Intego Review: Can This Antivirus Protect Your Digital Life?

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Summary: Is Intego Worth Your Money?

Intego is a good antivirus overall. It has an overloaded kit for Mac, a decent scanner for Windows users, and a very good price for any package on offer. For a quick overview, here’s what Intego offers for their highest tier product:

  • A stellar antivirus and firewall
  • Parental control options for privacy-minded parents
  • Mac cleaner and backup tools
  • Ease of use
  • Fair pricing

However, Intego is not a perfect antivirus. It has a lacking customer support system, and it doesn’t offer a lot for Windows users. Check out the details on their security software by clicking the button below.

Try Intego for Mac Today

Want to find out whether it’s a good antivirus for you? Check out our full review below for everything you need to know about features, security, privacy, and more.

Launched back in 1997, Intego is one of the longest-running antivirus software, along with industry giants like Avira and Bitdefender. For most of its existence, Intego has been a Mac and iOS exclusive, offering an array of antivirus and digital protection services.

In early 2021, Intego made its software debut on Windows. Intego for Windows is a toned-down version of the Mac version, but fortunately, this is just the beginning. We expect additional features to roll out to Windows in the future.

So how good is the new Intego for Windows? Is it only worth it if you have a Mac? Let’s find out in our Intego Review.

Intego Packages and Prices: An Overview

Intego Products
As a company that’s been around for a while, Intego has a number of products, packages, and pricing tiers for users to choose from. If you want to check every product and its specifications in-depth, they’re all available on their website — but if you want an extensive, unbiased review of the software, keep reading below.

Here are all the Intego Products available, together with their pricing:

ProductOperating System FeaturesPrice
Mac Premium Bundle X9MacOSAntivirus, Anti-phishing, Anti-spyware, Parental Control€69.99/year or $69.99/year
Mac Internet Security X9MacOSAntivirus, Firewall, Anti-phishing€39.99/year or $39.99/year
Content Barrier Secure X9MacOSParental Control, Antivirus, Anti-phishing€59.99/year or $59.99/year
Content Barrier X9MacOSParental control€39.99/year or $39.99/year
Washing Machine Secure X9MacOSAntivirus, firewall, Mac cleaner€55.99/year or $55.99/year
Washing Machine X9MacOSMac cleaner€40 or $40 (One-time fee)
Intego Antivirus for WindowsWindowsAntivirus€26.99/year or $29.99/year

If you want to try Intego, click here:

Get Intego Antivirus for Mac Get Intego for Windows

Intego antivirus offers free trials for Mac Internet Security X9, Mac Premium Bundle X9, ContentBarrier Security X9, and Mac Washing Machine Security X9. To learn more about these products, keep reading below. Each free trial lasts 7 days and doesn’t require credit card information. However, you will be required to provide your email address.

So how does Intego compare against other Windows malware protection software? Is Intego worth the money for your Windows laptop or PC?

As you can see, Intego Mac has a very wide product range, which is why we recommend it if you have an Apple device. However, the sole Windows Intego antivirus product doesn’t have nearly as many features as the Mac options.

How Well Does Intego Protect Your Computer?

Considering the wide array of products Intego has on display, it’s hard to tell just how protected you’ll be. It depends a lot on the operating system you have and the package you choose to purchase.

If we’re talking about the Mac version, the Mac Internet Security X9 package did extremely well when tested. A-V Test gave it a 6/6 rating last time it looked at Intego. Compared to other popular antivirus software that idle in the 5 to 5.5 range, Intego’s score is a laudable achievement.

So it’s safe to say that if you want your Mac to be protected, Intego is a good pick. You’ll have excellent protection against malware, viruses, and phishing attempts — as well as features for parental control, Mac cleaning, and safe browsing. It’s an all-around security tool.

The Windows version of Intego is pretty lightweight in comparison. It has the core antivirus, firewall, and anti-phishing features, but that’s about it. It’s not as impressive compared to what Intego Mac versions can do, and it’s not as well-rounded as competing antivirus companies.

