Intego Antivirus Review: Is it really the Best Mac Antivirus for 2021?
Short Of Time? Read Our Quick Expert Summary Of Intego.
Finding a good Mac antivirus is difficult. However, after testing virtually every macOS antivirus available, I can confidently state:
Intego is the best Mac-only antivirus software.
VirusBarrier and NetBarrier, Intego’s two macOS malware protection engines, both of which scored incredibly high throughout my testing, aren’t flawless, but they do a lot of excellent things.
Intego’s cheap Mac Premium Bundle X9 also includes a slew of extra tools, including:
While it’s a little difficult to set up and the customer support could be better, Intego is a great product in general — it received high marks for macOS virus protection, ease of use, and overall value, it’s less expensive than most other Mac-based antiviruses, and it was ranked as the #1 antivirus for Mac in 2021.
One More Thing… I Found An Awesome Discount For You!
I’ve got great news! I found a website offering a pretty substantial coupon discount on the Intego Mac Antivirus . You can save $62 if the discount still exists.
Intego is the internet security suite for Macs that I recommend in 2021.
Intego comes with a wide range of supplementary security capabilities that are all substantially better than Apple’s built-in defenses, in addition to detecting and eliminating all of the Mac-specific malware in my tests.
The Premium Bundle X9 plan includes Intego’s superior antivirus scanner, firewall, web safeguards, data backup, and parental controls, as well as more features and is less expensive than most other Mac antiviruses. Intego offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on all of its plans.
-Intego Security Features
VirusBarrier — Malware Scanning
VirusBarrier is Intego’s malware scanner. It has a basic and easy-to-use dashboard, yet it still has key virus protection functions including an antivirus scanner, a real-time protection engine, scan scheduling, and malware eradication.
You can run virus scans on your entire Mac, as well as any linked external drives or iOS devices, using VirusBarrier, making it simple to guarantee your phone is free of hidden hazardous files. Users must link their email accounts via Apple’s Mail app to use VirusBarrier’s option to scan emails for viruses.
During my tests, I chose to perform a “Quick Scan” first. The Quick Scan scanned over 200,000 files in just two minutes, which is rather astounding. Then I did a “Full Scan.” On my Mac, the Full Scan evaluated over 800,000 files in under 1 hour and 40 minutes. Due to Intego’s built-in file caching technology, which passes through previously scanned files designated as secure, subsequent Full Scans were substantially faster (just over 10 minutes).
I ran another Full Scan after adding a folder of Mac malware samples onto my system. VirusBarrier found practically all of the risks on my computer, including trojans, adware, and a slew of other potentially dangerous programs. I also put VirusBarrier’s real-time malware engine to the test by simulating a variety of ransomware assaults, and the real-time engine promptly prevented all of them.
Intego advised me to deal with all dangers right away, giving me three options:
> Trust — Indicates that prospective threats are not dangerous. > Quarantine – Stores potentially harmful documents in a safe vault. > Repair – Cleans contaminated files of viruses.
I clicked Repair once each scan was completed. Although the bulk of malware files were repaired, I noted that “Repair failed” next to six of the possibly hazardous files when I checked the “Logs” to get a full breakdown of the scan. This may not be a major issue (since all of the files have been effectively neutralized and quarantined), but it would have been helpful if the software had informed me that the repair procedure had failed so that I could have taken action sooner.
VirusBarrier also has a function called “Safe Browsing On” that checks if a browser’s anti-phishing settings are turned on. While this is a valuable tool, I believe it is a gimmick, and I’d much prefer to see Intego provide its own built-in web security capabilities. However, VirusBarrier’s email virus scan option compensates for the lack of web security tools, and I’m not aware of many other Mac antiviruses that do.
Overall, I enjoy the variety of scan choices offered by VirusBarrier, as well as the fact that successive scans are much faster. I especially like the option to scan for threats on linked disks or iOS devices, as well as the email virus scan feature. I’d love VirusBarrier to be a little more user-friendly, and I’d be happier if I was warned of any potential quarantined file difficulties. VirusBarrier, on the other hand, is a solid antivirus scanner that delivers high-level security for Mac machines, in my opinion.
NetBarrier-Firewall for Mac
NetBarrier, Intego’s firewall feature, is an advanced firewall with several more options not available in Mac’s built-in firewall.
NetBarrier recognizes which network you’re connected to — your home network, work network, or public Wi-Fi hotspot — and adjusts your firewall security settings accordingly.
NetBarrier immediately adjusted my firewall settings to guarantee my MacBook was safe from risks connected with public Wi-Fi hotspots when I tested this function on my local coffee shop’s Wi-Fi hotspot.
However, I was able to manually change my settings to allow or disallow incoming and outgoing internet connections, as well as incoming and outgoing local (LAN) connections.
What I appreciate best about NetBarrier is that it notifies users when apps or background scripts attempt to connect to the internet, and it offers them the option of allowing or disallowing the connections. I was astonished to discover that apps I didn’t even use were constantly attempting to connect to the internet during my tests.
NetBarrier’s Applications tab displays a complete list of programs that are attempting to connect to the internet. It also gives you the option of allowing, blocking, or requesting that programs ask for permission before connecting to the internet.
