McAfee Antivirus LiveSafe Review (2025): The right choice?

Full Review

McAfee is ranked #5 of the 28 best antivirus of 2025.

McAfee is a feature-packed premium antivirus offering robust protection across multiple platforms. We tested it on a range of devices, including PC, Mac, iPhone, and Android, and found it to be highly effective and user-friendly. McAfee stands out in 2025 for its versatility, offering plans that cover from 5 to unlimited devices—an option few competitors provide.

Anti-malware

McAfee’s antivirus scanner combines traditional signature-based detection with heuristic analysis, enabling it to identify malware by both known signatures and suspicious behavior. In our tests, it successfully detected 100% of malware samples, including viruses, trojans, rootkits, ransomware, and spyware. This places McAfee on par with top-tier competitors like Norton and Bitdefender, which also scored flawlessly in our malware detection tests.

The full system scan took about 50 minutes, comparable to Bitdefender but slower than Norton’s 45 minutes. McAfee’s quick scan completed in under 3 minutes, and custom scan times varied depending on file selection. However, the antivirus did cause noticeable system slowdowns during scans, particularly when performing resource-heavy tasks like video playback or gaming.

Anti-phishing

McAfee’s WebAdvisor offers excellent protection against phishing sites, exploit attacks, and browser-based cryptojackers. It’s available as a free browser add-on for Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari, and can be easily installed through McAfee’s desktop app. In our tests, WebAdvisor consistently blocked phishing sites that Chrome and Firefox missed, placing it on par with top competitors like Norton and Bitdefender.

WebAdvisor’s Secure Search feature provides color-coded safety ratings for search results, which proved accurate in flagging dangerous sites like phishing and pirating pages. It also rates links on social media platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. However, it failed to provide ratings on X (formerly Twitter).

Overall, McAfee WebAdvisor is a powerful online protection tool, with better phishing and exploit defenses than standard browser protections. Its accurate link ratings for search results and social media make it particularly useful for users who may struggle to identify unsafe sites.

Firewall

McAfee’s firewall is robust and user-friendly, offering solid out-of-the-box protection against network threats like intrusions and exploit attacks. It surpasses the default firewalls of both Windows and macOS, making it ideal for users seeking reliable, automated security. However, it lacks advanced customization features, which may be a drawback for more tech-savvy users.

Unlike Norton and Bitdefender’s smart firewalls, McAfee’s relies heavily on the built-in Windows Defender for key tasks like monitoring inbound traffic, providing only basic app blocking. The Mac version offers limited control over incoming and outgoing connections but is somewhat buggy, requiring reinstallation during our tests.

Overall, McAfee’s firewall offers adequate protection but lacks the flexibility and advanced options seen in competing antivirus suites. While it’s an improvement over built-in firewalls, it leaves room for enhancement, particularly in customization and diagnostics.

Password manager

McAfee’s True Key password manager offers solid password protection with basic functionality, but it falls short compared to top standalone password managers in 2025. It uses 256-bit AES encryption and a zero-knowledge architecture to securely store passwords, syncing data across devices like Windows, Mac, iOS, and Android, and supporting browsers like Chrome, Firefox, and Edge.

True Key provides unlimited password storage, a password generator, secure notes, and credit card storage. It also supports zero-click auto-filling, allowing passwords to be entered automatically. However, its two-factor authentication (2FA) options are limited, lacking compatibility with TOTP authenticators or hardware tokens like YubiKey. Additionally, it misses advanced features such as secure password sharing, vault auditing, and breach monitoring, which are available in top competitors like 1Password and Dashlane.

While True Key is user-friendly and simplifies password management with features like easy auto-fill and master password recovery, the latter poses a security risk since recovery can be done via email. Overall, True Key is a basic yet reliable password manager, offering strong encryption and convenience, but lacks the depth and advanced tools provided by leading password managers.