Intego Review: Basic Antivirus for Windows

The Interface Of Intego
The Windows version of Intego is lightweight, yes, when compared to the Mac version. But it’s not necessarily a bad antivirus. Let’s have a quick overview of what Intego offers for Windows users:

  • The same powerful antivirus that exists for Mac, adapted for Windows. While the technology is the same, the two variants of the software are not on the same level. You need to keep in mind that there are different threats for Mac devices and Windows devices.
  • Firewall for safe browsing, protection from phishing attempts, and security against any malware trying to find its way onto your computer from various websites.
  • Scheduled and manual scans for your entire PC, so you can stay ahead of both Zero-Day attacks and traditional viruses.

Intego Antivirus for Windows looks good on paper, and it’s definitely a decent pick. But again, it’s lagging behind other market competitors for Windows.

When you open the interface, it may seem overloaded with icons and options. However, if you experiment with the tools, you’ll notice there’s not a lot that you can do with it. It’s an average virus scanner that you can rely on to keep your personal computer relatively safe — but it doesn’t offer much more than that. Let’s take a closer look at the user interface.

The Main Dashboard

A small tab from Intego's Main Dashboard

The Main Dashboard is the place where you can toggle the principal features of Intego Windows.

For starters, you’ll find the Real-Time Protection option, which allows you to constantly scan any new files you download or transfer on your device. Unless you’re doing some weird testing, there’s no reason to ever turn this off.

Then you also have the Web Shield feature, which is Intego’s firewall. This will block malware downloads and analyze the websites you visit, as well as your connection, to make sure you are safe online. You can choose to turn this off if you want to visit shadier websites, but we don’t recommend you do this.

Last, the Prevention Engine is an Intego feature that blocks Zero-Day attacks by analyzing suspicious and evasive technology. So if there are any new viruses not yet known to the cybersecurity community, Intego’s Prevention Engine might catch on that something wrong is going on by noticing if a program tries to hide on your device.

The Scans Tab

With Intego’s key feature being its antivirus scanner, the Scans tab is probably where you’ll spend most of your time when using this software. It’s a sleek interface, with intuitive options and a variety of tools for you to analyze the files on your Windows PC.

The Scans Tab of Intego

These include:

  • Quick Scan. This will analyze the places on your PC where viruses and malware usually end up. Good if you think something’s wrong with your device and want to respond quickly.
  • Complete Virus Scan. This option will immediately start a complete scan of your PC.
  • Custom Scan. The custom scan lets you only analyze particular folders or files on your Windows PC. This scanner is great if you suspect a particular file and just want to give that one a look.
  • Scheduled Scan. Last, the scheduled scan will run a complete virus scan on a predetermined date in the future. Intego automatically schedules scans once a week, but you can always move the date up on this menu.

The Quarantine Section

Whenever Intego Antivirus discovers a virus or malware, you have the option to “Repair” the file. Intego will then try to remove the malware from the file on your PC, but it’s not guaranteed to work.

If Intego can’t repair the file, then it’ll be moved to Quarantine, where you’ll be able to find all infected files:

The Quarantine of Intego

You have some information about the files and the option to delete them. We recommend you always delete infected files, even if they may seem important. Your digital safety and privacy are more important than most files out there.

Security Reports

All the scans that Intego Antivirus runs on your Windows computer will appear in the Security Reports tab.
The Security reports of Intego

But that’s just the default display. If you click on Scan Reports on the right side of this tab, you’ll get the option to analyze multiple reports, including:

  • Real-Time Reports
  • Exclusion Reports
  • Web Shield Reports
  • Prevention Engine Reports

So in short, you’ll be able to check everything Intego does on your Windows PC from here. This lets you get an overview of how well your PC is protected, but it’s honestly more of a valuable tool for business settings rather than personal use.

Is Intego Worth It for Windows?

