User manual

Product Review: Mac Security ‐ July 2013 www.av-comparatives.org
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Program interface
The Status page of the program only indicates
whether the Internet Security component is
installed, not whether it is up to date, real-
time scanning is on or if a scan has been run
recently. Immediately after installation, the
Internet Security page indicates that a scan
needs to be run, but does not show any kind
of warning even if all the protection
components are switched off. After the scan
has been run, no further warnings can be seen
on the Internet Security Status page. On
investigating the status of individual
components, we were very surprised to see
that real-time antivirus protection is not
enabled by default, and the program only
recommends switching it on if the user works
with Windows files or a Windows emulator.
Given the existence of Mac botnets created by
Trojans such as Flashback, we consider it
inappropriate to suggest that real-time
protection is not necessary to protect the OS
X operating system. We also find it
incompatible with the claim on the Status
page that “MacKeeper makes the Internet a
safer place by blocking all threats and
vulnerabilities automatically”. We note that
when activated, MacKeeper’s real-time
protection can instantly detect and protect
against Mac malware samples, hence our
surprise that it is not activated by default.
There is a “Check for Update” button on the
Internet Security Status page. Clicking it has
no very obvious effect, that is to say there is
no progress report or message that the
program is up to date. Observant users will
however notice that the date/time shown
under “Last check for update” in the status
area at the top has been updated.
Clicking on the “Antivirus Scan” allows either
full or custom scans to be run.
We could not find any form of subscription
information in the MacKeeper window. To find
out when the subscription expires, the user
has to open a web browser and log in to the
KromTech account. We find this inconvenient,
and, given the lack of warnings about the
antivirus status, potentially risky. It would
seem very easy for the licence to expire, and
updates to cease, without the user realising
it.
Clicking Help/MacKeeper Help in the Mac Menu
Bar opens the local help function. MacKeeper
installs its own icon in the Mac System Tray,
which can be used to open the program, start
scans, and switch real-time protection
features on and off:
There is no MacKeeper item added to the
Finder context menu, so scans have to be
started from the program itself.
Our overall opinion of the program interface
was that the Internet Security component
does not have an especially prominent
position within the suite, and that real-time
protection has a very subordinate role within
Internet Security. Hence, we feel that
although the suite is capable of protecting
the Mac effectively, neither its interface nor