Products Review

Norton entered the antivirus market in 1991, historically holding a majority share of the US market. Currently, it claims to protect nearly 50 million consumers.
This review will explore the following points:

  • Does Norton Antivirus slow down my computer?
  • How effective is it against malware?
  • Is it easy to use?
  • Does it offer value for money?

Norton provides a range of different protection packages. I will outline the various plans available and subject the most popular suite to industry-level tests. The review will explore Norton’s special features, breaking down exactly what kinds of antivirus protection it offers. I will also provide a summary of Norton’s customer support and other features that will assist potential subscribers in their decision-making process.

As part of our methodology we conduct a range of antivirus tests to see how effective each service is. In addition to this we use data from third part antivirus testing labs to complement our own research and analysis.

The following article will be an in depth review. In case you don’t have time to read it in its entirety, here’s a short summary of how Norton stood up to my tests.

Norton plans and pricing

Norton pricing May 2022

Norton offers a range of different pricing depending on your protection needs. These range from very economical offerings to more costly packages that come with greater levels of protection. Here is the breakdown of your options:

Norton 360 Standard

The cheapest package Norton offers covers basic AV protection needs, including:

  • Coverage against the most common malicious threats
  • Online protection whilst browsing the web
  • Smart firewall
  • 10GB of cloud backup
  • Password manager
  • Virus protection promise
  • Secure VPN
  • Webcam protection
  • A dark web monitor that scans for compromised personal information

The price to cover one device is $39.99 for the first year, increasing to $84.99 per year thereafter. For additional features and protection of more devices, other options are available.

Norton 360 Deluxe

The next step up in Norton’s suite is Norton 360 Deluxe. This suite offers all the features of the Standard option, but with some additional features. These include a more substantial 50GB of cloud backup, a parental control feature, and a “school time” feature. The latter allows parents to monitor their children’s devices to ensure they are staying on task whilst studying from home. There is also a privacy monitor feature that allows Norton to remove your personal information from online public databases.

Crucially, the Deluxe package allows you to protect up to five devices, ensuring you can guarantee a whole household’s safety online.

The Norton 360 Deluxe package is $104.99 annually, although a $55 discount makes the first year at $49.99.

Norton 360 With LifeLock Select

This package offers more premium protection, building upon the cheaper suites by offering the LifeLock Identity Alert™, which monitors use of your personal information online and sends you alerts for when your data is being used. Other features include a larger 100GB cloud backup, credit monitoring, and the “Million Dollar Protection Package” which provides legal assistance in cases of identity theft.

This service, unlike the previous two, allows you the option of paying annually or per month. The first year costs $99.48 when paid for upfront, increasing to $149.99 per year thereafter.

Norton 360 with Lifelock Ultimate Plus

The most expensive option comes with a range of additional features. Among the bonus features is the ability to lock your credit file to prevent fraudsters opening credit-damaging accounts in your name, protection against phone hijacking, bank and credit card activity alerts, fictitious identity monitoring, court records scanning, investment account activity alerts, and home title monitoring, as well as a massive 500GB of cloud backup. An unlimited number of devices can be protected under this plan.

Norton antivirus free trial

Most of Norton’s antivirus options let you try before you buy. All offer seven-day free trials. This is not the case, however, with Norton’s most premium package, Norton 360 with LifeLock Ultimate Plus. If you choose this option, you must pay straight away.

Compatibility

The various iterations of Norton 360 are compatible with Windows, MacOS, Android, and iOS.

Windows:

  • Microsoft Windows 10 (all versions)
  • Microsoft Windows 8/8.1 (all versions). Some protection features are not available in Windows 8 Start screen browsers.
  • Microsoft Windows 7 (all versions) with Service Pack 1 (SP 1) or later.

MacOS:

  • Current and previous two versions of Mac OS.
  • Features not supported: Norton Cloud Backup, Norton Parental Control, Norton SafeCam.

Android™ Operating Systems

  • Android 6.0 or later. Must have Google Play app installed.

iOS Operating Systems:

  • Compatible with the previous two versions of iOS.

Effectiveness against malware

Norton’s antivirus programs offer an array of different features. However, how well does it stand up to performing its core task of preventing malware infections? First, I put Norton up against a series of my own tests. I then examined how well it performed in tests run by industry-leading independent antivirus review sites.

