Hey guys I've recently tried out McAfee's Privacy & Identity Guard Online Protection and thought I'd share my two cents on it, this isn't just your ordinary antivirus – it's a suite aimed at keeping your digital identity safe and sound. **EASE OF USE** Getting started with McAfee was a breeze, the setup didn't have me jumping through hoops, and navigating the interface was intuitive enough that I didn't need a manual to figure things out. Whether you're on your phone or laptop, Android or iOS, the process is pretty straightforward. **FEATURES AND PERFORMANCE** Now let's talk about what this bad boy can do. McAfee's identity monitoring is pretty thorough, watching over a laundry list of personal details from your Social Security number to your credit cards, although it doesn't cover everything under the sun like postal records, it's got a keen eye on the dark web and data breaches, which is where a lot of the sketchy stuff goes down. Personal data cleanup is a gem, especially if you're not keen on your details being peddled by data brokers, if it finds your info on the dodgy corners of the web, it'll scrub it off for you, a feature that's as rare as it is reassuring. On the flip side, the service isn't perfect. While it's vigilant about certain aspects of your online presence, there are areas it doesn't monitor, like criminal records or payday loan databases, also, there's no app specifically for this service, which could be a bit of a downer if you like managing things on the go. **COMPATIBILITY** Jumping over to compatibility, McAfee's been a champ across my tech collection, whether I'm on my Android phone, iPad, or MacBook, it's like a one size fits all kind of deal, no weird glitches or temper tantrums from any of my devices, it's like having that one friend who can mingle with all your different circles without any drama. **PRICING** Talking dollars and sense, McAfee's pricing is a mixed bag, the initial three months felt like a steal, given the peace of mind I got, but when renewal time comes around, and that $100 price tag pops up, it makes you think twice. Sure, it's not pocket change, but considering it's guarding your digital treasures, it might just be worth the investment. **CUSTOMER SUPPORT** Let me get this straight, nobody calls customer support for fun, but on the rare occasion I had to ring them up, McAfee's folks were on the ball, they weren't just reading off a script; they actually knew their stuff, it's like having a tech savvy buddy on speed dial. **PROS AND CONS** Alright, let's break it down. PROS FIRST: the personal data cleanup is top notch, like having a digital broom for your online mess, the $1 million insurance is no joke either, it's like having a safety net made of cash. CONS: It's not all rainbows, the no go on stuff like criminal records monitoring is a bummer, and the price hike after three months might make you sweat a bit, also the lack of a dedicated app is like having a sports car without a key fob. **CONCLUSION** In the grand scheme of things, McAfee's Privacy & Identity Guard is like that reliable neighbor who keeps an eye on your place, it's not going to stop every would be digital intruder, but it's vigilant where it counts, for the tech savvy crowd that doesn't mind the manual check-ins, it's a solid pick. **PERSONAL EXPERIENCE** Now, I haven't had my identity swiped (knock on wood), but knowing McAfee's got my back makes me sleep easier. It's like having a watchdog that doesn't need to be walked. It's not cheap, and the watchdog might miss a spot or two, but it's still a darn good pup to have around.

This is my first time getting any sort of protection like this and it was quite enlightening. But the idea of giving a single app literally all your personal data is INCREDIBLY nerve wracking. Like I almost didn’t wanna go through with it. The thought kept entering my mind, this single company could have a data breech and then I’m skeee…ruuuddde! Luckily it claims to have all the standard protections and more to keeping your identity secure. The interface is easy to use, and the program does an excellent job of explaining everything in a way that's easy to understand. However due to the fact it’s web based I often found myself wishing it were an app on my computer and would notify me. Luckily, after a few days I realized that there is a mobile app to address this. The mobile app is decent and easy to navigate. Provides enough detail on everything to be a useful tool but is far less comprehensive than the website is. It will at least notify you on breeches. Addressing the breeches on your phone via the app is also not as streamlined as it is on PC/Mac via a web browser. You could access it on your mobile web browser too and honestly found that pretty darn good, but the problem again is notifications. It will email you about new breaches, but I enjoy push notifications from apps. The interface also splits up into two major groups. Privacy focused stuff and Identity monitoring. Privacy is more exciting, and the identity monitoring was more of a chore for me. With Identity Monitoring, was going through dealing with breeches, etc. Privacy however was cooler… I think. One of the things I like most about the McAfee Privacy & Identity Guard is that it gives you a score for your online security and privacy, a way to kind of gamify your privacy. This score is based on a few factors and from what I can tell, some other factors that I haven’t discovered yet. The obvious ones are addressing breached passwords, reading about breached information, like your phone number or addresses, and acknowledging your SSN breaches and handling their recommended steps to secure yourself. There’s also an automated “online identity scrubber” that tries to remove you from online databases. I suspect my score will go up after that is completed, but it states it can take up to a whopping 30 to 45 days to complete. To be honest this is the most intriguing