Wondering about this? Is it worth a change?

Norton Security Suite powered by Norton 360 technology scans faster, boots faster, uses less memory and installs faster than McAfee*
* Comparison based on Antivirus, Internet Security and Total Security Performance Benchmarking, Edition 4, by PassMark Software Pty., Ltd. ( March 2009).

I just don't know what is true and what is not. Am I suppose to be impressed and trust PassMark? Do they do an honest test?

 

Norton is a good product just try for yourself and Mcfee is still a resource hog your computer will feel light after you remove Mcafee and install norton

 

Passmark is based in Sydney, Austrialia and does perform different types of benchmarks. They do offer benchmark software and some specialized hardware as well. I looked all over the site and did not see any kind of tie-in with Symantec.

Last month they published a PDF of their latest benchmarks of several AV programs.

Myself, I just recently returned to Norton after missing out on the '09 version.

 

Thanks for the replies interesting report but look at page 40 in the pdf under disclosure.

Norton is what the ISP is going to offer now so I hope it is faster in all those tests. McAfee has kept my machine safe and clean but I do believe it is slower than it should be. Hopefully Norton will be better for my XP Emachine listed in my signature. I'll post back cause I think I'll do the changeover this weekend.

 

no contest here norton imo hands down

 

I'm running Norton on one image right now (for a week or so, paid version not CC). It's been 8 or 9 years since I last used Norton after they screwed me out 6 months of updates on a paid version (not oem) when I purchased a new computer and they basically told me to "get screwed" when I asked them to let me transfer the remaining protection to my new box. Back then their customer support was ridiculous. Norton appears to be light. It's version 9 and not 10. Norton says I can UD free to 10, but their DL site is "turtle slow".
I've been a KAV user for several years but when KAV stopped allowing you to manually DL their updates, I quit (and I really liked KAV). I'd also renew KAV in a 2nd if they would renew their manually DL updates, but I can't blame them for not doing so after reading about all non-legit KAV copies.
The HIPS (Proactive-Defense) in KAV appears to be better than Norton (imo) but requires more decisions for the user, so if you're just running the Norton AV, I would suggest that you use a FW with HIPS.
Norton caught one "low-rated" virus as I was transferring my old computer DLs over to the image (which I guess KAV missed or it's a false-positive). My file transfer of the DLs immediately stopped, and I had to go in and DL the rest of the files/folders manually. On the Norton reports, It says "it's neutralized" (deleted or whatever), however their reports won't tell me which file the virus was in (and it wasn't the last several transferred as the size of the program DLs are the same in the original & destination folder, so I have no idea which DL program file was the source (and the Norton reports don't show it), and if the DL even will work again (if what Norton removed was a false positive). Norton should show the file (program) where the virus was detected. Also the KAV reports are much better than Norton, and the way they used to do their manual updates (daily, weekly, cumulative) was the best in the business (imo).
Norton is somewhat "noisey" if you prefer to manually update instead of just allowing a product completely unlimited 'net access from your computer ---in that it still wants to connect to the Norton servers, but so was KAV. However it's no contest in that Mcafee was the absolute worst when you blocked it's outbound 'net access with your FW. (btw Nod32 was the best at being quiet when you turned off it's auto-update, but that was a couple of years ago.
BTW JFTHoI, I uninstalled Norton with REVO, reading all of the horror stories over the last several years about a Norton uninstall. I didn't even have to search for their removal tool as their uninstaller removed most Norton and Symantec stuff. There were a few that Revo got and a few that had to be removed manually in Docs/settings, drivers and the registry, but nothing like the previous nasty Norton uninstalls that I've heard about from friends.

 

*Sorry for posting in the wrong spot I almost started the thread here*

Well, I did it. The install went very smooth after it uninstalled McAfee. Everything seemed to work well even this morning BUT...a BIG BUT too. While a minor annoyance, for Symantec this should not happen. To me it is a classic example of the more things change the more they stay the same.

No matter what I did. I could not get the updater to show anything except that I had not been updated in 87 days!! I thought about uninstalling and reinstalling but decided that was to drastic considering the minor problem. I was confident based on what it was telling me I was current but the updater was not reporting correctly.

I called support. I was on the phone for about an hour. most of it was not wait time. The first person tried several things including a reinstall. It did not solve the problem. I was transfer to a supervisor who did several things using some of their commonly used "tools". They did this by remote access not to sure about that either, but I figure that can be controlled by pass words and firewall when I am not on the computer it is usually in stand by and always logged off. (feel free to comment on the security risk, I might be just fooling myself).

I believe what the supervisor did is repair or update the Live update program a constant source of problems with Norton products each and every time I have ever used it. Otherwise both now and in the past I have found them to be pretty good and most other issues resolved satisfactory over the years.

Anyway it finally got fixed but my cordless phone battery went dead at the very end and we were disconnected and he had to call back which was not a problem because I could still watch what he was doing. It comes with my ISP for no added cost so I'll keep it.

 

Hmm... sounds like it is accurately priced, considering what you encountered.

I hope it gives you good service.

 

its kinda funny everyone almost likes norton. a year a go they sucked.

 

Symantec (Norton) won Product of the Year 2009 from AV-Comparatives.
There's a good reason why a lot of people like Norton now, it's not the Norton of the past.
That said, I still personally dislike Symantec/Norton.

 

It is not the Norton of the past,most I read tells me that,and from trusted sources,yet as you said, I also have the twice bitten,thrice shy attitude.

Talk about existential ambivalence!!

 

i like there symantec endpoint i wish they would add more feature to it.