I've used McAfee/Dr. Solomon's Virex for the Macintosh for over two years, and it is a wonderful anti-virus product. It is very easy to use, with an intuitive interface and a thorough (paper!) manual.

The Virex Drop-Scan is my favorite feature: When you download an item or receive an attachment via email, just drag and drop the document onto the Drop-Scan icon, which automatically installs itself on the desktop, and the virus scanning commences.

The Drop-Scan feature is one way to access the virus scanning capabilities. The other two are via the application proper, and the other via the control strip. Although I disable almost all extensions when installing software, if one only wanted to disable Virex (and disabling virus protection software during installation procedures is highly recommended), it's a snap: Just use the control strip module for Virex.

Another great feature is the 'snapshot'. This feature allows virus protection even for viruses that are not yet known, and are therefore not in the virus definitions. The concept is simple: A snapshot of your hard drive, in terms of the files on it, is taken. If significant changes occur to your hard drive, which are common with a very destructive virus (such as one that deletes many files), Virex will alert you to the discrepancy.

The only problem I have is with the company that produces the product. To this day, I can't figure out the relationship between Dr. Solomon's and McAfee. Cursory analysis leads me to believe that McAfee is the parent company of Dr. Solomon, as the software is technically called 'Dr. Solomon's Virex' (at least it was when I bought the software). The virus definition update links on their website have improved dramatically, in terms of ease of location, but the first year was hell: I could never find the link. If I bookmarked it, it would change, and I would then have to sift five or six links deep to find the new virus definitions. I've found McAfee has a tendency to do this for their other products, as I have clients on Windows machines who use their software and always email me with questions on how to navigate the McAfee website.

Overall, however, I recommend Virex. It's a great product. I have version 5.9, and the current version is 6.0. There is no discounted price for upgrades, however.



Recommended: Yes