part of this. I’d love to wipe my presence from online searches. They call this the “Personal Data Cleanup” and it’s a service they provide. You don’t have to do it yourself. The amount of data some of these sites had on me were CRAZY. It had my family information, aunts, uncles, parents, siblings, addresses, social media accounts, etc. NUTS. Luckily I haven't screwed someone over enough to want to get me. But the sheer amount of info that was on these sites, crazy. The best part is IT'LL DO IT ALL FOR ME. I still have a bunch of time before I can see the results of it, but I'm hoping it'll succeed. I'm currently at a 620 on the McAfee scale, and I'm trying to get it higher, but as I alluded to earlier, I don’t know what the steps are to do that outside what I’ve already done. One thing that I found odd about this service is that it recommended that I delete my Amazon account. I understand that Amazon has a lot of information on me, but I'm not sure I'm ready to delete that account just yet. I get why it’s marked it as a high-risk account, but I don’t think I could do that. Much like I wouldn’t be able to delete my Best Buy account or say Spotify account. They’re services that I actively use and I feel like it would inconvenience my life more so than the x% it improved my security/privacy. My suggestion to McAfee would be to suggest ways to secure your life for these high risk accounts so you can live with it and maximize your security and privacy. Suggest a stronger password, and give examples, ship to a pick up center instead of your home, using burner credit cards instead, etc. Overall, I think this McAfee product is a great tool for anyone who wants to improve their online security and privacy. It's easy to use and it does a great job of explaining everything in a way that's easy to understand. The UI is super easy to navigate, and it offers I would definitely recommend it to anyone who is concerned about their online security and privacy and wants to take back control of their personal info. Ultimately I gave it a 4 star instead of a perfect 5 is because it's hard to listen to all the recommendations and it says I can improve my score by doing these steps, but when I open that section, literally nothing is there. I already did them. So it's give you a sense that it's not fully flushed out or that you are indeed working with a program that isn't that aware of itself. But still, highly recommended. It was a darn good first impression.

I wanted to try out McAfee’s new Privacy and Identity Guard as I wanted something to check out my information fully. There’s nothing to install, and is all web based so there’s nothing to run on your computer with this, and you can sign in from any browser. The Privacy and Identity Guard advertises that it has Personal Data Cleanup, Online Account Cleanup, Identity monitoring, and McAfee Protection Score. After ordering all you have to do is set up your account “if you don’t already have one” and activate with the provided license emailed after purchase. 1st, the Personal Data Cleanup really surprised me, and according to their information out of 40 sites they regularly monitor as “data brokers” I had information on 36 of them “I’ve been online for a long time”, and one of those sites “I double checked”, had information on me going back to the mid 1990s, wow. I was really surprised just how much of my information was on those sites. I do like that McAfee shows that they requested my information to be removed from all those sites and will keep the portal updated as they respond back. They’ll also provide me the information on how to manually request my information be removed in case any of those refuse the requests. 2nd, the Online Account Cleanup amazed me, it showed me sites that I hadn’t used in years and still had my information, “almost 800 of them :O “, it lets you click on each one to be taken to the site so you can see if you can remove that information yourself. Luckily a lot of those site I’ve not used in 5+ years and my passwords and information has changed enough to where nothing there ought to be valid for a hacker. 3rd the Identity monitoring is a welcome plus, as I already have it through my tax software company and at least this is another added level of protection. I can also set up alerts to let me know if any of the parameters are met/broken. So far nothing has come back on this but it’s nice to know that active monitoring is there and working. 4th the McAfee Protection Score just gives you a score based on how much you are monitoring and cleaning up. The more information you give them and the more effort you put into cleaning up its alerts the higher your score goes. It’s a good measure to keep you trying to get a high score. Conclusion: In all I’m very impressed with just how much of my information this found out on the web, “including very old information” that I really don’t want anyone to be able to just look up. And with McAfee requesting the removal of that information from those sites and providing me the information on how to request it if they refuse is a huge plus. The rest of the stuff included like the online account cleanup was really helpful. Even though a huge chunk of the almost 800 sites listed were old and closed it’s nice to know just who is still hanging onto that information. I’m going to have a lot of work cut out cleaning up those old accounts. They also show you how many data breaches your information was on and lists them so you can go in and work on cleaning those up, “making that a priority. With all the other monitoring and identity sites out there it’s hard to know who would be the best one. In my opinion I’ll stick with the McAfee Privacy and Identity Guard as it’s affordable and did an extremely good job of identifying all my information that’s floating around the web. So if you are trying to choose, do take a look at Privacy and Identity Guard, it’s well worth the money.

