Whenever people post something Norton Security’s found on their computer, the comments usually say things like, “Your first problem is you’re using Norton. Use [insert computer security system here] instead and you won’t have any problems.”
I’ve been using Norton for years and have had no problems. It’s actually saved my ass a few times.
My question is what’s wrong with it? Am I missing something?
In the tech industry, Norton and McAffee are now considered malware.
Alright,
Norton is known for slowing down systems, not working for extensive malware , selling data(but which company doesnt), its widely recommended to use the built in windows defender and if you suspect something shady is going on run a malwarebytes free scan
It’s malware.
Like the literal definition of malware. It hooks every file on your system with a key that it keeps in its database. Every time there’s a file change, it has to register that change. That uses more resources.
And if anything hijacks Norton, well, every file in your system is tagged so it wouldn’t take long to do something nefarious. Not that it happens, but… First time for everything.
McAfee does it too, but much more inefficiently.
It behaves exactly like a virus. it doesnt do what it says it does (extremely poor detection rates), 9 out of 10 virus cleanups were usually machines with norton/mcafee on them… You can run windows defender and get the same protection… Its constatntly trying to sell you other useless products and no matter how much you pay them they just want more money… dont give them your credit card info, they are exactly the kind of thing AV is supposed to prevent from getting into your machine…
This should drive it home… no computer shop EVER CLEANED an infected machine by putting norton on it 
We use malwarebytes/adw cleaner first, then a few others for redundancy when doing scans…
Just get the paid malwarebytes and youll be good.
Oh and also it’s expensive
Could you elaborate on how an antivirus software is malware? I’m curious.
Explained in paragraph 2. A piece of software that hijacks every file in your system for itself.
I haven’t noticed Norton doing that at all and, like I said, I’ve been using it for years. If it was hijacking files and programs, I’d think my computer would be locked up like it had ransomware on it.
How can I look for evidence of this?
(Dammit Reddit reply in the right spot)
By design it “tags” your files. Usually in the registry, f-key software, Norton.
Every time there’s a file change, it has to change the checksum. If anything changes improperly, it’ll kick back an error.
In theory it works. But at the expense of performance and wear on your storage device.
I’m a little lost here.
I’m not technologically illiterate, but I also know there are people who can run circles around me regarding computers and such.
I’m smart enough to know not to click on anything suspicious or go where I’m not supposed to, like clicking on a fishy link on Discord.
Why would places like Staples and Best Buy basically sell a virus or malware masked as an antivirus software like Norton? That makes no sense to me.
Is there a way I can check to see if Norton’s done any damage to my computer?
They sponsor it. Norton spends tons of money to have these companies put their software on your computer. Then they “collect anonymous usage data” on you, to study your usage to improve their marketing. If it’s free, then you’re the product.
The only damage it can really do, is to your drives. You can use a program to read the SMART data (I use HDD Sentinel myself but it’s paid software) and see how many terabytes have been written to your SSD. Standard spinning drives won’t be affected as much, other than read head mechanical wear but that’s no big deal.
If you’re generally careful online, then you really don’t need business class antivirus anyway. And as others mentioned, the one built into Windows, which has kernel level control of your PC, is good enough for everyday use. It also has a smart updater and scanner that impacts your performance the least (usually pausing when you’re doing something and doing what it needs to do when you’re idle). This wasn’t the case in the older days where you had to have antivirus, Windows defender was introduced with Windows 7, and only got better since, with Windows 10 and 11 perfecting it, making it as good as any standalone antivirus.
If you’re happy with Norton, keep using it. But don’t pay for something that you already have for free.
I feel like you’re not reading the messages.
Norton is unnecessarily wasting your computers resources and durability for their monetary gain.
Meaning fuck Norton they are scamming you out of your money
This wasn’t the case in the older days where you had to have antivirus
I remember those days, which was when I initially purchased Norton and renewed my subscription annually. I also remember being told not to trust the security system that comes with your computer!
If you’re generally careful online, then you really don’t need business class antivirus anyway.
I’m usually pretty cautious online and don’t go anywhere that generally looks suspicious, especially when doing online banking or anything involving entering financial info of some sort to make an online purchase. There are things I look for before doing that.
I never use the same password twice anywhere online, never share personal info of any kind, like date of birth, my address, etc. and use multi-factor authentication wherever possible to ensure my data is safe and secure online.
Someone also commented recently on this post that Norton and McAfee are basically considered malware in the tech industry. With that in mind, it sounds as though Windows Defender is basically the best out there in terms of security software. Are there any others to consider?
I’ve been reading your messages.
From the sounds of it, I should basically uninstall Norton, cancel my subscription, and run a scan using Windows Defender to make sure everything’s clean.
Virtual Private Networks, and password managers are good tools for Internet security. VPNs can tunnel you and keep websites from tracking you, and if you have issues with certain websites. Normally good if you’re on the go, because you never know if someone bugged the public Wi-Fi hotspot.
Password managers store your passwords in a heavily encrypted vault, and can even auto fill very difficult to crack passwords automatically. So all you need to do is remember the password to the password manager, and it does the rest.
Multi factor authentication is good, but be sure to 2 factor your email that you use for 2fa anywhere else. My dad just lost his email and Facebook because they got into his email through his Facebook account and there wasn’t 2 factor on his email account.
If you use Google’s Gmail, and have a cellphone, an authenticator app is a great to have. Websites that use that kind of security, ask for a 6 digit number that the authenticator app creates, that changes every 30 seconds. Then you can lock your phone using a form of biometrics (fingerprint, Iris scan, face unlock, etc).
It sounds complicated but these days it streamlines pretty well, and became de facto for my every day life.
And my final line of defense, oddly enough is a Norton product as they bought them out, is LifeLock Identity protection. It’s a service that monitors for suspicious activity that might be signs of identity theft, and if your identity is stolen, they will spend up to a million dollars to help you get your identity back and secure it. I got this back in 2009 when I started truck driving because my debit card was being used all over the place so I wanted to be sure that if I got skimmed, I’d be able to recover. But it works online too.
Also you can put your email in https://haveibeenpwned.com/ and see what sites your email is on that might have been breeched, and go change those passwords. It can’t help with the large dumps, but for individually reported sites, it’s useful.
I know this is a lot to take in, but I like that you’re taking your security seriously, but that also means you can get into a rabbit hole of paying for things you don’t need to, when everything you need to secure yourself is available! 
I meant u/night-ninja
Yes, you should. To uninstall, I would use revo Uninstaller bc it also clears the registry entries.
Use Windows Defender, but if you think you still have a virus run malwarebytes free
Oddly you should mention VPNs, I’ve been using the VPN provided by Norton for a few years now. I’ve also set it up so it automatically kicks on whenever I connect to a public network using my phone.
With regards to password managers, I’ve been considering using Google’s for a while now. Since you seem to recommend their use, I’ll look into Google’s a little further. I know it’s not recommended in the tech industry, but at the moment I’m using a notebook to store all of my passwords. I think I should change that in case I ever lose that book. I’ve had a few close calls in the past!
I already use a multi-factor authenticator for work-based applications. I should probably expand it for other personal accounts like my email and that.
With Lifelock Identity Protection, is there any way to get just that product without Norton spamming you to get their other products?
I haven’t had anything promoted to me. But I also don’t have their app installed, I just get text notifications.
I’d imagine my spam email box has some but I don’t look in there 