Battle F Secure Safe or Norton Security Deluxe

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F Secure Safe or Norton Security Deluxe
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BigWrench

Level 17
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Well-known
Apr 13, 2014
845
Just as the title implies.....Looking for bug free, light, and strong AV. (I have been using F secure on win 10 only, because it lacks a firewall)
I'm quite happy with both, that is my conundrum. I'm torn here peeps.
Your thoughts? PLEASE, just pick from the two, and give me your input.
THANKS
 

Bryan320

Level 8
Oct 11, 2019
293
It's very hard to pick and choose on this one....... We don't know where Norton is going to be in a year or so? The company has had multiple lay offs employees and consumers don't seem to be very happy. Broadcom just doesn't seem to be interested in the products development. it's getting smaller and smaller. it will be interesting to see if comcast will drop them as a service for it's customers.
 

Like a Western!

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
Apr 6, 2016
440
F-Secure.
-almost always TOP product in every month test since 2019
-the good feeling that the company not only fight for your online safety but also for your online privacy
-DeepGuard is not lower than SONAR if it's not better ( i think it is better tho )
-very very fast growing company in every term of cybersecurity
-very good database ( Avira and their own engine )

the only reason that anyone would prefer Norton on F-Secure is firewall and that's mostly geek guys that like to play with firewall settings which is totally useless anyway since IF a "home user" going to be a targeted person who some hackers really want to reach to his/her system, the best option is a router and hardware firewall. anything that Norton firewall do, windows firewall do as well.
the firewall in products is just a marketing nowadays.
 

MacDefender

Level 16
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Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
I would personally vote for F-Secure. The Avira cloud signatures is great, F-Secure DeepGuard is pretty much one of the best BB's against zero day EXE malware. It has an in-house heuristic engine that does great against Office macro viruses, leaving scripts as one of the few weaknesses (and scripts are a tough nut to crack).

Norton's primary advantage is network protection -- it doesn't just have an outbound firewall, but it also has an intrusion protection system that can be your last line of defense when malware phones home.
 

BigWrench

Level 17
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Apr 13, 2014
845
WOW... 2-1 in favor of F Secure. As a current user, I've been using it for a few months, and I REALLY like is. Absolutely simple, lite, and snappy. Used it in the pre Avira days and didn't really care for it. Used to be a resource gobbler with like a dozen + processes running.
Not sure it would be a 2-1 ratio before they started using Avira.

Is it lite????? You tell me. At idle, with 6 Edge windows running and Outlook open.

Screenshot - 5_23_2020 , 7_03_24 PM.png
 
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L

Local Host

WOW... 2-1 in favor of F Secure. As a current user, I've been using it for a few months, and I REALLY like is. Absolutely simple, lite, and snappy. Used it in the pre Avira days and didn't really care for it. Used to be a resource gobbler with like a dozen + processes running.
Not sure it would be a 2-1 ratio before they started using Avira.

Is it lite????? You tell me.
View attachment 240954
Task Manager does not show accurate resource consumption, F-Secure uses around 400MB of RAM (as much as Malwarebytes). In terms of Performance Hit, it is low since they switched to Avira (RAM usage =/= Performance Hit).

F-Secure is extremely poor in terms of disinfection, and Deepguard is inferior to SONAR. You guys can see the Malware Hub for the poor results from F-Secure, in comparison to Norton (but for Home Users should be more than enough).

The reason I voted F-Secure is mostly cause Norton not only has a gloomy future, but is unstable (somewhat buggy in comparison to Symantec).
 

Vitali Ortzi

Level 22
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Well-known
Dec 12, 2016
1,147
Task Manager does not show accurate resource consumption, F-Secure uses around 400MB of RAM (as much as Malwarebytes). In terms of Performance Hit, it is low since they switched to Avira (RAM usage =/= Performance Hit).

F-Secure is extremely poor in terms of disinfection, and Deepguard is inferior to SONAR. You guys can see the Malware Hub for the poor results from F-Secure, in comparison to Norton (but for Home Users should be more than enough).

The reason I voted F-Secure is mostly cause Norton not only has a gloomy future, but is unstable (somewhat buggy in comparison to Symantec).
I can totally agree with you.
Other then the fact I don't think f secure uses that much ram .
My recommendation choose the lighter product.
 
