A reader is thinking about switching security suites:
“We are seriously considering changing our security suite from McAfee to Webroot. Can you comment on which one you consider better?”
Most of the major security suites are pretty darn good. None of them are perfect. Each has particular strengths and weaknesses. My first question would be, ‘Have you had any issues using your current security suite?’ If you’ve experienced malware or a virus, that’s a sign that the particular service you’re using doesn’t work very well with your online habits.
PC Magazine scored Webroot and McAfee exactly the same in their rankings. You can click here to look more in-depth at why.
Webroot takes up less of your PC’s resources and runs faster because it uses the cloud. It should install in seconds and you shouldn’t see your PC bog down during updates.
Webroot did have a major problem last year when it started flagging Windows files as malicious. Webroot also sometimes performs poorly in third-party comparison tests because of the way it looks for files. It searches for active files and not all files. Some testers flag that as missing a threat.
Personally, I use Norton 360 and have never had a problem. You might want to also check out the rankings from AV-Test to see comparisons between brands. You’ll notice that Webroot is not among the products tested. Click here to see the AV-Test comparisons.
