McAfee has extended the AntiVirus Plus offer for Facebook users

McAfee has extended the AntiVirus Plus Software offer for Facebook users who ‘like’ McAfee.

Facebook users simply click “Like” on the McAfee Facebook page (www.facebook.com/mcafee), go to the “McAfee 4 Free” section, and choose their country from the drop-down menu in order to download a six-month subscription to the McAfee® AntiVirus Plus software.

According to McAfee, the “software protects users’ PCs from online threats, viruses, spyware, other malware, and includes the award-winning McAfee® SiteAdvisor® web site rating technology. After the six-month McAfee AntiVirus Plus subscription period, Facebook users may be eligible for special discount subscription pricing.”

The special discount is not defined or listed on the McAfee site.

McAfee AntiVirus Plus (3 user) sells for around $71 locally. The 2011 release includes new features such as a refreshed Home screen, an Idle feature which delays full scans until the PC has been idle for a preconfigured amount of time, and better integration with Microsoft Windows 7 firewall.

McAfee has also improved Alerting and Microsoft Outlook 2010 integration, moving the anti-spam tool to an Outlook tab instead of on the toolbar to align with Outlook 2010’s look and feel.

McAfee has been using facebook to connect with existing users for over a year in an attempt to educate facebook users about Internet security. McAfee maintains that users need to be more diligent around security on social networking sites, when engaging in chat and opening emails.

“We have seen an absolute huge rise in malware worldwide over the past 12 months, probably more than the previous five years combined,” said David DeWalt, McAfee’s chief executive. “We are seeing a lot more malware specifically designed and targeted at large social networking applications. These are just the trends in the industry.”

McAfee also offers a 7 day trial of WaveSecure from its facebook group page. WaveSecure is a McAfee application for Android, Blackberry, SymbionOS, WindowsPhone and handsets which can run java applications, including the Sony Ericsson Vivaz and Samsung Jet.

Similar to the MobileMe functionality offered by Apple for iPhones, WaveSecure allows users to backup, restore, lock, locate and even remotely wipe a handset. Meantioned in lifehackers ‘Top 10 Strategies for Getting Back Your Lost or Stolen Stuff’ Wavesecure costs $19.90 (USD) per year.