Battle Norton Antivirus Plus or Emsisoft

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Emsisoft Antimalware
Norton Antivirus Plus
In-depth Comparison




Tibro

Level 1
Thread author
Verified
Dec 10, 2017
40
Hello,

I bought a new powerful PC and need new security solution. I want to enjoy performance so first of all it would be low system impact, light.
I frequently work with large number of files (documents, pictures etc.), with remoted computers and intraweb solutions via browsers. Heavy multitasking of course. :D Tried windows defender but i felt it really heavy when i tried to use large files.

My new PC is:
Intel i5 9400
16 GB DDR4 RAM
SSD
Windows 10 Pro
 

Dhruv2193

Level 10
Verified
Well-known
Nov 7, 2016
468
In protection both are good. None of them will disappoint you. Norton has SONAR which has improved very much in the recent years and Emsisoft also has a solid behavior blocker. Don't know about which is better as far as performance impact is concerned. Please also try their trials which is the best way to know which is better for you and your PC.
 
Last edited:

alv222

Level 2
Oct 11, 2019
76
Hello,

I bought a new powerful PC and need new security solution. I want to enjoy performance so first of all it would be low system impact, light.
I frequently work with large number of files (documents, pictures etc.), with remoted computers and intraweb solutions via browsers. Heavy multitasking of course. :D Tried windows defender but i felt it really heavy when i tried to use large files.

My new PC is:
Intel i5 9400
16 GB DDR4 RAM
SSD
Windows 10 Pro
Hmmmm... You can see a video from Juan Diaz about norton vs ransomware . He used outdated signatures and set sonar to aggresive. With signatures + SONAR it's great and light. I haven't tried emsisoft but a lot of people say they have a great Behavior Blocker. If you're interested in Norton AntiVirus plus, take a look at norton 360 standard it also has an unlimited traffic VPN. Norton doesn't have a trial. I'm a Norton user since 2 days ago so i'm trying it out
 

MacDefender

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
I feel like testing outdated signatures with a cloud based service like SONAR and even the Emsisoft AM network seems like it doesn’t mean much. Both have cloud reputation that will mark things as bad / malicious simply by file hash so it isn’t necessarily testing just the behavior blocker. You can tell at least with Emsi because it’ll flat out say “recognized as DANGEROUS by the anti malware network”

You’ll either have to defeat that by making small changes to the binaries or maybe repacking them.
.
 

alv222

Level 2
Oct 11, 2019
76
I feel like testing outdated signatures with a cloud based service like SONAR and even the Emsisoft AM network seems like it doesn’t mean much. Both have cloud reputation that will mark things as bad / malicious simply by file hash so it isn’t necessarily testing just the behavior blocker. You can tell at least with Emsi because it’ll flat out say “recognized as DANGEROUS by the anti malware network”

You’ll either have to defeat that by making small changes to the binaries or maybe repacking them.
.
in the video i'm talking about the VM was disconnected from the internet
 

Burrito

Level 24
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 16, 2018
1,363
Emsisoft are the 'good guys' of the business. They will respect your privacy. They also have excellent customer service. And notably... if you have an issue, we have Fabian here... who will help you.

Norton is the better product 'out of the box.' It's better in almost every way.

But once you harden your system and run other programs and apps.... either can easily be the backbone of your security fortress and serve you well.
 

MacDefender

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
I'm like most people here. I have used Norton way back when and I'm still traumatized by high CPU usage and false positives. I would say Emsisoft and just use Norton Power Eraser for second opinion.
It’s definitely worth saying: if your last experience with Norton was years ago, it’s really not the same product today. They’ve gone out of their way to reinvent their products as lightweight and unintrusive. It’s one of the few that you can just run the installer and that’s it. The default config is reasonable for just about everyone.
 

alv222

Level 2
Oct 11, 2019
76
I have just contacted Norton's support, it took some minutes to talk with someone but they resolved my issue, they have a decent support.

I'm like most people here. I have used Norton way back when and I'm still traumatized by high CPU usage and false positives. I would say Emsisoft and just use Norton Power Eraser for second opinion.
It's not heavy anymore it's really light and they have a great vpn, i can get 40mbps with it
 

dinosaur07

Level 12
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Aug 5, 2012
572
Emsisoft are the 'good guys' of the business. They will respect your privacy. They also have excellent customer service. And notably... if you have an issue, we have Fabian here... who will help you.

Norton is the better product 'out of the box.' It's better in almost every way.

But once you harden your system and run other programs and apps.... either can easily be the backbone of your security fortress and serve you well.

Same consideration here. +1. Try both for 30 days and then decide which one perfroms better for you.
 

bjm_

Level 14
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 17, 2015
667
Norton...Their "Sonar" is brilliant.
Hi
Might you offer insight.... why, I've seldom if ever had SONAR Activity.
png_2381.png
Thanks
 

Burrito

Level 24
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
May 16, 2018
1,363
Hi
Might you offer insight.... why, I've seldom if ever had SONAR Activity.
View attachment 229568
Thanks

1573393174057.png


In SONAR Advanced Mode, there is "Automatic" and "Aggressive."

If you move SONAR to 'Aggressive' and download new updates to things.... I'd be surprised if you didn't get activity.

I used to do research on certain topics at home... and I had to turn 'Aggressive' back to 'Automatic' as I had too much activity.
 

MacDefender

Level 16
Verified
Top Poster
Oct 13, 2019
779
Hi
Might you offer insight.... why, I've seldom if ever had SONAR Activity.
View attachment 229568
Thanks

How often do you download sketchy things that less than thousands of others have downloaded?

SONAR is mostly just a cloud reputation scanner but because SONAR has so many users (with Norton being extremely popular both in enterprise and home installations and everyone is automatically opted into contributing to SONAR), it works practically as well as an AV engine just on reputation scanning alone.

Norton's got many other layers of protection too, so perhaps it's not surprising that you don't get personally targeted by a zero day.
 

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