Intego Review

INTEGO KEY DATA

GENERAL INFO:

Price: From $19.99
Money-back Guarantee: YES
Platforms: Mac, Windows, iOS

SCANNING:

Real-time Antivirus: YES
USB Virus Scan: NO
Auto Virus Scanning: YES
Manual Virus Scanning: YES
Registry Startup Scan: YES
Scheduled Scan: YES

THREAT TYPE:

Anti-Spyware: YES
Anti-Trojan: YES
Anti-Phishing: YES
Anti-Ransomware: YES
Anti-Malware: YES
Email-Protection: NO
Adware Prevention: NO
Anti-Worm: YES
Anti-Rootkit: YES
Anti-Spam: YES
Chat/IM Protection: NO

EXTRA FEATURES:

Personal Firewall: YES
Password Vault: NO
Ad Blocker: NO
Gamer Mode: NO
Device Optimizer: YES
Safe Browser: NO
Parental Controls: YES
VPN Service: NO
Device Tune-up: YES

SUPPORT:

Live Chat: YES
Email Support: YES
Phone Support: YES
Ticket Support: YES


SEE WHAT USERS HAVE TO SAY

Trustpilot Rating: 4.8 out of 5 from 1,186 reviews

“I own a 2009 Mac and was having issues with pop-ups, etc, as of late. Maybe as your Mac gets older and you cannot upgrade to the latest Operating system, the computer becomes vulnerable to attacks from vectors. I took a chance on Intego and was very pleased with the protection that the Mac now has! (so far). I have not had any annoying issues since. I just renewed my second-year subscription.”

“Safe and secure. I wanted to make our environments safe from virus attacks and after some desktop research, went with Intego. They were easy to buy from - gave timely advice when needed - were competitive on price and it all worked the first time! What more could you ask for, it was great!”

“I bought a new iMac and had Intego Internet X9 on the other two macs. I wiped one clean and did an Apple trade-in. My license was expiring soon. It works great and really doesn't seem to affect performance. I really appreciate how easy it is to use and feel comfortable that Intego keeps up with the bad guys. I know I have current virus protection.”

“I have been using Intego software for about eight or nine years and have had very few problems. Recently I did a download and couldn’t get the software to run properly. I emailed Intego on a Sunday afternoon and Monday morning I was contacted by one of their employees. She was excellent and very shortly the problem was fixed. Every time I have had to contact them with a question or problem over the years, the service has been exceptional. Highly recommend this product.”


FEATURES

Intego uses state-of-the-art technology, including behavior analysis and a malware engine, to thwart any attacks from malware, adware, spyware, worms, ransomware, Trojan horses, Zero-Day, and other advanced threats BEFORE it becomes a problem. It also protects against keyloggers, diallers, scareware, and other hacking tools.

Intego's malware scanner called VirusBarrier is one of the best in the market and has easily outperformed all other premium brands during testing. The no-nonsense dashboard features only a handful of buttons, so it's simple and easy to navigate. There's an antivirus scanner, a real-time protection engine, malware protection, network protection, scan settings, schedules, and more.

To test the scanner, we loaded a folder of over 300 Mac malware samples into our system and ran a full scan. Intego's VirusBarrier was able to successfully detect, identified, and quarantined every single threat. Scoring 100% in our test was pretty impressive since the industry average is only 85%. This means Intego VirusBarrier can catch potentially harmful files that other traditional and premium antivirus software can't.

Worried about phishing scams? You can turn Safe Browsing on for secure web surfing, shopping, and banking. Another critical feature is Intego's firewall. Aptly named NetBarrier, this tool serves as a barricade against unwanted traffic and hackers trying to inject malware into your devices. This helps prevent unauthorized remote access and keeps your system secure. Note that Intego does not have a gaming mode, making NetBarrier even more essential to online gamers playing on unsecured or compromised game servers.


ARE THERE ANY EXTRAS?

Overall, Intego's real-time protection and on-demand malware scans are effective against modern-day threats lurking in your computer, emails, iOS devices, and even external drives. However, that's not all Intego has to offer. Check out these bonus features:

Washing Machine - Intego's system cleaner and optimizer help clean out junk or unnecessary files and duplicate programs that keep your system resources busy, and your computer running at a snail's pace. By eliminating unused files, you relieve your system of unnecessary resource drainage for a faster and cleaner PC.

ContentBarrier - Macbooks have a built-in suite of parental controls, but it's no match to Intego's ContentBarrier. For one, the content filtering feature is more comprehensive. While the basic Mac parental control lets you block adult content, only ContentBarrier gives you the ability to stop profanity, gambling, social networks, webmail, and more. Mac's parental control can limit the user's email contact, but Content Barrier goes several steps further with AntiPredator filtering. Using this feature, you can filter inappropriate content on both email and chats. If any of your assigned words or phrases are found in an incoming or outgoing email or chat, it will be automatically blocked. Then there's the time limit or restriction. Apple would only let you set limits on computer use, while ContentBarrier limits internet use. The latter is more reasonable because your kids can still use the computer to complete their homework without getting disturbed by social media or other online distractions. Lastly, ContentBarrier shows detailed logs of site activities and allows both screen and keystroke monitoring. Too intrusive? No worries. You can set applications that you don't want nor need to monitor. All in all, Intego's ContentBarrier strikes a balance between giving your kids enough privacy while protecting them against online bullies, predators, and inappropriate content.