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MacDefender

Level 16
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Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
Task Manager does not show accurate resource consumption, F-Secure uses around 400MB of RAM (as much as Malwarebytes). In terms of Performance Hit, it is low since they switched to Avira (RAM usage =/= Performance Hit).

F-Secure is extremely poor in terms of disinfection, and Deepguard is inferior to SONAR. You guys can see the Malware Hub for the poor results from F-Secure, in comparison to Norton (but for Home Users should be more than enough).

The reason I voted F-Secure is mostly cause Norton not only has a gloomy future, but is unstable (somewhat buggy in comparison to Symantec).

F-Secure didn’t do the best in the Hub but it didn’t do that badly either, not sure I would call it poor.

@harlan4096 's testing from the past year is summarized here:
Malware Hub Report - F-Secure 17.8 Beta - January 2020 Report

There was only one test where files were encrypted, and that was a script actor and WiseVector was the only other data point for that sample pack.

Everything else it didn't look like anything actually harmful was left behind on the system for the missed samples. They either did nothing or were incompletely disinfected and left traces behind.

I think this is fine for the average user. If you're unlucky enough to find yourself getting a zero day where DeepGuard intervenes, then you probably need to use a 2nd opinion scanner to clean your machine (or nuke it). I don't personally place much value on disinfection.
 

Tiamati

Level 12
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Nov 8, 2016
574
-the good feeling that the company not only fight for your online safety but also for your online privacy

Interesting, I never heard about this, can you tell me more?

...
Btw... I don't like Norton. I had some recent bad experience with it. But F-SECURE usually have a LOT of false positives in av-comparatives tests. However, idk how it is doing in the real life

I wouldn't choose any of them. If i had to choose for characteristics i would get

Low system impact and good quality: ESET
Focus on privacy: EMSISOFT
Top quality (but privacy concerns): Kaspersky
Great quality and privacy: Bitdefender
 

Like a Western!

Level 9
Verified
Well-known
Apr 6, 2016
440
Interesting, I never heard about this, can you tell me more?
you probably was not around that much cause anyone who is a bit paranoid about privacy knows that he can only trust in F-Secure G DATA and Emsisoft in terms of Privacy. F-Secure is not only a cybersecurity company but it's also a privacy company(F-Secure - Wikipedia)
there were even a tweet by Snowden that was somewhat like "the only company that you can trust in not having ties with governments is F-Secure"

ofc Emsisoft is even better since they are virutal and it's just harder for government to force them to do anything against their willing but that's just a theory.

yet i don't really trust any phisycal company as a paranoid user about privacy since they just can be easly threatened, i am playing with Companies customer services and privacy policies since 2016 and it was a concern to me since back then, one thing that i've learned is that they always choose their market first. i had a tragedy with F-Secure recently i used to be their die-hard fanboy since 2018 back then they had partners distributor in Iran, this year they just removed Iran from their country list and when i've contacted them and complaint about that they just told me(SECURE: Complete - Like a Western! Security Config 2020) that if they did not stop selling products to Iran well they would get hard sanctions on their own company, so they actually chose the US market over customer protection, that just a failure in a company who keep telling people that can be trusted against governments. BUT you're not from Iran. F-Secure would be still one of the bests in what it's doing.
 
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MacDefender

Level 16
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Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
Btw... I don't like Norton. I had some recent bad experience with it. But F-SECURE usually have a LOT of false positives in av-comparatives tests. However, idk how it is doing in the real life

I tried to break down one of the recent false positive tests. I don’t think it’s as concerning as the labs make it out to be. False positives are a serious issue but the testing methodology leaves a lot to be desired (no offense to anyone who still installs Microsoft Encarta from their 12 year old DVDs....)
 

BigWrench

Level 17
Thread author
Verified
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Well-known
Apr 13, 2014
845
I've decided to run F Secure on Windows 10 machines (because F Secure lacks a firewall, and Win10 firewall is fantastic)
And run Norton on Windows 7 machines (Win7 firewall not up to snuff vs Win10 firewall IMHO)

I appreciate ALL the feedback. Was quite shocked by the poll results, but I have confidence in the member's opinions! (y)

THANKS AGAIN!!! ;)
 

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