Comcast free McAfee vs. paid VirusScan Plus?

cammby..

I'm not sure whether the Security Suite, which McAfee offers directly, is any different than the one Comcast offers for free. I'm presuming they are much alike. That said, I found an article from ZNET titled, "McAfee Internet Security Suite 2008". I have NO idea if it's the exact same one Comcast is offering, but if so, they write in part:

'Features
McAfee calls its Internet security suite its 10-in-1 product, but we find there's much more offered. Like other security suites, McAfee Internet Security includes all the features within its McAfee VirusScan Plus, then adds additional protection for the Internet suite. Like McAfee VirusScan Plus, McAfee Internet Security 2008 includes McAfee SiteAdvisor, antiphishing protection.'

In turn, you can read what CNET has to say in their article titled, "McAfee VirusScan Plus 2008". Some of what's written about the "Plus version" includes:

'Features
McAfee bills VirusScan Plus 2008 as its six-in-one security solution. Included within are many interesting tools such as the system diagnostic tools to shred deleted files and defragment your hard drive; various network monitoring tools; and McAfee's own antisphishing tool, SiteAdvisor. Although SiteAdvisor was included last year, it lacked the antiphishing component.

New this year is a free McAfee Virtual Technician an optional plug-in which, when downloaded, will diagnose the state of your McAfee product and computer health and then make recommendations how to fix it--for free. It seems unnecessary, but then again you can't argue with the price.'

Some of the above, I find a little ambiguous. In regard to your original question, my personal feeling would be that the free Security Suite is more than enough. But that's only one persons opinion. I'm sure there are others, who will say not to use either, as there are elements of both, which can also be found free. And that suites tend to have an effect on performance, as they usually run a lot of processes, which "hog" resources. You've used the Plus version, so you should have a feel for it by now.

Some sources of information:

A product comparison chart from McAfee:

"McAfee Internet Security"
http://us.mcafee.com/root/landingpages/affLandPage.asp?affid=101&lpname=13072miss&cid=37095

Some sources of information from Comcast:

"Comcast Presents the All-New McAfee Security Suite"
http://www.comcast.net/Security/SecSuiteSSO/

"Help with McAfee Security Suite"
http://security.comcast.net/get-help/solutions-to-common-problems-and-faqs.aspx

"Comcast Net Security"
http://security.comcast.net/

Lastly.. "Grif" our moderator who is the "man in the know", when it comes to all things McAfee, may be able to answer your question (should he happen to see this) in only a sentence or two! As opposed to what some might call my "infomercials".

Best of luck to you with your choice..
Carol

Each ISP offered security suite is slightly different and we're hearing that Comcast is simply offering a slightly older version. The easiest way to check is to install the free one first, check for the features and the version number.. You can then compare it directly to the "always up to date" McAfee version.

Either way, the free version, should you like it, is going to be very similar to the McAfee purchased version.

Hope this helps.

Grif