Overview
Norton at a Glance
Norton provides complete protection for up to 10 devices, with top-notch features that range from malware protection to automatic photo backup.
Best for
- Beginners looking for an easy-to-use antivirus software
- Users that need complete virus and malware protection
- Parents who want comprehensive family safety features
What They Offer:
- Full antivirus protection
- Firewall protection
- Identity and financial protection
- Parental controls
- Email and spam blocking
- Password manager
- PC optimization tools
Features
What Norton Offers
Norton 360 Standard: For $32.99 for your first year, the Norton 360 Standard package has everything offered by Norton Antivirus Plus, but also offers 10 GB cloud backup, Secure VPN, SafeCam, and Dark Web Monitoring (Powered by LifeLock), for a safer intenet browsing experience.
Norton 360 Deluxe: For $44.99 for your first year, this package protects up to 5 PC's, Mac's, smartphones or tablets. In addition to the Standard package, Deluxe offers 50 GB cloud backup and parental control.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Select: For $99.99 for your first year, this package has everything you get with the Deluxe package, but also includes 100 GB cloud backup, LifeLock ID alert system, credit monitoring and a million dollar protection package.
PC Cleaners & Tune-Ups
Norton offers a Utilities Premium service that provides regularly scheduled cleanings and performance improvements designed to keep your PC running swiftly and without impediment. The subscription-based service removes clutter, discards unused applications, frees up space, and repairs other common issues in the OS that contribute to lags and crashes. The service is automated and easy to use, allowing PC owners to maintain their computers’ health and keep it running optimally with little to no effort.
How Norton Works
Ease of Use
Norton Security's antivirus software is competitive with other top providers such as Kaspersky and McAfee as one of the easiest antivirus software packages to use. Users can quickly determine the security and vulnerability of their device at a glance. With just a few clicks, users can perform quick scans, full scans, backups or performance optimizations of their system.
The software has a very quick installation that walks users through the software features as it installs. Fast installation and a smaller application size, however, do not offset the average performance and detection rates of Norton Security compared to its competitors.
Its dashboard also allows users to easily run antivirus scans, updates, identity theft settings, online backups, and PC tune ups. The dashboard is clean, easy to read and intuitive. Depending on the package, the Web portal makes it even easier to protect all of your devices from one location, and all with a single subscription.
Parental controls and family safety features are quite possibly the software's best aspect. Users can be configured from a website dashboard with various restrictions and those restrictions are automatically enforced on all of the user's devices. It also has integrated reporting for giving valuable feedback to parents taking an active interest in protecting their children. Parents can then make new restrictions based upon their child's usage behaviors.
Help and Support
Like its competitors, Norton provides customers with many support options. The website’s support center includes a knowledge base with articles, videos, downloads and FAQs. Users can use Norton's online chat, email or purchase various support packages. There are local offices all over the world, so no matter where you are, you will find someone who speaks your language.
If you want to learn how to use Norton products more effectively, a variety of education services are available on the official Norton website. Users can request a consultation with an expert, sign up for instructor-led or private training sessions, as well as access to an in-depth eLibrary.
Norton Pricing
How Much Does Norton Cost?
Among the best antivirus software companies, Norton offers average protection at very competitive prices. Norton's products (like Norton) are an excellent choice for users interested in an easy-to-use software package with average detection rates and extremely powerful parental control features.
One great value added of Norton Security is the 60-day money back guarantee - no questions asked.
In addition to the 60-day money back guarantee, Norton also offers a Virus Protection Promise. If a security expert is unable to remove a virus using a specific product you will get 100% of your money back.
$9.99 per month or $99.99 per year
Norton Alternatives
How Norton Compares to Other Antiviruses
Here’s a quick comparison chart that sets Norton’s services against other antivirus providers.
Norton vs Bitdefender
Norton has been around on the antivirus market for over two decades and in this amount of time they have managed to make a compelling name for themselves. Norton offers many easy to use features across devices. One of the best things about Norton’s services is that they have refined usability and made sure that their system impact will remain low. Bitdefender is a newer brand on the market and with services that are up to par. But, it’s been shown that their services are a bit slower on systems and only provide a 30-day money-back guarantee (unlike Norton’s 60 days). You won’t go wrong with either brand as both Norton and Bitdefender effortlessly detect viruses at high rates.
Norton vs McAfee
When comparing Norton and McAfee, you can see that there are more similarities than differences. Both are excellent at finding and fighting viruses, securing your data online, and working across platforms. Both brands offer varying levels for packages so you can always find a suitable price point that fits your needs. One difference between the two is that Norton runs a bit faster when it comes to scanning your device, and it doesn’t slow down your computer as much as McAfee might.
Bottom Line
Norton gives you easy-to-use protection with in-depth parental controls. Depending on the package, Norton Security includes full antivirus protection, firewall protection, identity and financial protection, parental controls, email and spam blocking, password manager, PC optimization tools and 25 GB online backup storage for up to 10 computers or devices.
When it comes to virus protection, while the Norton Security's detection rates may leave something to be desired, the solid parental controls and ease of use make it a great choice for users looking for average virus detection coupled with top of the line parental controls for their family.
