Okay
McAfee Total Protection
- Company
- McAfee Inc
- Version
- 2016
- Devices supported
- Computer
- Operating system
- Mac OS X
Windows 7
Windows 8
Windows 98
Windows Vista
Windows XP - Price *
- 84.95 €
- Language of interface
- arabic, bulgarian, chinese, czech, danish, dutch, english, estonian, french, german, greek, hebrew, hungarian, italian, japanese, korean, norwegian, polish, portuguese, russian, serbian, slovak, spanish, turkish
- Test date
- SIP Bench III, 4th test cycle, Summer 2016
EFFECTIVENESS
Effectiveness score for users up to 12 year old: 2.0 out of 4 points
Effectiveness score for users 13 years and older: 2.0 out of 4 points
Effectiveness score for users 13 years and older: 2.0 out of 4 points
USABILITY
Installation of the tool: The tool is embedded in a security suite, but only the parental control features were subject of this test. Process bars indicate the progress of the various steps of the installation, which is quick and straightforward. Parental Control functions need to be installed separately after the main installation is finished. This takes less than a minute.
Configuration of the tool: The configuration process is comprehensible. The process can be individualised with regard to several filter tasks and the user can influence the amount of information in an adequate way. The configuration progress is easy to learn and context-sensitive explanations are generally available.
Usage of the tool: The tool provides no options to react when a website has been blocked. A context-sensitive alert message is provided, but it does not specifically address children. The reporting is comprehensible.
Usability of the installation process: 2.8
Usability of the configuration process: 3.1
Usability of the usage of the product: 2.6
Overall score for usability: 2.9 out of 4 points
FUNCTIONALITY
McAfee LiveSafe is part of the McAfee Total Protection security suite. It is possible to create a user profile that is directly linked to each Windows account and to customise it by either using default settings according to age groups, or by choosing content categories individually. Additionally, the parent can indicate specific URLs to be blocked (creation of a black list) or allowed (creation of a white list). Parents can specify time frames for using the internet. Access to social media and streaming content can be blocked.
SECURITY
Access to harmful content throught Google translate.
Uninstalled without asking credentials or pin"
Uninstalled without asking credentials or pin"
Overall score for security: 1 out of 4 points
DETAILED FUNCTIONALITY
| Area of need | Functionality | Specific issues | Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Management | Management of User profiles | Create several profiles | Yes |
| Remote Management | Manage on various devices | Yes | |
| Monitoring | Remote access to monitoring | No | |
| Filtering Customisation | Topics | Customisation of Filtering Topics | Yes |
| URLs White List | Restrict Browsing to White List | No | |
| Default White List | No | ||
| Modification OR Creation | Yes | ||
| URLs Black List | Creation of User's own Black List | Yes | |
| Keywords | Keywords | Default Black List | No |
| Default White List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's Black List | No | ||
| Creation of a User's White List | No | ||
| Time | Time Limit Settings | Set a specific time frame or web access duration | Yes |
| Blocking Message | Type | Ask for unblocking by parents | No |
| Redirect to safe resources | Yes | ||
| Usage Restriction | Web | Block Access | Yes |
| Monitor Access | No | ||
| Safe search | Availability | No | |
| Social Networks | Block Access | Yes | |
| Monitor Usage | No | ||
| Personal data Provision | Block | No | |
| Streaming | Block Access | Yes | |
| Monitor Access | No | ||
| P2P | Block the application | Yes | |
| Monitor Downloads | No | ||
| Skype | Block chat | No | |
| Block video chat | No | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Windows Life Messenger | Block chat | No | |
| Block video chat | No | ||
| Monitor | No | ||
| Prevent new Contact | No | ||
| Block email client and/or webmail access | Yes |
DETAILED USABILITY FINDINGS
| Yes / No | |
|---|---|
| I: installation in 3 steps or less | No |
| I: choice of installation for beginners or advanced users | No |
| C: different degrees of strength for the filtering | Yes |
| C: different content criteria for the filtering | Yes |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between target users | No |
| C: option to transfer filter configurations between devices | Yes |
| C: overall comprehensible configuration | Yes |
| C: overall conformity with user expectations | Yes |
| C: overall easy to learn | Yes |
| U: alert message in a child friendly language | No |
| U: option to customise the reaction in case of blocking | No |
| U: overall easily operable and comprehensible reporting | Yes |
DETAILED SECURITY FINDINGS
| The Tool prevents the user from by-passing the filter by: | Yes / No |
|---|---|
| Using the IP address instead of the URL | Yes |
| Using an alternative browser | Yes |
| Changing time and date settings* | Yes |
| Disabling or uninstalling the software without a password* | No |
| Closing the filtering tool trough the Task Manager | Yes |
| Using a proxy instead of a direct connection to the Internet | Yes |
| Accessing the web-pages through the Google Cache | Yes |
| Reaching a website through translation sites | No |
| Renaming a blocked application | Yes |
| Using Safe Mode | Yes |
| Filtering Content personalised by user | n/a |
| Filtering Content evolving through time | n/a |
| Filtering Multimedia content | n/a |
| Filtering outbound content | n/a |
