How to Maximize the Latest McAfee+ Enhancements for Peace of Mind This Autumn | McAfee Blog

As we head into a season filled with moments that matter to consumers – from the upcoming U.S. election to the holiday shopping rush – online safety is more important than ever. With AI-generated content on the rise and scammers able to carry out more sophisticated scams, it’s crucial to stay vigilant and ensure you’re fully protected. If you’ve ever thought, “is that text message really from my bank?” Or “I don’t want my personal life to be available to people I don’t know on my social media?” McAfee+ can help you.

This autumn, McAfee has introduced a set of innovative tools designed to make online protection simpler, faster, and more effective. This includes streamlined experiences that make it easier and faster to be protected from the start, as well as enhancements that reinforce privacy protection across social media platforms, protect against the latest smishing texts in real time, and provide control over performance impact of malware scans. Whether it’s staying safe during the rush of holiday shopping or navigating potential misinformation leading up to the elections, McAfee has you covered with the latest online protection. 

Streamlined Protection for a Fast-Paced Season

During the busy autumn season, time is of the essence. With more people shopping online and receiving an influx of emails and text messages, the last thing you need is complicated, time-consuming setup processes. McAfee’s latest update is all about making protection simpler and more accessible.  

The newly streamlined setup ensures you’re fully protected in fewer steps, whether you’re setting up Windows or mobile. And by integrating experiences that were initially cloud-based directly in Windows and mobile apps, consumers can seamlessly manage their online privacy and social media settings directly from their devices. 

Empowering Consumers to Prevent Oversharing on Social Media

With the upcoming elections and family gatherings on the horizon, many of us may be sharing more on social media than usual. But how much is too much? With McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager, people get personalized privacy settings based on their sharing preferences – now with industry-first support for TikTok – in addition to platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn. In an era where online privacy concerns are skyrocketing, and 9 out of 10 social media users are concerned about protecting their online privacy and identity, McAfee continues to stand at the forefront of online security.  

Whether you’re prepping for holiday photos or protecting your kids’ privacy on TikTok and YouTube, Social Privacy Manager empowers you to adjust over 100 privacy settings across seven social platforms – Facebook, Instagram, X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Google and TikTok – ensuring your information stays private with just a few clicks.  

By adding TikTok support Social Privacy Manager also covers the top two platforms that teens use1, TikTok and YouTube. With a family plan, parents can now easily help set privacy settings for their kids – and with 43% of people feeling that online privacy risks have increased in 2024, McAfee’s focus on providing control over social media privacy is both timely and essential. 

The McAfee Social Privacy Dashboard

Combat the Latest Smishing Texts in Real Time

Heading into the holiday season, consumers often face an uptick in phishing and smishing scams, as fraudsters take advantage of shopping rushes and delivery notifications to deceive people. More than a third (39%) of people who use mobile phones admit they have clicked on a text scam message such as a suspicious text from an unknown number or a fake package delivery text, and nearly half (44%) state that they or someone they know have been a victim of such a text scam. 

In response to rising phishing and text scam threats, McAfee has upgraded its AI-powered Text Scam Detector. When a text message arrives that contains a link to a website, that link will be scanned and analyzed by McAfee Smart AITM in real-time. If the link leads to a malicious or phishing website, the text message will be blocked. 

On iPhones, scam texts are automatically filtered into a junk folder, and on Android, you’ll receive instant alerts when a suspicious message arrives, helping you avoid costly mistakes when you’re busiest. 

Text Scam Detector as part of McAfee Mobile Security

Enabling Consumers to Control the Impact on PC Performance

“Antivirus protection slows down my PC” is something that is often heard, however recent research from AV-Comparatives shows that this is not the case; in fact, McAfee provides protection with the least amount of performance impact on PCs, of all tested vendors. 

 To ensure people do not even have to worry about their computer slowing down during holiday shopping or while working through election news, McAfee’s Antivirus now offers a ‘Fast Scanning’ feature. This allows people to balance performance and security, offering customizable options for quick scans or deeper system checks without compromising PC speed. 

The Antivirus Dashboard

Expanding VPN Coverage for Safer Browsing  

Whether you’re working remotely, traveling for the holidays, or accessing election news online, privacy is essential – and while a VPN service is sometimes seen as a double-edged sword, providing privacy when people are connected to the internet but impacting the speed of that connection, McAfee’s Secure VPN now offers even faster, more stable connections with an expanded network of 7,000 servers in 48 countries. Additionally, consumers can enjoy extended WireGuard protocol support on Android, Windows, and iOS, for online privacy protection across devices no matter where you are. 

VPN Settings

 Protect Your Everything with McAfee+

From safeguarding social media privacy to blocking scam texts and ensuring secure browsing, McAfee+ is designed to help you stay safe in an increasingly complex digital world. McAfee+ plans are available for both individuals and families – and with protections such as McAfee’s Social Privacy Manager and McAfee’s Text Scam Detector included, consumers can rest easy knowing that McAfee is constantly watching out for their online protection. 

In today’s digital age, securing your online identity and privacy has never been more critical. McAfee’s latest product enhancements reflect the company’s commitment to delivering advanced, easy-to-use solutions that help consumers stay safe online. Whether you’re looking for protection from phishing and smishing scams, safeguarding privacy on social media, or malware, our expanded product range offers solutions for all consumers. 

For more information on McAfee’s latest products and plans, visit McAfee.com.