Battle Emsisoft Internet Security v9 vs Norton Security 2015

[thewul]

I need to decide between these two.

I tend to Emsisoft, but then again Norton (2014) performed well, so I would not know. Their support solved some questions immediately (chat sessions) and false positives were solved within a few hours, etc.
So I really can't complain about Norton.

Am running NIS 2014 together with Malwarebytes Anti Malware.

Have tried out Emsisoft, it looks great and maybe it is great. The Emsisoft firewall did cause a minor problem, that I did not have with Norton. A problem that seems difficult to be solved.

Saw a horrible review of the new Norton (the PC Security Channel on Youtube) so I very much hesitate to renew my license, which is due to expire within a few weeks.

Any advise would be helpful.

Thanks !

(oh, I do hope I am posting in the right forum, if not pls do accept my apologies)

 

[toto]

Well If Norton 2014 suited you well then I would recomend Norton 2015 because it's even better and improved
Don't always trust these reviews on youtube. The best thing about Norton is that if it finds a threat it will remove it without your intervention not like some other antivirus software that find threats and keep telling you that but can't remove it.
Emsisoft is very good but it's little heavy on my pc so i recomend Norton

 

[MikeV]

I think the best idea is to use emsisoft ANTIMALWARE with a free firewall (if necessary+++)
And i explain why i'm telling you this:

Norton is a good program but the new version is highly depended on internet connection.If for some reason you are not connected to the internet Norton will NOT protect you well (even their behavior blocker,SONAR)
Emsisoft is a good program also but it will protect you well as their behavior blocker will work fine even if you are not connected to the internet.
Other than that both programs will protect you well (if connected).

Emsisoft ANTIMALWARE version is my choice as you are not the only person who experience problems with Emsisoft Internet Security.


+++ A third party firewall is not necessary if you are an experienced user,and you know what you download and from what sources.

 

[Van2r]

Like What MikeV said i think the same.
But about @toto post i think its somehow depend on users => "(The best thing about Norton is that if it finds a threat it will remove it without your intervention)"(i accept if an antivirus find something and ask for removal then if it cant do its a big failure but...
it is right this is good if an antivirus could delete threat before anything get infected.
but norton doesn't give any option for restoring it back when it feel it is dangerous(and i experienced it with false Positives and harmed very hard by this option)
so i think if antivirus just doing auto quarantine or asking from user then doing a proper action it is far better than being just like a terminator.
but again depend on users it is good for newbies with low knowledge about computer or without using common sense and clicking on everything!
in any case i think emsisoft will give you a better overall conditions that norton don't do.
also we have firewalls in hand like comodo and zone alarm with higher scores than top ranked antivirus's inside firewall and much better on user based configurations rules and handy on setting .... but this is like what MikeV said if you think its very important,and if you think windows built in firewall couldnt handle the job!

 

[Anupam]

Emsisoft for me -- Good amount of detection, good behavioral blocker.

 

[songoku316]

Emsisoft for me

 

[YuanJiawj]

Yep, Emsisoft for me too

 

[kiric96]

Emsi antimalware for me, i have heard that EIM causes some problems but for me no problems so far. If you use EAM i will choose private firewall they are a good convo... related to norton.... i had a BAD experience with their product and customer care /you can read my experience here/

however if you feel ok with norton and works for you it is fine... but remember that norton relies too much in the cloud and also their detections rates are very low and the response time /to add malware/ takes ages.

 

[tonibalas]

You have to make a difficult decision.For me as Toto Emsisoft was a little heavy on my laptop but Norton wasn't.On the other emsisoft does offer better overall protection but Norton isn't far behind.
As i said at the beginning it's a hard decision but i want also to say you shouldn't take your decision based on how good is their firewall,there are other things to consider.
I hope i have helped and good luck

 

[potinglin]

I chosen Emsisoft.

 

[Exterminator]

Emsisoft over Norton.Just my personal preference

 

[ifacedown]

Very much agree with what MikeV posted.

Would add some few things:

Every AV gets lighter in due time. Mine is old netbook, but after a week of usage, with a completed full scan and a full system defrag, Emsisoft Antimalware became a lot lighter.

