The antivirus has become one of the essential programs that we must all have installed on the computer. Thanks to this security software we can protect ourselves from countless computer attacks that, on a daily basis, endanger our security. Whether Windows Defender, or any other third-party antivirus, such as McAfee, for this security software to be effective it has to be updated. And not only the program as such, but also the database. An un-updated antivirus is of little use.
McAfee is one of the most popular antivirus to protect Windows and devices. Surely more than once we have heard of this security software, especially when we buy a new computer. Intel has 49% of the capital of this security firm, so it is usually one of the antivirus that usually comes installed by default on new PCs, along with a 60-day trial version.
According to the security and performance tests, it is one of the most efficient and precise that we can use. As long as you are updated with the latest virus signatures, and have the latest version of security shields. Next, we will see how to check the status of updates for this antivirus, how to configure them and how to update McAfee manually .
Install the latest version of McAfee
If we still do not have the antivirus installed and we are going to install it from scratch, we can download the latest version available from the following link . On the main website of the antivirus we will find an installer, which will be in charge of downloading the latest version of the security program and installing it on the PC.
To download this antivirus it is not necessary to register, or enter any bank details. Therefore, the download is totally safe and fast (the installer occupies only 5 MB), so we must avoid downloading this antivirus from any other download website, since we can be downloading an old version, or a modified one, and putting our PC in danger.
Update McAfee antivirus
If we already have McAfee installed on our computer, the new versions of the program will be downloaded automatically without us having to do anything. This antivirus periodically searches for new versions of the databases, and of the program’s own components, and is in charge of downloading and installing them automatically.
What we may see is a message that will ask us to close the antivirus to finish installing the new components. We do not have to worry, the antivirus will reload automatically already updated.
Install new virus databases
McAfee is also responsible, by default, for automatically downloading new virus databases. We will not have to worry about these updates. If we want to control the state of the same, we can do it from the main window of the program, entering the section ” Security for the PC “, and choosing the option ” Update this application “.
We will see a new window, like the following one, from which we will be able to easily control everything related to program updates.
In it we will be able to see the status of McAfee updates , the date of the last update, the date of the next one, as well as a button at the bottom to find and download new versions and configure these automatic updates.
Download new virus signatures manually
If we want to manually search for new versions of the virus databases, what we must do is click on the ” Check for updates ” button that we can see in the previous section. The program will automatically start searching for versions of all the components, both the program and the database.
This will automatically download them and install these new versions in the antivirus to offer us the best possible protection. Unless it is a very large or critical update of the internal components of the antivirus, we will not have to restart the PC.
Configure McAfee updates
Although this antivirus is designed so that users do not have to worry about updates, we do want to be able to configure how they work. To do this, we have to go to the ” PC Security ” section of the main program window, and here select the ” Automatic Updates ” options.
Although we are not going to have many options to configure, McAfee is going to allow us to disable automatic updates with a click (although we do not recommend it) and choose how we want these updates to behave:
- Download and install updates automatically (recommended).
- Download updates but let me know before installation.
- Notify me when updates are available.
By following these steps, we will be able to configure how we want to update McAfee.