I enjoy the NetBarrier firewall in general. With this function, Intego has done an excellent job. It’s simple to use, has a cleaner interface than Apple’s built-in firewall, and has capabilities that help prohibit programs from creating unauthorized internet connections.
ContentBarrier — Parental Controls
Intego’s parental control program is called ContentBarrier. When compared to the built-in Mac parental controls, it’s a lot more advanced, and it does a lot more than just block problematic websites. Keystroke monitoring, anti-predator alerts, screenshot capture, and application blocking are all included in ContentBarrier.
You’ll be able to keep track of how your children use the internet by viewing their website, chat room, and email activity. While you can block entire website categories such as gambling and adult content, you can also choose to block all websites except a select handful and require your child to obtain permission before visiting any blocked sites.
Users can also choose to receive frequent email reports on how their child uses their Mac, including what websites they visited, emails sent and received, chat history, and more.
The Anti-Predator monitoring feature, which informs users if their child is conversing with bad actors online, is my favorite feature of ContentBarrier. When ContentBarrier detected potentially harmful words or phrases being transmitted or received via messaging apps, chat rooms, or email, I received quick email alerts.
The main issue is that ContentBarrier is difficult to set up — there were no clear directions to follow, so I had no idea how to use the software at first. I ultimately worked it out, but I believe that setting up parental control software should be simple. Also, several functions, such as keystroke monitoring, aren’t compatible with older Macs, which is a bummer.
However, I really enjoy ContentBarrier’s set of features – they’re a huge step up over the default Mac parental controls, and I think most parents will find the variety of options and regular activity reports really useful.
Washing Machine — Mac System Optimizer
Washing Machine is a single program that integrates a variety of Mac cleaning and system organization capabilities. While Intego’s Washing Machine lacks Avira’s System Speedup for Mac in terms of Mac speedup tools, I enjoy what Intego has to offer.
When you load the software, you have three alternatives to pick from:
> Reclaim > Duplicates > Organize
Reclaim examined my entire device for obsolete or unneeded files that were taking up space on my hard drive. Each Reclaim scan could also be filtered to discover specific types of garbage files.
The initial scan took just over 5 minutes and discovered around 20 GB of garbage files, including logs, caches, downloads, and trash files.
I was able to select the files I wanted to remove from my system and click Clean, which immediately erased them off my Mac – *make noise for all that free disk space*!
My Mac was searched for duplicate files by Duplicates. It discovered almost 900 duplicate files on my Mac, including 6 versions of the same file in some cases.
To free up some hard disk space, I was able to locate and delete duplicate files. What I enjoy about Duplicates is that I was able to preview the duplicate files before deleting them on a preview screen located at the bottom right of the interface.
Organize is a fantastic application for keeping all of a user’s files and apps in order on their Mac. I was able to organize my desktop files into folders, reorganize apps in my Dock, and add new “Smart Folders” (the folders on the left of Mac’s Finder app, such as Applications, AirDrop, Downloads, and so on) to my Mac.
My favorite function of Intego’s Washing Machine is Organizing. By selecting the appropriate folder from the drop-down menu, I was able to quickly tidy up all of my miscellaneous desktop screenshots and other data. In addition, I could drag and drop files into certain folders or the trash bin.
I didn’t feel the need to rearrange my Dock because it was already in good shape. However, if you have a large number of unused apps, it may be handy.
The washing machine includes a lot of useful functions. I enjoy Reclaim and Duplicates, but my favorite feature is Organize, which I haven’t seen in competing for Mac-based applications such as Airo AV or even MacKeeper. I believe Intego should consider including system speedup tools, however, most Mac users will be satisfied with the functionality of the Washing Machine.
Personal Backup — Customizable Backups
Personal Backup is designed to back up crucial files in a more personalized way than Apple’s Time Machine. I was able to back up certain files or folders to an external hard drive or a separate integrated hard drive using Personal Backup.
Personal Backup has the advantage of allowing users to plan numerous backups for different purposes. For example, I elected to back up my music files weekly and plan hourly backups for all of my work-related documents.
There are a few more settings under Personal Backup, including:
> Bootable Backup > Synchronize > Restore
Bootable Backup allows you to back up your complete system using the current Mac OS X version installed on your device, so if your Mac breaks down, you may restore your entire system without having to reinstall any OS X software. This is fantastic because it eliminates the need to wait hours for your Mac’s OS X to update or reinstall if there is a problem.
You can use Synchronize to sync files across numerous devices. When you make a change to a file on your Mac, the file on your external drive is updated as well. If you use numerous devices, such as an iMac at work and a MacBook when traveling, this could be beneficial.
And Restore does exactly what it says: it restores your external drive’s backups.
In general, Personal Backup outperforms Apple’s Time Machine. I like Time Machine, but after utilizing Intego’s Personal Backup, I’m not sure I want to use it anymore. Personal Backup is undoubtedly the greatest backup application for most Mac users, thanks to features like file synchronization and the ability to backup my complete system (including OS X).
Intego Pricing
Intego’s products are quite cost-effective.
They have features that the majority of Mac users would find quite handy.
