- Jun 24, 2016
- 2,406
We are near the end of 2021 and most comments we see around security forums are usually the same:
So, what about Norton? See, I've always been a fan of Norton's SONAR, but in the past I had lots of issues with their solutions, including random freezes, slowdowns, eternal app loading times, bugs and uninstalling problems. But, it's nearly 2022, hopefully they've improved, right? So I decided I wanted to give this experiment a try.
So, first, I spent a good 30 minutes looking for any website that would have any kind of extended trial that would let me test Norton (without having to crack/ilegally download, etc). I finally came to this site Norton Security Deluxe - 90 days Extended Trial | Techprotips that offered a 90 day trial. Hurray! All I had to do after installing was invest a little bit of time in updating the product, since it was way outdated. This including rebooting several times and looking for more updates until there were none.
HOW IT WENT
Installation: this was ridiculously quick. All it took was a double click, and wait for.. what, 15 seconds? Maybe less.
Updating: as mentioned my product was really outdated because the offer was a bit old, but we got around it in aprox. 10 minutes.
The product: Norton LifeLock pretty much came configured. I took a tour around all the features and configurations, but there wasn't much I could change. The product doesn't offer much of configuration options, but at least some modules come with "Disabled, Enabled, Intense" you can switch from or to. So, it's basically an install and forget product, that's good! This is what my GUI looks like.
All important features have a shortcut in the home GUI. There's also a little arrow in the middle right which displays more modules. You could also head to configuration and cofigure different modules. I apologize in advance for being in spanish.
Now, to main the point, how does it work?
Well, immediately after updating and rebooting, I made a full scan just in case the product worked with a cache technique that would allow itself to not re-scan every file each time I use it. This full scan of the system took 7 minutes.
HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK
Like no product is installed. Literally. Let's start with the fact that before installing Norton, I had no antivirus. I had reciently clean installed Windows 10, and all I had was Hard_Configurator in disallowed mode. So, now I have a security suite protecting my PC in real time, and it doesn't feel like anything changed. This is Norton working in the background:
You may be thinking one of two things.
#1 If it consumes so little and the system works as if nothing is installed, it's probably garbage!
#2 Probably if you run an app now, it will take forever to open and resources will go up!
Well well well you little stranger, you're wrong! I downloaded Brave (browser) installer, which downloaded instantly and was not delayed (as more AV delay to scan the item first). After that I double clicked the installer, this triggered Norton File Insight, which is a module that:
Well RoboMan, quit your fanboy talk, how much did it take Norton to analyze the file and give you this info?
Literally, one and a half seconds. After I double clicked the file, I waited around one second and a green Norton box popped up saying it was safe, half a second later this image popped up and I knew it was safe to install. So I decided to move forward with the installing, which took place immediately after I hit next, no delays for installation whatsoever.
This kind of technique also helps you identify a fake installer (you're installing WhatsApp for PC and suddenly you see nobody has installed it, weird, this cannot be WhatsApp installer!)
OVERALL
I also play a lot, like Runescape, League of Legends, use several apps for these such as Blitz, OP.GG, edit with Photoshop, and all these programs run and load with the same times they did when no product was installed. Booting time is insanely fast yet, daily tasks work as fluid as no AV installed, installations and downloads respond as nothing was scanning them, and Norton answers with details and information on everything in the moment.
So, Norton is buggy and slows down the machine even in 2021? That's another myth taken down by RoboMan, the best of them robots
- BitDefender is a resource-hog!
- Norton is buggy and heavy!
So, what about Norton? See, I've always been a fan of Norton's SONAR, but in the past I had lots of issues with their solutions, including random freezes, slowdowns, eternal app loading times, bugs and uninstalling problems. But, it's nearly 2022, hopefully they've improved, right? So I decided I wanted to give this experiment a try.
So, first, I spent a good 30 minutes looking for any website that would have any kind of extended trial that would let me test Norton (without having to crack/ilegally download, etc). I finally came to this site Norton Security Deluxe - 90 days Extended Trial | Techprotips that offered a 90 day trial. Hurray! All I had to do after installing was invest a little bit of time in updating the product, since it was way outdated. This including rebooting several times and looking for more updates until there were none.
HOW IT WENT
Installation: this was ridiculously quick. All it took was a double click, and wait for.. what, 15 seconds? Maybe less.
Updating: as mentioned my product was really outdated because the offer was a bit old, but we got around it in aprox. 10 minutes.
The product: Norton LifeLock pretty much came configured. I took a tour around all the features and configurations, but there wasn't much I could change. The product doesn't offer much of configuration options, but at least some modules come with "Disabled, Enabled, Intense" you can switch from or to. So, it's basically an install and forget product, that's good! This is what my GUI looks like.
All important features have a shortcut in the home GUI. There's also a little arrow in the middle right which displays more modules. You could also head to configuration and cofigure different modules. I apologize in advance for being in spanish.
Now, to main the point, how does it work?
Well, immediately after updating and rebooting, I made a full scan just in case the product worked with a cache technique that would allow itself to not re-scan every file each time I use it. This full scan of the system took 7 minutes.
HOW DOES THE SYSTEM WORK
Like no product is installed. Literally. Let's start with the fact that before installing Norton, I had no antivirus. I had reciently clean installed Windows 10, and all I had was Hard_Configurator in disallowed mode. So, now I have a security suite protecting my PC in real time, and it doesn't feel like anything changed. This is Norton working in the background:
You may be thinking one of two things.
#1 If it consumes so little and the system works as if nothing is installed, it's probably garbage!
#2 Probably if you run an app now, it will take forever to open and resources will go up!
Well well well you little stranger, you're wrong! I downloaded Brave (browser) installer, which downloaded instantly and was not delayed (as more AV delay to scan the item first). After that I double clicked the installer, this triggered Norton File Insight, which is a module that:
- Analyzes the file looking for malicious intents
- Compares the hash in the Norton Community and provides you with statistics on how safe it is and how many users have installed it, as well as the file's information.
Well RoboMan, quit your fanboy talk, how much did it take Norton to analyze the file and give you this info?
Literally, one and a half seconds. After I double clicked the file, I waited around one second and a green Norton box popped up saying it was safe, half a second later this image popped up and I knew it was safe to install. So I decided to move forward with the installing, which took place immediately after I hit next, no delays for installation whatsoever.
This kind of technique also helps you identify a fake installer (you're installing WhatsApp for PC and suddenly you see nobody has installed it, weird, this cannot be WhatsApp installer!)
OVERALL
I also play a lot, like Runescape, League of Legends, use several apps for these such as Blitz, OP.GG, edit with Photoshop, and all these programs run and load with the same times they did when no product was installed. Booting time is insanely fast yet, daily tasks work as fluid as no AV installed, installations and downloads respond as nothing was scanning them, and Norton answers with details and information on everything in the moment.
So, Norton is buggy and slows down the machine even in 2021? That's another myth taken down by RoboMan, the best of them robots