McAfee Cloud AV

McAfee Cloud AV is a cloud-powered security solution that aims to provide protection without bogging your computer with the high workload a classic antivirus requires. In other words, it relies on cloud computing to analyze and compare suspicious files and data and then quarantines the infected files and reports to you.

McAfee Cloud AV only deploys a lightweight client application on your computer, which in turn connects to McAfee's web service to diagnose potentially dangerous activity.

The application features real-time scanning, constantly monitoring your activity. However, you can run a scan on demand to check the security status of your PC. Unlike traditional antivirus applications, McAfee Cloud AV can only analyze key areas of the computer. To put it another way, it does not feature quick, full, or custom scans, which you might be accustomed to.

McAfee Cloud AV displays the security status within its main window, also warning you when the Windows Firewall is disabled. Moving further, the threat log is the place where you can browse a list of all the items that were detected as potentially harmful, and check issues that might require your immediate attention.

The processing power and the storage space McAfee Cloud AV requires is far smaller than that of a standard protection suite, which is, in fact, the main advantage of a cloud-based security solution. Moreover, cloud-based scanning of malware-like behavior ensures that you always check a file against the latest database definitions, which ensures stronger protection against new threats.

On the other hand, a cloud-based antivirus such as McAfee Cloud AV completely relies on online connectivity to be able to safeguard the host computer. If the provider's web service is down, your computer becomes vulnerable to attacks.

McAfee Cloud AV fits perfectly to the cloud-powered antivirus solution profile, providing a client with small footprint and requiring low processing power from your computer's part. However, it deprives you of common antivirus features such as scan scheduling, on-demand custom scans, or email and web protection.