As someone who has been the victim of Identity Theft before, I was really interested in this. I've subscribed to Identity Theft protection in the past, but didn't feel like it alerted me to problem areas before they became problems. But, I really like that this service provides Identity Theft monitoring and Privacy protection. I feel the price for both of these services is an excellent value. Some of the other companies charge more just for the ID theft, including the one that I used in the past. In addition, I already own Internet Security and VPN software, which this doesn't provide, so I only have to pay for what I need. The setup was simply and the website guides you through everything fairly well. Once I activated my subscription, I just had to create my account and follow the tasks presented in the Home screen. There is also an App that you can install on your Android or IOS device. You enter your personal information and financial information to setup the Identity Monitoring. Once I completed that, it immediately showed me where my information was found in recent data breaches. You then review and resolve each one to boost your overall protection score. One strange thing about the website and the App is that every time you go into the Home screen, it constantly displays a warning "Attention Needed" under data breaches. However, when you click it, there aren't any new data breaches and the one I had been shown initially had already been resolved. Other than that, the ID Theft monitoring works in the background and will inform you of any new data breaches. The next thing you setup is the Privacy protection and it allows you to request removal of your personal information from the data broker sites where you are listed. This automatically runs every 3 months and looks for your personal information on the data broker websites. It then prompts you to review each profile it found and you can request they remove your personal information, which McAfee all does behind the scenes. If this stops some of my spam calls, this may be worth the cost of the McAfee subscription alone. It takes 30-45 days for the information to be removed and you are notified of when each broker has completed that. In addition, you can have the Privacy look for "Risky Accounts". To do this, you have to give it access to your email. (After spending 24-hours researching what they do with that, I finally agreed to give them access.) Once you set it up, it then quickly finds current and unused accounts you have setup (i.e., department stores, websites, etc.). It also classifies them into High Risk, Rarely Used, and Financial Data. It then provides information on how to delete accounts you don't need or use, in order to limit your exposure to potential data breaches. I found with this you have to look at each account and determine if you still use it and if you feel it is risky or not for you. For example, one of the sites it said was risky was Amazon, which I need. But, it did show me accounts I no longer used and had forgotten about. So, I am requesting those accounts be closed and deleted. Overall, I feel this works very well and the price is excellent. There are some quirky things about the website and App. But, the actual behind the scenes Identity Theft monitoring and online privacy protection is very comprehensive. I highly recommend this, especially at this price.

This is review of McAfee Privacy & Identify Guard This is mostly to interpret as service rather than a software itself. The service of identifying identity risk and clean up is the main point via easy way with a membership. Although it sound obvious, the service at glance is good in term of ease to navigate through the options and enter personal information that might been compromised. The type of information the application ask is personal email, telephone number and personal name. These are part of Security Center options that provide three category of service: Identity Monitory, Personal Data Clean Up, Identity Restoration. For Identity Monitory, it is basically a one place to see what type of personal information by what site and possibly what organization that has had breach. It shows data reference like “personal phone number” breached by Organization Name or Website/Business Name. i.e “phone number” by Experian to name most know public case. Similarly can see personal email in same format. In the application can see the full picture by Type of Breach summary which list types All, Email Breaches, Phone number breaches, Social Security number breaches, Tax ID breaches, Passport breaches, Driver license breaches, Credit card breaches, Bank Account breaches, Health Id breaches, Username Breaches, Date of birth breaches. For the review, I only have used email and phone number type to learn how effective is the service. Within the same, it has a second section that allow to see addressed breaches. This is summary of the breaches that has been cleared out and set manually by user as Mark as Addressed. Not automatically associated with the service from Personal Data Cleanup. For Personal Data Clean up, upon entering personal email and name, phone number, it lookup for breached business or sites and organization, and return the full list that the service find. With the option Auto Protection on, it provide the service to automatically scanning for the user profile with given data by user and request for removal. In the UI, it provide a summary list of In Progress of the request for clean up and second report under Removed. During the process of setting initially, the application would show warning that the clean up would take several weeks, (I can’t remember if exactly the message refereed to between 4 weeks to 8 weeks or more) . But as for this review, I started about two weeks about and still shows In Progress with Zero Removed. On the topic of automatically scanning, it is done not every day, it scan every certain schedule date. For instance, as of this review, it shows that last scan was 08.15 2023 14:54PM EST and next scan is 11.09.2023 12:38PM EST. Have to say quite precision on the scanning information and quite wide range between last time and next time scanning considering how frequent is the data breach occurrs. The service of Identity Restoration, this is a manual and hands on process requiring to make call to a specialist and provide Identity Theft coverage up to $1,000,000. But not clear from the product “McAfee Privacy & Identify Guard” includes this as checking upon its referred plan site, it is included in McAfee + Advanced, and McAfee+ Ultimate and each provide different amount of coverage up to $1,000,000 and $2,000,000 with different terms and conditions. . On the other hand, of home or car insurance policy or via credit card might already have it. But come to notice that the coverage amount is not worst in the market. In conclusion, the service give access to see which businesses/organization has unauthorized data as result of data breach. It is easy to use for this purpose, but the aspect of removal clean data service that would be the most needed solution can’t tell immediately nor have assurance that it is cleaned up as it take time and breaches repeat over time. In fact entering personal key data for data clean didn’t make me feel safe as McAfee itself could be the same giving away the data as performing the clean up, although I think this is not unique to McAfee. And the service for identity restoration demand additional call effort and doesn’t seem very different to what is offered in the market except of coverage and its terms and condition. Hence it is average as individual service but needed to have on hand in today’s world.