McAfee vs Symantec

For decades, Symantec and McAfee have fostered tit-for-tat challenge that makes the old Hatfields and McCoys feud look tame by comparison. Though Symantec is the bigger player in the safety market due to the popularity of its anti-virus, McAfee has persevered as a much smaller but potent No. 2.

"Both McAfee and Symantec have at times leapfrogged each other," says Bill Trussell, managing director of security research at consultancy TheInfoPro. "Symantec gets into data-loss prevention, McAfee plays catch-up. McAfee gets into data encryption, later Symantec makes that move."

About two decades ago, McAfee and Symantec each started building up businesses around desktop anti-virus software, eventually expanding into other security segments. Symantec also broadened into storage, back-up and management tools and services with the acquisitions of Veritas and Altiris.

Constant product comparisons are part of McAfee and Symantec's long competitive tradition. If you read on McAfee's Web site an analysis entitled "McAfee Total Protection for Enterprise vs. Symantec Endpoint Protection," you can also go read "Symantec Endpoint Protection 10.0 vs. McAfee Total Protection for Endpoint" on Symantec's Web site.