Norton vs others

[Zaber177]

Hey there.

I been a long time user of Norton Antivirus. Somehow I feel I am about to open a can of worms as people would manipulate this question, but here it goes.

Norton has been good to me-- but sometimes i feel their service can slowly grow lack-luster in effort to fix problems and stuff. I saw other arguements on virus protection but they are a couple years old.

Anyone got any suggestions on a good virus protection software if better than Norton? Also using MalwareBytes for extra security since i know not every single antivirus can block everything.

Thanks for your time.

Sincerely,

Zaber

 

[Sam Hain]

I use Malwarebytes, such as yourself but use the Premium v. The only other programs I use/run in this arena that are low-cost/no-cost/low-resource are:

1- CC Cleaner Pro
2- Windows Defender
3- Windows Firewall

This has been my setup for 3 years or so in the AV/File removal world and have NEVER encountered any problems to date and have no resource usage issues with any of these programs... and of course taking care of browsing habits and unknown origin e-mail sends, etc...

 

[little_me]

I myself use zonealarm (extreme security, meaning both anti-virus and firewall), it has a few drawbacks though.
-IPV6 support is bit wonky and disabling ipv6 will fix that. (if applications try to use ipv6, they will likely fail)
-Prevents installation of pretty much ALL network drivers, this includes usb dongles and usb mobile things as well as normal network cards.
Workaround is to turn off zonealarm starting with windows (zonealarm preferences), reboot, install drivers and/or connect usb stick, start zonealarm (and set it to start automatically.)
Things will work as long as you don't unplug USB while computer is on and/or don't uninstall network card drivers completely. updating drivers is fine. I think it sees new cards as hostile entities and kills any attempts at them working.

Past said two problems, I have had no issues with it.

 

[Des Zuus]

https/www.av-test.org/en/antivirus/home-windows/
http/chart.av-comparatives.org/chart1.php

 

[dextermat]

The best antivirus is the user,

but you still need a good one in case you or someone else do a mistake.

install unchecky and bitdefender anti ransomware.

For antvirus:
I use avast free or security 360.

Haven't got a virus for years even if sometime I go on doggy website

 

[Zaber177]

So by comparison, Norton is pretty behind huh?

 

[little_me]

If you are referring to comparison links by Des Zuus, I don't see how you draw that conclusion.
first link gives norton almost full points, only one being better is bitdefender (assuming latest test for win10 since you didn't specify)
The position in said list has no meaning on performance, they are not sorted.
Second link doesn't test norton at all, thus not telling if it's at top or bottom or middle.

Edit:
Biggest things to consider when picking anti-virus and/or firewall solutions are pretty much down to personal preference, most know what buttons to press to get it to work as they want. In the end the four things that count in long run are in order of importance (to me):
protection efficiency (aka how well it stops things)
Resource usage (if you don't notice it running, it's low enough)
Ease of use (comes with age/use too, anything new will feel out of place for a while)
Cost (it's only money)

 

[Sam Hain]

So by comparison, Norton is pretty behind huh?

Better options are out there and they are perhaps less expensive and less taxing on your system. Not your fault, just takes some digging and Q & A for alternatives, like you are doing here.

 

[Des Zuus]

Norton is not bad at all. However there are equally good options available for free. I use the free version of Avira. The only drawback is free versions don't have advanced options such as PC tune-up, email filtering, etc. but I don't need those. I actually have two keys of some Norton product lying around but I like the simple no-frills that you get with free Avira. I haven't tried any other free antivirus but Avast seems to be have slight performance impact and apparently Bitdefender free version doesn't have options for custom scans.
Also Avira has browser safety extension.
Still, its pretty much inconclusive since every resource has its own protection rating for different products. Also the rating change every few months, however Avira and Bitdefender have been on the top since past two years in every test.

If anyone wants free Norton keys I have two.

 

[MarkJohnson]

In my many years of malware protection. I've had about equal protection by them all. None of them work 100% and I average about 1 infection a year. Doesn't matter who I use, and I've tried them all at least once.

If you're using Norton's already I see no real issue to change. I get Norton's Internet Security (360) free with my Comcast service. It work's fine. Lately they don't remove Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs) so I install MalwareBytes Anti-Malware (MBAM) free to manually clean up the PUPs.

I even just use built-in Windows protection with MBAM free on my gaming rig with no major issues.

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Sam Hain]

http/www.pcmag.com/news/345729/experts-symantec-security-flaw-is-as-bad-as-it-gets?mailing_id=1924630&mailing=DailyNews&mailingID=CF116F2623C93BF0EEF0D8E7663D882C

Interesting read...

 

[MarkJohnson]

I fell a tiny bit better knowing it's at least fixed. Sadly these happen to them all. You don't even know about it until it's been cured. They are an insane amount of other vulnerabilities in all systems that aren't disclosed as then attacker would use it.

I wouldn't trust anything by MS as they're the #1 target since they have 95% of the market. I mean who wants to target only 5% of the market when they can target 95%.

Go Linux!

 

[kelix09]

Dr. Web light works well for me within 2 years already.

 

[Guest]

i've been using 360TS as my A/V and as my cleaner, since it's like having Ccleaner and Avira and bitdefender in the same package. I use also windows firewall. this has been my setup since like 2 years, never gave me much trouble and most of my problems were caused by me when I was adding programs I didn't knew to my AV white list. I don't really need much more because I am careful online, and I mean, my AV speaks for itself, I don't catch a virus for 6 months almost so I must know what I do online otherwise I would have a lot of viruses I think.