Intego’s Windows iteration is not a stellar application, but it’s still a decent choice to keep your device protected. Besides the scanner, firewall, and proactive technology for Zero-Day attacks, Intego also takes up very little RAM and processing power.

Add to all of that the very low price point of 26.99 euros per year, and you have good antivirus software with an immense value-to-price ratio. However, if you need other features like parental controls or a VPN, you can check out some of our other reviews:

If you’re interested in how Intego performs on Mac, keep reading our Intego review.

Intego Review: One of the Best Antiviruses for Mac

Intego Mac has one of the best security suites out there — everything available in the Windows version and a lot more on top. The real-time protection, decent pricing, and overloaded kit make Intego one of the best antivirus software for Mac.

To understand if it’s a good fit for your needs, let’s break down all the modules you can get.

Intego Mac Security Tools: VirusBarrier X9 and NetBarrier X9

Mac Internet Security X9

The Mac Internet Security module is Intego’s bread and butter. It’s the core antivirus and firewall of Intego, the same software that scored a flawless score in testing.

Intego for Mac has two individual technologies: The VirusBarrier X9 and the NetBarrier X9. You get both tools by purchasing Mac Internet Security X9, which goes for $39.99 a year.

  • The VirusBarrier X9 is a Mac malware and virus scanner. It’s extremely fast and effective, and it’s capable of identifying and removing dangerous software. Like the Windows scanner, you can do quick scans, complete scans, targeted scans, and scheduled scans.
  • The NetBarrier X9 is a firewall that protects your network and your device from online threats. It has the classic options to whitelist or ban apps from accessing the internet, as well as live protection against dangerous connections. Most impressively, it also has a “Public Hotspot” preset, which offers enhanced protection for your Mac when using public wi-fi.

You can’t buy these tools individually unless you purchase the business licenses at $179.99/year for VirusBarrier X9 and $89.99/year for NetBarrier X9.

Intego Mac Parental Control Software: ContentBarrier X9

Intego Content Barrier

The ContentBarrier is Intego’s parental control module. This tool lets you restrict access to specific websites (for example, you can block access to websites with adult content), as well as monitor and filter messaging apps.

Similar to the Prevention Engine, the ContentBarrier has a proactive “Anti-Predator” feature. It scans your kid’s interactions to analyze instances of cyberbullying.

Keeping your kids safe online is always a challenge, and a balance between privacy and oversight can sometimes be hard to achieve. However, Intego’s ContentBarrier has all the tools to help you pull it off, even if the module is harder to use than most other Intego products.

Note that there’s a difference between buying Content Barrier X9 and ContentBarrier Secure X9.

Product TitleInclusionsPrice
Mac ContentBarrier X9Mac ContentBarrier X9$39.99/year
Mac ContentBarrier Secure X9Mac ContentBarrier X9, Mac VirusBarrier X9, Mac NetBarrier X9$59.99/year

If you only need parental controls, then buying ContentBarrier X9 should be enough to cover your needs. However, for a more robust protection system, you’ll want to get the bundle. Not only will you get the parental control software, but you’ll also get Intego’s anti-malware and firewall tools.

Intego Mac Cleaner: Washing Machine X9

Intego Washing Machine

Intego’s Washing Machine is a Mac cleaner and organizer that helps you speed up your device. Apple’s infrastructure helps devices age well, but it never hurts to get some processing power back, and that’s exactly what Mac Washing Machine X9 does.

You can use Mac Washing Machine X9 to delete the clutter from your hard drive, remove redundant files, and even organize files better. The latter one is an Intego exclusive — not a lot of antivirus software have a cleaner and organizer module.

