It's debatable how needed it is. Years ago, there was no web protection. It's another line of defense, but the resident AV should take care of it regardless.
Years ago, there were no malware injection into "safe" webpages. Years and years ago, there were no antiviruses because there were no computers. Technology advances and these things are necessary now.
There was always malware that came from webpages. That isn't a 2015 invention. Resident shields work for that. I disagree. The resident shield is enough.
Well two things: 1.) A Resident shield will not help some uninformed user that has stumbled onto a phishing site; 2.) NS, when its firing on all cylinders, which it currently isn't on FF, is far better at blocking malware and preventing visits to phising sites and sites known to have contained malware than it is in detecting it once its on your system.
Norton does still offer protection in Firefox, even if the vault doesn't work. You can test here - http://www.amtso.org/feature-settings-check-for-desktop-solutions/
Does Norton still deletes some detection without quarantining? Have it ever deleted anything important/critical without quarantining on your system? How good is Norton's PUP detection/protection?
@yesnoo I haven't used Norton for a number of months, but as far as I can recall, everything gets quarantined. However, it is not possible to get it to always prompt for a choice instead of auto quarantining. There will always be some items that get quarantined automatically.
Are you sure? Coz in this thread here & Norton forum I see posts mentioning deleted file without quarantining. Checkout page 8 of this thread. Anyone running latest Norton? May be they have changed things like option to always ask, quarantining all detection instead of deleting some, etc...
@yesnoo Unfortunately I'm not 100% sure, as I have not used Norton for a while. But that is how I recall it worked. I'm quite happy with my current antivirus right now. If I wasn't, I would install Norton again to check.
Yes, I am, and although I personally haven't experienced it I too have read threads on the Norton forums about Norton deleting files without quarantining them.
Couple days back I had tried Norton Security under Shadow Defender. If I remember correctly there were options to set it to ask for Sonar, Download Insight, etc... Does setting those options to ask gives alert with options like quarantine/delete/ignore, etc...? If Yes then deleting files without quarantining can be prevented, right? And if the delete prob is only with new files i.e files you try to download, etc...then guess not a major prob. If it doesn't deletes files (files already present on the system) without quarantining then good. But then how does it treat files on external devices?
Sorry, but I don't know. I have had some files quarantined as they should be but so far never any just deleted outright and most of my settings are in their default value. Maybe someone here who has had files just deleted can answer you.
NS's removal of some files rather than allowing user choice to quarantine has been one of the biggest and scariest criticisms of NS. It has led to some highly undesireable consequences for some users. See, e.g, this small sampling" from a quick search. https://community.norton.com/en/for...de-if-i-want-delete-file-it-thinks-suspicious https://community.norton.com/en/forums/download-problems https://community.norton.com/en/forums/program-files-deleted-norton-when-sonarsuspbehgen3-detected https://community.norton.com/en/for...r-options-medium-and-high-risk-file-removals\ https://community.norton.com/en/forums/norton-antivirus-online-keeps-deleting-program-file
But with such design there's always a risk. The system has bro's office files/projects & other important stuffs. Though every week or 2 we do backup but you never know when anything important Norton will delete that was not backed up yet. User dont like autoquarantine & heres a company that autodeletes...simply dont understand the behavior.
Fair enough. I can understand that it's not worth the risk for you. If Norton started just deleting files on my machine with no way to restore I'd be peeved and would start looking for an alternative too.
I'm not sure, if Norton does that auto-deleting anymore. At least I haven't noticed it during the last weeks. It still does auto-quarantaine... AVIRA and Kaspersky always ask. Kaspersky is superior, because it classifies files best.
I had a couple files detected on a flash drive that are considered malware, and then auto quarantined by Norton. I just opened the logs, and then restored the two files right back to the flash drive, and then excluded them. Was easy as pie.
Go through Settings to confirm your preference. For example. "SONAR Advanced Mode > Remove Risks Automatically or Remove Risks if I Am Away". And. "Low Risks". Maybe avoid options like Always n' Remove. I prefer Ask Me/Ignore. And for example > https://community.norton.com/en/comment/6846961#comment-6846961 > https://community.norton.com/en/comment/6847091#comment-6847091
Currently have uninstalled Norton. If I remember correctly not all the options have "Ask Me" choice but only remove or ignore & thats bad.