battle” is pricing and plans. Here is a full list of the available packages:
- TotalAV Antivirus Pro – $19 per year
- TotalAV Internet Security – $39/year
- TotalAV Total Security $59/year
- McAfee Total Protection $29/year
- McAfee LiveSafe $39/year
With TotalAV Antivirus Pro, you’ll get a solid security solution with protection against ransomware, phishing, optimization tools, and more. Internet Security includes everything we just mentioned and adds the VPN. With Total Security, you’ll also get an ad blocker and a secure password vault.
McAfee only offers two packages to choose from. And, the only difference between Total Protection and LiveSafe is the number of protected devices. Total Protection can simultaneously cover up to ten systems and is somewhere between TotalAV’s first two plans in terms of pricing and features. LiveSafe protects an unlimited number of connections.
And don’t forget: you can always rely on a 30-day Money-Back Guarantee no matter which product you choose. The same is true for the generous free trials. This means you can use the product(s) for free or request a refund within 30 days. On top of that, both companies have 100% free editions that you can use as starting points. True, they’re quite limited, but still capable of keeping you secure.
As for our verdict for the pricing and packages, our vote goes out to TotalAV. That’s mainly thanks to the highly affordable Antivirus Pro package that you can get for 19.95 USD.
TotalAV highlights:
- This antivirus is compatible with the most popular platforms
- TotalAV offers a standard 30-day money-back guarantee
- For the 1st year you get more than $80 discount
- As far as the most intuitive antiviruses go, this one is on top of the pedestal.
McAfee highlights:
- McAfee offers full-featured protection.
- This is one of the most intuitive and easy-to-use antiviruses.
- Reliability is well above average, but not superb.
- Value: above average.
- Money-Back Guarantee is 30-days-long.
