I use Norton because every January...

five device license is available for less than $20! It used to have a bad reputation, I believe for being heavy on system resources, although I am not sure that was the issue. Anyway, for a half dozen years or so I've been using it on this PC, my $150 Acer laptop and the Mrs's phone and my phone without any issue. Is that issue resolved?

 

Go to THIS performance test, done October 2018. Scroll half-way down the page to see a bar chart. Notice that "Symantec" (designates Norton) is about mid-way in the test results. Ergo, Norton is pretty doggone light nowadays. There are lighter AVs but if Norton is doing okay on your rig, & on your wife's, why fix something that "ain't broke"?

 

Many years ago, Norton/Symantec products had a well deserved reputation for slowing down conputers. However in recent years their products have been very light and should not cause anything more than very minor slowdowns. It has been my exprience that Norotn products are lighter than the majority of antiviruses.

 

Norton has not been heavy for the past 5-10yrs. But I guess their rep has been slow to shed.

 

They all slow down your computers for no gain.
Just stick with the built-in Windows Defender. And even with that, you will have to be extremely unlucky for anything to infiltrate Windows.

People tend to kill their computers with kindness.
Windows is very secure these days without having to install all that junk. Just sayin'.
I spent many years working on computers removing malware back in the day when Windows security was easily compromised.
I was run off my feet with work. But Windows tightened security put me (and many others) out of business.


It's 2019

 

@Hadron In my experience Norton/Symantec products are usually lighter than Windows Defender. It's more likely that WD will slow down a computer.

 

Agreed! Especially on a slower machine.

 

Yep, windows defender is very heavy.

 

Actually, I don't use any, and haven't done for a long time.
Tell me the last time you had a real (not a PUP) potential infection.
I've had lots of sleeps since that was an issue.

 

It's also been a long time for me too. I do use an antivirus, but I don't feel that's it's essential to use one, in my case.

 

If you're going to use Norton, you may as well just stick to Windows Defender. IMHO, of course.

 

But Norton is much more lite than WD ... so your computer should run more smooth with Norton

 

Computers today are quite powerful and TBH the CPU/memory load of a typical AV program is not significant unless you are running computationally heavy tasks such as gaming, 3D Audio/Video Editing, scientific computing etc. - I really doubt an average user will notice a slowdown in his/her day to day office/personal tasks. The main point of any AV program has always been protection.

I mean yes, a guy like me who crunches numbers and runs 300 programs a day will notice which AV is light and which isn't, but for my father who just works on documents, visits news sites and reads emails, he really doesn't notice any slowdown from AV programs.

 

Yeah but computers older than 3 years will feel the diffenrece with WD or with Norton.... many people complain about the heavy WD.

 

I just installed Norton Security Online freebie from Comcast.Avast Free seems lighter.They need those ads shown at lightning speed!

 

Norton is for basic users, if you like Norton/Symantec technology , use Symantec EP Cloud (available for home users), way more efficient and lighter than most other vendors.

 

If I recall, I tried to get this setup a while back , and it was a headache getting an account, setup, etc.. Correct me if I am wrong, but it isn't as easy as most AVs, in just downloading an install file, etc.?

 

@guest It's looks like it's quite expensive, If found for $89 AUD on eBay for an annual subscription, wihch is about $64 US.

 

Good to know. Never knew it was available for home users however.

 

@Firecat I find that in my case, the majority of antiviruses cause noticable slowdowns at times. Bear in mind that many people don't have particularly fast computers. My main laptop is 8 years old and only has a second gen i5 CPU. But, some brand new budget laptops are more than three times slower.

 

@roger_m, @clocks, @Trooper

Don't confound Symantec EP Cloud with the old established Symantec EP.

 

This is the eBay listing.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Symante...-for-users-annually-subscription/223067956522

 

@roger_m yes that one, quality comes with a price. And it is an endpoint solution so you manage several devices.

 

Can you just purchase it from their website?

 

SONAR still takes like 10 seconds to identify a file and show a notification for it?