What Does McAfee Total Protection Include?

You may be familiar with the cybersecurity company McAfee as offering one of the major antivirus solutions. Recently they have expanded their offerings with McAfee Total Protection. If you are wondering what does McAfee Total Protection Include, you have come to the right place.

Comprehensive Internet Security:

What it isn’t? A run-of-the-mill standalone anti-virus.

What it is? In short, McAfee Total Protection is a comprehensive internet security software solution for many devices.

In order to answer the question what does McAfee Total Protection include, we need to break it down by its major components. At it’s core McAfee Total Protection is a 5-in-1 premium privacy and security software package. It replaces and consolidates the following 5 products into 1: I. Antivirus II. Password manager III. Virtual private network (VPN) IV. Secure file deletion V. File encryption

You may be wondering what does this mean to you and how do these 5 products relate to one another? However, if you are already using these standalone products, congratulations. You are leaps and bounds ahead of most people in terms of protecting your data and by extension, your privacy! (If data security and privacy protection were like a credit score, you would be well on your way to an 850) In that case feel free to skip to the bottom and see how much money you can save by consolidating. On the other hand, if some of those 5 products listed above sound like a foreign language to you, keep reading. I’ll take you step-by-step breaking down the question, what does McAfee Total Protection include?

Each of the 5 components (yes there are additional components in McAfee Total Protection, however these 5 are what make-it or break-it from a holistic security perspective) will either get a NETPRAETOR thumbs-up, or thumbs-down raking. At the end of the review a final overall thumbs-up or thumbs-down will be given.

Antivirus:

Lets just say that the antivirus component puts the “total” in McAfee Total Protection. This is especially true for Windows users who stand to benefit the most from this extra layer of protection. An excellent antivirus software application will help to protect your computer against malware and cybercriminals. It will scan data on your computer or device, searching applications, software, files, and web pages. While it is doing that it will monitor the behavior of all programs and search for known threats. Abnormal behavior will be flagged and malware will be removed or blocked. With the McAfee Total Protection antivirus software you will have the following capabilities:

Schedule automatic scans
Identify targeted files to delete malicious software
Verify the security of your computer and other devices
Choice between individual file scans or entire computer scans
Delete malicious software and codes

Without this basic piece of security software the door to your most sensitive information is left wide open.

McAfee Total Protection 2020 Antivirus = NETPRAETOR Thumbs-up

Password Manager:

Next up is the password manager. I am a firm believer that a quality password manager is foundational to your online data security and privacy. With a password manager you start to load new and existing passwords into your password vault. Your password vault uses very strong encryption to keep your passwords safe. McAfee Total Protection True Key password manager uses AES-256, one of the strongest encryption algorithms available. That level of device based zero-knowledge encryption means your passwords belong to you and you alone. Building on that foundation of security, all you have to do is create a master password for your vault. Once that is done, memorize your new master password, setup a second-factor authentication and enjoy the stress relief that comes with only having to remember ONE password!

McAfee Total Protection 2020 True Key Password Manager = NETPRAETOR Thumbs-up

Virtual Private Network (VPN):

An excellent Virtual Private Network does 2 things. Encrypt your internet traffic reliably and at least claims to have a no logging policy. Those 2 elements are what make an excellent consumer VPN. For example, encrypting your traffic protects you if you are visiting a coffee shop and using their untrusted Wi-Fi. It will prevent eavesdroppers on untrusted networks from being able to see what you are doing. Secondly, a VPN provider who adheres to a no-logs policy is protecting your privacy from their own networks. This is important because when you turn on your VPN, that VPN provider is now becoming your de facto internet service provider (ISP). If part of your rationale for using a VPN stems from not liking your ISP logging and selling your information, then a VPN who logs traffic defeats that purpose. Does McAfee Total Protection include VPN? McAfee owns TunnelBear VPN as well as its own off-shoot VPN called Safe Connect VPN which is what you get with McAfee Total Protection. Unfortunately, McAfee Total Protection Safe Connect VPN has a known logging policy in place. On the bright side, at least McAfee is honest about it. Aside from that it does everything else a VPN is intended to do. If you are okay with McAfee becoming your ISP when you turn on their VPN its not a bad deal as part of the overall package.

McAfee Total Protection 2020 Safe Connect VPN = NETPRAETOR Thumbs-down

IV. Secure File Deletion:

Secure file deletion is an often overlooked aspect of protecting your data and your privacy. Have you ever, lost, sold, or given away a computer or device? If you have, sensitive files on your computer or device can be recovered. That is where McAfee Total Protection QuickClean Shredder comes into play. It allows you to securely delete sensitive files and internet session cookies so that files you don’t want to be recoverable, are not. Having this often overlooked feature of secure file deletion is an excellent benefit for your privacy.

McAfee Total Protection 2020 QuickClean Shredder = NETPRAETOR Thumbs-up

V. File Encryption:

Last but not least is the ability to encrypt individual files and folders you choose. McAfee Total Protection File Lock enables you to setup password protected drives on your computer hard drive. These drives are stored securely with 256-bit AES encryption. They will only appear after you have unlocked them using your password. If you are not already encrypting your entire hard drive (NETPRAETOR recommendation, always enable full-disk encryption if available) this is the next best thing. Additionally, if you already use full-disk encryption, the files stored in File Lock essentially have a double layer of encryption when the computer is powered off.

McAfee Total Protection 2020 File Lock = NETPRAETOR Thumbs-up

Pricing:

Okay, you no longer need to wonder what does McAfee Total Protection include? In most cases, the main types of products it seeks to replace all cost money to purchase individually. If your next question is McAfee worth it 2020? Here is a breakdown of what you would pay if you purchased each product from competitors individually:

As you can see $187.00 every year for these products is a bit pricey. Here is the cost for the first year of McAfee Total Protection Family for 10 devices and the BEST deal:

At 49.99 that is over a $130.00 SAVINGS when compared to buying individually!