While Intego isn’t inexpensive, the whole Mac Premium Bundle X9 bundle is less expensive than most other Mac-based antivirus and optimization software.
Furthermore, all packages have a 30-day money-back guarantee, allowing you to sample Intego and receive a refund if you don’t like it.
All of the utilities described in this review are included in the Mac Premium Bundle X9 package. You have the option of protecting 1, 3, or 5 Macs. This bundle includes the following items:
Mac Washing Machine
Personal Backup
ContentBarrier
VirusBarrier
NetBarrier
For most Mac users who want robust virus protection, coverage for multiple devices, plus extra utilities like Mac cleansing and backup tools, this package is the best option.
Intego Setup And Ease Of Use
Intego is compatible with Mac (OS X 10.8 and above). The most important features are separated into separate apps, ensuring that nothing is cluttered or difficult to find. I particularly liked the VirusBarrier app, which has three simple tabs at the top to navigate.
Desktop Apps — Works on Mac With External Scanning for iOS
Intego’s user interface is really easy and intuitive when compared to many other antivirus apps I’ve used. Because its functions are split into different programs, this is one of the reasons. ContentBarrier, NetBarrier, Personal Backup, VirusBarrier, and Washing Machine are the programs included in the most comprehensive plan.
The first thing I noticed when I opened the various programs was how many small buttons were clogging up the screen. In comparison to other antivirus software with so many buttons that I didn’t know where to begin, this made it a lot easier to browse.
When you look at the VirusBarrier software, for example, you’ll notice that there are three prominent tabs for real-time scanning, scheduled scanning, and secure browsing. On the home page, the most relevant information (such as when the previous scan was performed or whether real-time scanning is enabled) is also clearly summarized. The only minor issue was that it took me a while to find the full and rapid scan choices, which can be found on the left side of the program by tapping the circle button next to the computer icon.
The software from Intego is available in the following languages: English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. Other antivirus software has translations in over 20 languages, despite the fact that this is a rather comprehensive range.
Intego Customer Support
For those that need assistance, Intego has a live chat, email, and online knowledgebase to assist them. In some locations, phone support is even offered. There was always a speedy response from the support staff when I used them.
Live Chat – The Best Way to Get Fast Help.
Intego live chat provided me with immediate access to a customer service person. The representative was very patient and helpful in answering my questions.
Support by email-good alternative to live chat.
When live chat was not accessible, I used the email support option to ask a question. I simply had to provide a few facts, such as my name, question, and software version, to complete the process. The response was excellent and solved the malware repair problem I was having.
Because email assistance is only available Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (US central time) — and I’m in Israel — I had the same problem as the live chat. When I emailed throughout the day, a representative did not answer until after I had gone to bed. When I submitted a message within business hours, though, I received a response within three hours.
Intego’s email support is suitable for most concerns if you don’t have any urgent technical issues that need to be fixed. If you need immediate assistance with a problem, I recommend using live chat.
Online knowledge base-Find answers to common questions.
The online knowledge base at Intego is a fantastic resource, and it was the first place I went when I had a query. It’s a compilation of Intego’s articles addressing the most common concerns that users face. You’ll find user manuals and instructions for a variety of issues, such as what to do if an Intego software update isn’t progressing.
The solutions are straightforward and easy to comprehend, including photographs of the apps to aid comprehension. Before calling customer service, I would usually recommend checking the knowledge base first, since I have almost always found answers to my issues there.
Is Intego, the best antivirus software for Mac in 2021? In a nutshell, sure! Despite my reservations about some of Intego’s features, I think it’s a fantastic program overall. I have complete confidence in the software’s ability to safeguard my Mac from viruses, malware, and cybercriminals. I really appreciate the fact that Intego can assist me in cleaning up and organizing my Mac.
As I previously stated, ContentBarrier should be a lot easier to set up, and the deletion and repair processes in VirusBarrier might be enhanced. I’d also like to have all of the products in one easy-to-use dashboard, similar to MacKeeper or TotalAV.
However, I prefer Intego over any other Mac antivirus because it is very customizable and offers a wide range of capabilities. NetBarrier, Intego’s smart firewall, is my favorite Mac security software simply because of its features. Furthermore, Intego’s backup tools and parental controls outperform Apple’s built-in backup and parental control features.
Intego is a fantastic value in general. It provides robust cybersecurity protection and additional tools that far outperform the built-in ones on Macs. If you’re interested, there’s a 30-day money-back guarantee if you don’t like it.
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About The Author
Liam Thomas works for bestantiviruscompare.com as a writer and IT specialist.
After having to save his fiancée and family members from several computer attacks over the years, he is extremely passionate about cybersecurity. He enjoys putting antivirus software and other cybersecurity solutions to the test to see which ones provide the best protection.
Thomas Loan is a dedicated antivirus software checker and reviewer at soloantivirus.com. With a keen eye for detail and a passion for cybersecurity, Thomas meticulously evaluates the latest antivirus programs to ensure users receive the best protection for their devices. His in-depth reviews and expert insights help readers make informed decisions about their digital security. Thomas’s commitment to providing accurate and comprehensive assessments makes him a trusted voice in the field of antivirus software.
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