VPN

McAfee Secure VPN, powered by TunnelBear, is a user-friendly VPN with fast connection speeds, ideal for basic activities like browsing and streaming. It’s included in most McAfee antivirus plans and can be purchased separately. The VPN operates servers in 45+ countries, providing good but not extensive coverage compared to standalone options like NordVPN or Surfshark, which have servers in over 100 countries.

McAfee Secure VPN uses 256-bit AES encryption and includes a kill switch for added security. It also adheres to a strict no-logs policy, ensuring your data remains private. The VPN successfully unblocks Netflix US and Amazon Prime but struggles with platforms like Disney+ and Hulu.

One downside is that the desktop version lacks features like split-tunneling and obfuscated servers, which are available on its mobile versions. Despite these limitations, McAfee Secure VPN delivers impressive speeds, particularly on local servers, and performs decently on distant connections, though latency increases with distance.

Overall, McAfee Secure VPN is a good option for secure browsing and streaming, but it lacks the advanced features found in top standalone VPN services. Alternatively, consider Norton VPN or Bitdefender VPN.

Other security features

Anti-Tracker

McAfee’s Tracker Remover helps clean up browser cookies, history, and temporary files on Windows systems and Chrome browsers. It performed well in our tests, freeing over 400 MB of space quickly. Its detailed scan results are helpful for advanced users, but McAfee could benefit from adding more optimization tools, such as a startup optimizer or game booster, as seen in competitors like Avira and Avast.

Parental Controls

McAfee Safe Family offers comprehensive parental controls for Windows, Android, and iOS, though it’s not available for Mac. It enables web content filtering, device usage limits, app blocking, and location tracking with a 10-meter accuracy. Safe Family is easy to use, offers preset rules for different age groups, and blocked all inappropriate content in our tests. While it lacks features like YouTube monitoring and call/text tracking, it’s a solid choice for parents, especially with its accurate location tracking.

Identity Theft Protection

McAfee’s Identity Monitoring is available in 30+ countries and offers robust protection against identity theft, including real-time dark web monitoring and credit checks via Experian. You can track various pieces of personal information, such as SSNs, passports, bank accounts, and more. The service also offers Personal Data Cleanup, which helps remove your info from data broker lists, along with Lost Wallet protection and a Security Freeze feature. Higher-tier plans include identity theft insurance up to $1 million.

Other Tools

• Vulnerability Scanner: Scans apps for necessary updates to protect against zero-day exploits.
• Secure File Shredder: Completely removes deleted folders to prevent recovery but doesn’t work on individual files.
• Social Privacy Manager: Scans and adjusts privacy settings on social platforms like Google, Facebook, and TikTok.
• Anti-Tracker: A browser extension that blocks sites from tracking your online activity, though it could be better integrated with WebAdvisor.

Plans and pricing

In the table below are the core products with their features and prices.

The prices shown are from the USA. However, most brands have different prices (and currencies) in other regions. So visit the brand’s website to see the price in our country.

McAfee LiveSafe comes pre-installed on many laptops. Feature-wise, it includes the same as McAfee Premium.

Plan description

McAfee LiveSafe comes pre-installed on many laptops. Feature-wise, it includes roughly the same as McAfee Total Protection Premium.

McAfee Total protection offers five different pricing tiers, with added benefits if you opt for auto-renewal like VPN and ID theft protection.

Here’s a quick rundown:

Total Protection Basic – Best Budget Option

Priced at $29.99/year, this plan offers comprehensive protection for 1 device. It includes key features like antivirus scanning, firewall, and identity monitoring. It’s a good deal, especially if you compare it to Norton’s similar plan, but it lacks parental controls.

Total Protection Essential – Best Budget Option

Priced at $39.99/year, this plan offers comprehensive protection for up to 5 devices, including the same features as Total Protection Basic.

Total Protection Premium – Best Value

At $49.99/year, the Premium plan offers unlimited device coverage and adds Personal Data Cleanup tools. It’s a great deal if you want to protect multiple devices and it even includes parental controls for families.