Emsi also has very good detection rates, even when offline. Norton has average or below average detection rates, much worse if offline. SONAR is very good, but very slloowww.

But if you are a careful pc user, Norton will serve you good. Supplement it with K9 Web Protection which offers enterprise-level antimalware filtering.

 

[Tony Cole]

I would choose Emsisoft, however do not believe/listen to everything on youtube, all products have good and bad days, therefore Norton may score poorly one day but excel the next. Go with what you feel is right, offers the protection you need, and most importantly one you trust.

 

[jamescv7]

Here's a twist, if you are only the one use the computer then go for Emsisoft since you can configure very well on maximum protection and all features are equally improved (online and offline matters).

 

[Janl92l]

would go with the new norton line. Its amazing light, u dont even feel it installed, the bb(sonar) automatic delete malware if he find one. When u chose emsisoft and the bb comes up with a pupop u need to know if its a malware or not. when u just klick on allow u install a malware maybe. if u click on block and quarantine u can maybe block a legitim program. emsisoft needs more user imput. and norton firewall is maybe the best out from av suits. all in all its our choose what u like more and what feels better on your system. u should try each as trial version and make ur chose than. When it comes to support and u find norton support nice, than u will find emsisofts support nice too. if u have any problem u can simply write on there forum and get a quick response, even when u not have emsisoft u get support from there, quit nice.

 

[salonika91]

of course emsisoft...

 

[Raul90]

I'd have to choose Emsisoft IS over Norton. Last time I tried Norton it was too heavy for me..reminded me of Bitdefender...so as compared to me experience with Emsiosft, I will side with Emsisoft

 

[thewul]

Dear all,

Many many thanks for your input.
I really appreciate it your taking the time to comment/come up with suggestions!

As said, the reason for asking your recommendation is that the PC Security Channel showed horrible results with regards to 2015 version of Norton. As always, people try to invalidate the review, but I think this channel is one of the best, paying a lot of attention to reviewing security software, showing what is going on in practice. Have not found any other channel doing this 'in depth' reviews.
As the tester commented: the 2014 version is much better than the 2015 one - this worried me.

I had the latest version of Emsisoft installed. Before doing so I created an image of my Windows installation, of course.
Whilst scanning it encountered a few potential viruses and it let me decide what to do with it. That's nice. I don't like software that removes files on a 'no question asked'-basis. For instance, I also tried KIS 2015 and it simply removed files that I did not want to be removed. What if you donot have a backup? What if they donot respond on your false positive report? (which they didn't)

Would like to comment on the firewall thing - @MikeV and @Van2r - thank you.
Frankly I never considered security software without a firewall. Don't know why. I have been using KIS for about 7-8 years and extended the license year after year, without paying any further attention to it. However, their service is really, really bad: they never respond to support tickets, nothing, so at one point in time I moved over to Norton.
Guess it must be an achievement for Kaspersky for being able to chase away loyal supporters!


Anyway, I always selected a 'complete' product and sofar it worked out fine, so, actually there was no real reason for chosing any product without firewall.

Thanks for your tip! I will check out that option and install the Emsisoft Antimalware and see what happens.

It seems that the Windows 7 firewall is already good enough? Need to do some reading ...

Like the HTG article: "Why You Don’t Need to Install a Third-Party Firewall (And When You Do)"

Again, thanks for the tip!

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(p.s. sorry to all for getting back on this only now).

 

[Raul90]

I had the latest version of Emsisoft installed...

--Is that EIS -- Emsisoft Internet Security...?

Thanks for your tip! I will check out that option and install the Emsisoft Antimalware and see what happens...

EIS is already a complete suite. The EAM engine is included in EIS.

 

[thewul]

Yep EIS=Emsisoft Internet Security.

I just installed Emsisoft AntiMalware. Windows 7 automatically takes care of the firewall.

Will see. This kind of software is a bit like selling cars: a car is sold 'twice', 1st by the sales and 2nd by the guys in the garage.

How fast are they responding on support mails? On false positives? Are they keeping you informed about their handling false positives? Things like that.

I'll add MBAM on top, guess it is fairly safe then.
(have a little doubt about adding Malwarebytes Anti-Exploit, MBAE)

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