EICAR sample tests

The European Institute for Computer Antivirus Research (EICAR) puts antivirus software to the test with specially-designed malware samples which simulate a malware infection. It does this without actually damaging your computer and is considered a benchmark in assessing the quality of antivirus programs.

There are many different forms of malware, and EICAR has created four samples of the most common forms of malicious virus. What I wanted to know was how well Norton performs in blocking these threats in real time, using its background scanning detection as opposed to an active scan.

Norton exceeded my expectations, blocking all four of the EICAR samples in real-time.

nortoneicar1(1)

I also devised a test of my own. I used three live samples of different types of malware: one adware and two different Trojans.

Adware is a very common form of malicious virus that displays unwanted adverts, usually within a web browser. Trojan horse malware is even more sinister. A Trojan works by disguising itself within apparently safe software, which once downloaded, can wreak havoc on your system.

Norton matched its performance during the EICAR tests. It blocked all three of my malware samples in real time.

norton live sample

Additional features

Aside from the core features that offer comprehensive online protection, Norton 360 offers a suite of attractive additional features.

Norton Dark Web Monitoring

Compromise of personal data is a massive risk when browsing online. This can be incredibly damaging to consumers as thieves and hackers can steal your personal information and trade it online, whereby it can be used to create fraudulent accounts and take out loans in your name, potentially critically damaging your credit file. 

Norton Dark web Monitoring

Norton offers preemptive protection against identity theft by scanning dark web markets and alerting you if your data is being sold online. Norton searches illegal markets and forums all the way back to 2008 in order to determine whether your information is being exposed.

Norton SafeCam

Over the past year, an increasing number of us have been working from home and using our personal computer’s webcam on a daily basis. Many users are rightly fearful of hackers accessing our cameras. Not only is it an invasion of privacy, but it can also lead to crimes of extortion and blackmail.

Rather than the rudimentary physical covering of our cameras, we can look to Norton’s SafeCam feature to protect our privacy. When this feature is enabled, it secures your device’s webcam whilst browsing the internet, preventing applications and hackers accessing footage of you.

Not only does it prevent the infiltration of your webcam, this feature also provides real-time notifications when applications attempt to gain access.

Norton Privacy Monitor (Norton 360 Deluxe and above)

This is one of the features contained in Norton’s premium antivirus programs that offers an additional level of online protection. I’ve already mentioned how Norton can protect you against the illegal trade of your information. But this feature also protects your online data that features on legal online databases.Norton Privacy Monitor

Many legitimate public sites contain core personal data such as your name, home address, phone number, and date of birth. Often, this information alone can be used to create accounts in your name. It can also subject you to flurries of fraud attempts, such as text messages and written correspondence claiming to be from your bank or cell phone network provider.

Norton’s Privacy Monitor scans popular data broker sites, alerts you to where your information is featured, and gives you the option of opting-out of these databases.

Impact on PC performance

Although we want thorough levels of antivirus protection, we also don’t want software to dramatically slow down our devices’ performance. I carried out tests to ascertain how Norton affects PC power. These were run against a control measurement of my system’s CPU and memory utilization. Afterwards, I tested how much Norton slowed down my PC when carrying out quick and full scans.

Quick scan

The quick scan is fairly rapid, taking just under three minutes. Aside from being fast, the scan didn’t excessively tax my system. Whilst carrying out the scan, my CPU was utilized at 37 percent, increasing 23 percentage points compared to the control settings. This 23 percent is a marginal price to pay relative to the benefits of the scan.

I was surprised to see the scan also had very minimal effects on my memory utilization, only increasing by a mere four percent. This demonstrates that Norton has created a comprehensive antivirus package that runs smoothly without taxing your system.

Full scan

Norton scan dashboard

Usability

Norton interface

Antivirus Testing Methodology

You may be interested in how we arrive at our results and ratings for antivirus software. We run a number of benchmarking tests including test malware files from the European Institute for Computer Antivirus research. This allows us to provide a current picture of how each provider performs against malware threats.

In addition, we test all antivirus programs against live malware samples, including trojans and adware.

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