Total Protection Advanced – For Identity Safety

Starting at $89.99/year, this plan has all the features of the previous plans plus robust identity protection tools, including $1 million in identity theft coverage. While it’s pricier, it’s a good pick for those focused on identity safety.

Total Protection Ultimate – Most Comprehensive

Costing $199.99/year, the Ultimate plan offers all-inclusive identity and credit monitoring along with ransomware protection. It’s expensive, but provides the most comprehensive set of features.

Refund Policy

You can request a refund within 30 days of purchase, within 60 days of automatic renewal, or anytime if McAfee fails to remove malware, which offers peace of mind.

In summary, McAfee provides a range of plans to suit different needs and budgets, from basic protection to all-out identity and financial safety. We recommend Total Protection Premium for most users due to its value and comprehensive feature set.

Test score comparison

We conduct in-house anti-malware tests and review the results from AV-Test, a German lab renowned for its objective evaluations. Below is the average of the last 10 AV-Test results for Windows. Their scoring criteria are:

• Protection (1-6): Effectiveness in blocking malware.
• Performance (1-6): Impact on system speed.
• Usability (1-6): Frequency of errors like false alarms.

We calculate a final score using this formula:

Final Score = 60% Protection + 20% Performance + 20% Usability.

While these results influence our choice of the best antivirus for Windows 11, other factors like privacy and identity protection also play a key role. For a similar analysis for Android or macOS, visit our other comparisons:

• The best antivirus for Android.
• The best antivirus for Mac.

Note: Brands not listed in the table either do not participate in AV-Test trials or are tested too infrequently, such as Surfshark Antivirus.

Source: AV-Test (Last updated: December 2024).

Price comparison

We’ve compared the prices of the top antivirus products for Windows. To make it a fair comparison, we looked at what it would cost us, to protect a  single Windows PC with the most essential features:

• Anti-malware
• Anti-phishing (web protection)
• Firewall
• Password manager
• Unlimited VPN (no data limit)

A few notes:

• Some brands are missing features, lowering their value for money.
• Prices are second-year prices in the USA, without first-year discounts.
• Prices are rounded up for readability (e.g., $99.99 becomes $100).

Brands have different prices outside the USA. See those on their website.

User reviews

We’ve compared the user reviews of all antivirus brands. We’ve used the scores and review count of TrustPilot, a leading user review platform. 

We consider scores above 4.0 very good. Lower scores indicate that the brand might have a poor product or customer service. McAfee’s scores, for instance, are worrying.

Source: TrustPilot. Last Update: December 2024.

Company Profile

McAfee is a global leader in online security with over 35 years of innovation, protecting 600+ million devices across 182 countries. With 1,800 employees and 108 million customers worldwide, McAfee’s mission is to make the digital world safer for everyone.

Advanced Digital Protection

Known for its award-winning antivirus software, McAfee provides comprehensive privacy and identity protection solutions that enable users to confidently navigate the online world, no matter their device or location. Backed by a network of 100 million threat sensors and 200+ researchers, the company detects 620 new threats every minute and blocks over 13,669 threats per minute.

A Legacy of Leadership

Founded in 1987 by John McAfee, the company has evolved through ownership changes, briefly becoming Intel Security in 2014 before returning to the McAfee name in 2016. In 2021, McAfee shifted focus exclusively to consumer security, selling its enterprise division and going private after a $14 billion buyout.

Accessible Solutions

McAfee’s products are available through online platforms, retail outlets, and partnerships with ISPs and device manufacturers. The company remains steadfast in its commitment to staying ahead of emerging threats, ensuring customer safety and peace of mind while advancing digital security globally.

How we test antivirus software

At SoftwareLab, we provide thorough and unbiased antivirus reviews to help you make informed cybersecurity decisions. Our comprehensive testing covers all critical aspects of antivirus performance. We assess each product in six key categories, weighted by importance:

For even more details, visit our blog posts on how we test antivirus software.