Personal Backup - Sure, macOS has a similar tool called Time Machine. Still, like the ContentBarrier, Intego's Personal Backup feature does the job more quickly and efficiently. You can "clone" your drive or create multiple backups and schedule them so if your computer is damaged, stolen, or in case of fire or flood, you can restore everything and be up and running in just a matter of minutes.


IS IT SAFE AND RELIABLE?

Okay, so Intego seems really good on paper, but how does it perform in real-life situations? Fortunately, we have independent cybersecurity organizations that can help answer this knotty question. Two of the most popular are AV-Test and AV-Comparatives.

In November and December 2020, Intego participated in AV-Test's Product Review and Certification which focuses on malware detection, false positives, and performance. Security solutions can score a maximum of 18 points or 6 points each for Protection, Performance, and Usability. Out of 780 widespread and prevalent malware discovered in the last 4 months, Intego achieved a near-perfect score of 5.5, detecting 98.5% of malware infections. Additionally, it scored a perfect 6/6 points in Usability and a fair 5,5/6 points on Performance, earning itself the AV-TEST seal of approval.

In June 2021, AV-Comparatives also tested Intego Antivirus against Mac and Malware samples for their Malware Protection Test. Intego detected 100% of 538 recent and representative malicious Mac samples. It also managed to catch all 500 prevalent Windows malware samples. This earned Intego the coveted Approved Security Product award for this year.


EASE OF USE AND SETUP

Setting up Intego is as easy as 1-2-3. Upon paying for your chosen product, you will receive an email with a download link and a serial key. Once installed on your Mac computer, type in the serial key, and that's pretty much it! You can then select your level of protection from "Minimum," "Standard," and "Maximum." Intego has a simple, neat, and uncluttered interface that makes managing your scans and security a walk in the park. Key features are grouped into different programs, such as Content Barrier, Washing Machine, NetBarrier, VirusBarrier, and Personal Backup. Of course, you may not see all of these unless you have a comprehensive plan. The bottom line is, it makes using the software a breeze, even for a novice.


WILL IT SLOW DOWN MY COMPUTER?

As we have mentioned previously, Intego has three protection levels: Minimum, Standard, and Maximum. It basically controls what scanning and security features in the VirusBarrier are activated. The minimum setting enables scanning of Mac OS X for malware, viruses, and malicious scripts. The standard setting, which is the default protection level, scans your Mac OS X, Windows, Linux, and even emails and attachments for malware and malicious scripts. As you may have guessed, the maximum setting activates everything: protection against malware, keyloggers, hacking tools, mobile device scanning, and more.

Why does this matter? Because enabling maximum protection consumes a significant amount of CPU space and thus might cause slowdown and interruption in other programs. If you experience this, it is best to stick with the default level as it will still protect against all types of attacks. Either that or choose the "Scan with low priority" setting in VirusBarrier's Preferences tab. While scans could take a bit longer, at least your computer's speed or performance will not be affected. In fact, we were able to stream a movie in HD with no buffering while running a full scan.


PRICING AND PLANS

Intego currently has 6 product offerings that include one or a combination of the previously outlined features. The Mac Washing Machine X9 is available at a one-time fee of $40. The rest of the plans are priced for either 1 or 2 years of protection and can cover 1 to 5 Macs. Prices usually range between $39.99 to $69.99 but today, Software.Fish visitors can score a 50% discount on Intego's Mac Internet Security X9. Click our link above and get it for only $24.99!


CUSTOMER SUPPORT

While testing Intego's customer support, I first tried the live chat button located at the lower right-hand corner of their official website. I was surprised to get through to an agent in less than 5 seconds. What's even more surprising was that it was a live person, not a bot. I'm used to having chatbots answer my initial queries, so to find myself talking to a human agent right away was a breath of fresh air. The agent also confirmed that they can assist with technical issues, not just billing and general inquiries. Bear in mind, however, that chat support is only available between 8:30 am and 5:30 pm US central time. Outside these hours, you can either call or submit a ticket/email. If you are located in the U.S., Canada, Latin America, and Australia, you can call (512) 637.0700. For those based in Japan, you can speak to a Nihongo-speaking customer service rep by calling 0263-83-7646. For customers based in Europe (including the UK) Middle East, Africa, and the rest of the world, dial +33 (0)1 55 07 27 27.


THE VERDICT

Without a doubt, Intego is the best antivirus software for Mac computers. It has an impressive malware detection rating backed by our own test and at least two major independent testing labs. Intego is obviously Mac-focused and may have relatively fewer features than its competitors. However, what it lacks in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. On top of an impressive top-notched malware engine, the extra features are all well worth your money. If there's something we're bummed about, it's the lack of a free VPN tool. You can purchase it separately for around $2-3 per month, but for that price, we'd rather go with Private Internet Access or Cyberghost.

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