What customers mention most
Being continually bombarded with what appear to be SCAMS demanding payments for zilch services and no account details
McAfee acts like adware and triggers malware alerts. Avoid it! I bought a legitimate, retail license for this software, and it was a massive mistake. Right after installation, both Windows Defender and Malwarebytes flagged McAfee's files as threats (PUA/Adware/Trojan components). The software aggressively forces its own extensions (WebAdvisor), hijacks browser settings, and tracks user behavior, acting exactly like the malware it is supposed to prevent. It causes severe system conflicts and completely tanks computer performance. Buying this feels like paying 100 PLN to infect your own PC with bloated adware. Stick to Windows Defender – it is free, safe, and actually works.
DO NOT SIGN UP! I am constantly hounded by emails to renew and have had more spam since I used them.
Purchased from store 1 year subscription after inputting production key cannot activate unless provide bank card details for auto renewal which i do not want - spent an hour on phone with customer services promising once i give my bank card details i can turn off auto renewal - i got fed up telling the polite chap i have paid i do not want auto renewal - i just want the product i purchased in store - This is not protection this is Grifters disgusted it it unethical - they have become the scammers they are meant to protect you from
They have taken money out of my husband's account twice for over £250, and they will not refund any of it. The customer service is rubbish, lots of apologises but no help. If it was possible to give no stars that would be what I'd give.
Do not touch this company! Signed up for a free trial with a phone upgrade, called to cancel the day before the renewal date. I was assured on the phone that it was cancelled and I could delete my app, on for £59.99 to be taken from my bank the next day. When I phoned to complain I was told that the person I had spoken to was unable to turn off the auto-renewal (neither could I which is why I had called them). I was offered a discount which I declined and now have to wait 2-5 days for my money to be refunded. Beware any free trials!!!
Since I posted this I've discovered that McAfee has charged me for two years, for no Premium service. I don't know how it came about, but probably part of some bundle. For many years I avoided McAfree because I didn't rate it. But it came bundled with a recent PC purchase so I thought I would try it again. Two months after I bought the PC I got hit with a charge of £129.99 for no discernable reason. I have auto renew turned off, I do not have a Premium Plan. I have tried to claim a refund, but the website button "refund request" goes to an "access denied" page. I have tried to cancel, but that seems impossible. On top of all that, the basic offering from McAfee is useless. You do a basic scan, and all it says is something along the lines of "upgrade to get this sorted out". I was right to distrust McAfee all those years ago. There are other anti-virus options out there, and I will certainly be looking into them. Update: ;I managed to get through to customer support, but they could not verify my identity (although I was logged in) because I did not know my subscription number. I was also unwilling to give some of my credit card details. I believe these requirements are meant to obstruct.
I just bought a brand new laptop 2 days ago. At the time it was just YouTube I had on my screen - I contacted Mcaffee to secure everything and instead of antivirus my laptop had virus all over - I contacted McAfee and was on the phone with them for 4 hours to try to resolve the problem and to no avail - they said they would get someone to contact me within 24 hours - so we’ll see. I have asked for my money back- I also will be issuing a formal complaint against them.
I purchased a basic McAfee subscription for my laptop protection then kept getting spammed every 5 minutes on my laptop to upgrade as I had been breached 100's of times and that my laptop performance was poor (even though it's a brand new laptop). To stop the spams and feeling of insecurity, I spent a further £19.99 to upgrade only to notice nothing had changed the spams the extra protection and no extra features.... What the hell did I just pay extra for then?! I want my money back!! I will be uninstalling this protection provider and spam everywhere I can to show how bad they are as a fear purchase profiteering company until I get money back! I only wish I had came here and read other reviews before this waste of money! Update: I have manged to cancel, as I was going through the process they kept using wording like "Are you sure you want to accept the risk and cancel" ect again making you fear if you do the world will end. Glad I will receive a refund but can't replace the time and worry this company has put me through! Avoid like the plague!!
I had McAfee preinstalled on my Dell. I don't need this as Windows Defender does very well the job. After uninstalling with Revo, the computer's autonomy becomes very short, Copilot doesn't work at all, the search bar doesn't work. Now I'm forced to reinstall the whole Windows on my computer.
Exactly the same as most others say. Absolutely useless, the call centre don’t speak English. Chat never works. Impossible to log on, the app and site are unbelievably slow. Don’t do it !!
I bought this s/w on advice from Curry's when I bought a replacement lap-top, major mistake! I spent a few hours setting up the lap-top loading s/w and files. Everything was working okay so I installed McAfee, then things got all fouled up. I decided that I couldn't work with this - stupid messages that your DofB was found on the 'Dark Web' - no resoloution just spurrious messages - so I uninstalled it. This totally screwed my machine, I went through many steps to try to recover but to no avail. Curry's tech support couldn't fix the problems (no search function), so it was a factory reset. Two days I won't get back.
My 76-year old neighbour has erroneously bought three subscriptions for McAfee Total Protection. He is now protected for a whopping 10 devices until 2033. I contacted McAfee, explained the situation, and they offered to serialize the now parallel subscriptions, so he is protected well into 2036 or so. When I stressed the possibility that the man may not live to benefit from the deal, they offered the remaining subscription to his family. My neighbour has no one. McAfee is all about money, doesn't care about its customers, and, to be honest, I seriously doubt they have a clue about computers.
Horrible. Worst antivirus in the business.
Bought a years subscription but couldn't use it unless I have them my credit card details!!!! Tried dealing with tech support but no help! It is profiteering off neurodiverse people!!!
Based on 15 verified customer reviews, McAfee holds an average rating of 1.0 out of 5 — rated Bad on ReviewTerminal.