Similar to ContentBarrier, the Mac Washing Machine X9 can come with a bundle that gives you access to Intego’s security software. See the difference below:

Product TitleInclusionsPrice
Mac Washing Machine X9Mac Washing Machine X9$40 (One-time fee)
Mac Washing Machine Secure X9Mac Washing Machine X9, Mac VirusBarrier X9, Mac NetBarrier X9$55.99/year

All-in-One Intego Mac Security: Mac Premium Bundle X9

Mac Premium Bundle

As you may have guessed, the Premium Bundle combines all the tools above in one package. On top of your internet security tools, the bundle also adds a Mac Backup tool to make sure your files are safe in case of a tragedy befalling your device.

With Mac Premium Bundle X9, you’ll get access to all these tools:

  • Intego Mac VirusBarrier X9
  • Intego Mac NetBarrier X9
  • Intego Mac Washing Machine X9
  • Intego Mac ContentBarrier X9
  • Intego Mac Personal Backup 10.9

It’s a pretty expensive bundle, so only buy it if you really need all the tools it offers. If you just want a specific combination of Intego tools, refer back to the “Secure” bundles, which partners the core antivirus software of Intego and the specific module you want. For example, ContentBarrier Secure X9 has the parental control features, as well as the core Intego antivirus and firewall.

Privacy Policy: How Does Intego Treat Your Data?

Intego’s Privacy Policy is pretty standard. It collects personally identifiable information like your name, email address, and any other details you provide on sign-up, like payment information.

They also collect data like your IP address and interactions within their site, so they can analyze their marketing efforts and re-target you with ads if you purchased nothing when you were on their site. You can, of course, opt out of data collection for marketing.

However, if you’re to use Intego, you will end up sharing quite a lot of your personal information, and there’s no way around that. You can, of course, anonymize your traffic somewhat by using a VPN — a VPN will hide your IP address, but not much more.

Does Intego share user data with other companies?

According to their Privacy Policy, Intego shares data with third parties only when it’s needed. By this, we mean they share your payment information with their payment processor or any information with legal entities when requested by the state. Overall, it’s the standard setup. It’s what you’ll get for basically any online software.

That being said, Intego seems to be interested in privacy and security. Besides their antivirus suite, they also offer a VPN service, and they have a lot of content to help users get educated on cybersecurity, like this podcast.

Ease of Use: Is Intego Beginner-Friendly?

Intego Antivirus has a very intuitive interface, both on Mac and on Windows iterations. The UX is smooth and intuitive. It’s very easy to understand what everything does, even if you’re not a cybersecurity expert. Take the Windows interface, for example:

Explanations in the main dashboard of Intego

In the main dashboard, you can hover over the “information” icon next to the options in order to understand what they do. On top of that, each screen has brief explanations to help beginner users understand what the antivirus does. Here’s an example:

Intego Brief Guides

Overall, Intego’s user interface is simple and self-explanatory, so we think it’s extremely beginner-friendly.

How do I install Intego?

The installation process for Intego is very similar on both Windows and Mac. Here’s what you’ll need to do:

  1. Create an account, and buy the Intego product you want.
  2. Click on the product you want from Intego’s product list. You can find this in the top left corner of any page on their website.
  3. Download Intego. If you’re logged in, you’ll see a download link. If you’re not, just click on “Free Trial,” and you’ll automatically download the installation file. You can then paste your product key during the installation process. Alternatively, you can visit Intego’s download link repository.
  4. Open the executable file you downloaded. Your default MacOS or Windows installation wizard will take care of the rest.

Intego’s Customer Support

Intego has a pretty robust support system. For any issue, you’ll see a pop-up on the bottom-right corner of Intego’s website. There, you can input a keyword describing the issue you have, and you’ll get links to support articles.

If that doesn’t cover your needs, you can also choose to get in touch with Tech Support or Sales. Unfortunately, there is no live chat to speak with their support team. You’ll need to submit a ticket to either department and then wait for a reply over email.

Intego Customer Support Ticket

You can also visit the Support center directly and browse the knowledge base or community forum of Intego for more answers.

Overall, it’s a decent system. But it’s not really on par with market competitors. The lack of live support can be concerning for a lot of users, especially for a tool meant to protect you from viruses.

Speed and Performance

Intego is extremely lightweight. We ran both a quick scan and a complete scan to put it to the test, and here’s what we found.

For the quick scan, it took the software 3:34 minutes to scan 6,000 files. During that time, it used 1 to 3% of the CPU, and 64 to 70 MB of the computer’s physical memory.

During the complete scan, CPU and memory usage spiked a bit. It was using an average of 66 to 76 MB of memory, and 2 to 7% of the CPU.

The complete scan took much longer (45 minutes for 105,000 files), but this will, of course, depend on the number of files you have on your PC. If you don’t clutter it with a ton of apps and software, it will take less.

Overall, this is an outstanding performance, especially in memory and processing power usage. Intego takes up much less of your PC’s resources when compared to other similar software.

Final Verdict: Is Intego a Good Antivirus?

Intego is indeed a good antivirus. With a wide array of tools, robust features, and impressive performance, it’s a reliable software that can cover all your bases — if you’re using a Mac. If you want the quick rundown, here’s what we think of it:

AdvantagesDisadvantages
Large variety of tools on MacOutdated customer support system
Does extremely well in testingLack of tools on Windows
Low resource consumption

If you like what you read, you can get Intego with a discount here:

Get Intego for Mac Get Intego for Windows

For Mac users, we think there are plenty of reasons to choose Intego. It’s lightweight, effective, does well in testing, and has a tremendous variety of features. Windows users, however, might want to wait for Intego’s kit to diversify, even if the tool is a bargain now.

  • Security: 9
  • Speed and system load: 9.5
  • Privacy Policy: 8.5
  • Ease of use: 9.0
  • Customer service: 6.5
  • Final score: 8.6

Do you think Intego will be your antivirus of choice? Which of its features sounds most useful to you? Anything else you’d like us to cover? Let us know in the comments below.

Intego Review: Frequently Asked Questions

If you want quick answers to some of the most pressing questions about Intego, check out our FAQ section below.

Yes, Intego is a good antivirus. It has a stellar virus scanner that does extremely well in testing, plus a ton of other features on top of it. These include parental control options, an effective firewall, and a Mac cleaner.

However, the value of Intego depends on the device you’re using. Read our in-depth Intego review to find out more.

Intego doesn’t slow down your Mac. In fact, Intego is one of the most lightweight antivirus programs out there. In our tests, it only used about 1 to 2% of the CPU and 60 to 70 MB of memory during scans. If you want to find out more about Intego, read our review here.

Apple is famous for its hermetic software and for always staying one step ahead of cybercriminals to keep your devices safe. Compared to a Windows PC, a Mac is generally more secure.

This is why many people think an antivirus program is not a necessity on a Mac; however, ensuring device safety should always be a top priority for all users, no matter what operating system they use. Apple devices can still get infected with malware, so it’s best to stay safe.

An antivirus like Intego can offer more than just malware protection. It also includes a Mac cleaner, a firewall, and other protections for your device.

Intego’s antivirus software has a wide range of products. The most popular ones are:

  • The Mac Premium Bundle X9 — €69.99/year or $69.99/year. This includes all Intego features.
  • The Mac Internet Security X9 — €39.99/year of €39.99/year. This is the core antivirus and firewall of Intego.
  • Intego Antivirus For Windows — €26.99/year or $29.99/year. This is the core antivirus and firewall of Intego for Windows.

Disabling the Intego antivirus software is very easy. You’ll just need to open the main dashboard of the software and then choose the functionalities you want to disable: real-time protection, web shield, or the prevention engine.

However, we don’t recommend you disable Intego’s functionalities if you’re using it. It leaves your computer more vulnerable.

Tech writer
Theodor is a content writer passionate about the newest tech developments and content marketing strategies. He likes privacy-friendly software, SEO tools, and when he's not writing, he's trying to convince people they should uninstall TikTok.