Symantec Endpoint Security Protection review for home use! - Andrew3000 personal feedback - standard unmanaged client

Product name
Symatec Endpoint Protection 14.2 - Client on PC (standard unmanaged client)
Installation (rating)
5.00 star(s)
User interface (rating)
4.00 star(s)
Accessibility notes
Well, being a product primarily addressed to the use endpoint so the UI is not simple but at the same time not too complex. Don’t expect a modern interface, the UI style is old (the first time the UI can be tricky but don't worry It will be easy to learn everything).
Performance (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Core Protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Proactive protection (rating)
5.00 star(s)
Additional Protection notes
As you can see here: https://www.av-comparatives.org/enterprise/comparison/ and https://www.av-comparatives.org/tests/business-security-test-march-april-2019-factsheet/
Norton SEP is one of the best endpoint/av suite on the market.
You can personalize every single aspect of the protection.
The heuristic is strong, can detect a lot of malicious program (even if sometimes it exaggerates, showing false positives but nothing negative).
SONAR is literally the key of this product, can detect 0-day malware easily, this SONAR is stronger than other Norton products (Norton Security Deluxe).
The Exploit protection and the firewall are very good.
To conclude, if you are looking for an endpoint product to use for the protection of your home PC, Norton SEP is a great alternative (30 days of trial included!).
Positives
    • Many features
    • Low impact on system resources
    • Lightning fast scans
    • Highly configurable
    • Ransomware protection
    • Strong and reliable protection
    • Detects or blocks in the wild malware
    • Consistently high test scores
    • Accurate results and reliable antivirus engine
    • Virus signatures are updated daily
    • Excellent scores in independent tests
    • Great value for money
    • Features you can't get elsewhere for free
    • Effective malware removal
    • Multi-layer protection approach
Negatives
    • Not for beginners
    • Clumsy or awkward interface (UI)
    • Can be complex in some situations
Time spent using product
Reviewed over a 30-day period
Computer specs
i5 4690K
8GB RAM
GTX 960
120GB SDD - 1TB HDD
Recommended for
  1. Experienced users
Overall rating
5.00 star(s)

Vitali Ortzi

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i7-3630QM: 2.4GHz on average load; 1.22 GHz in idle, turboboost ~3.2GHz
How 1.22 ghz in idle?


Thats outrageous high did you deblot windows ?
Btw I don't recommend running sep on a laptop it drains battery too much!
Note My p8700 with family 4 and under 4gb ram thnkpad runs under 1gz with many tabs open at under 20% load as long as i dont watch a video.(Not running sep)
Make sure to restrict process that you don't require running in the background if you do this the right way you may decrease your attack surface as well
 

Vitali Ortzi

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Hello It really sounds & looks good, but I am gonna stick with BTS, but thanks for the great review. :)
Trust me using BTS saves you the trouble managing SEP .
Just today i made a few rules under production not test/monitor mode
And application and control just made a mass Even didn't allow SEPM to run
XD
Anyway if you'd be interested in SPEM very long Trial PM me
 

Evjl's Rain

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Apr 18, 2016
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How 1.22 ghz in idle?
according to task manager, that's how my laptop manages itself. I haven't touched anything
when there 0-1% of CPU usage, the max. clock speed is lowered to 1.18-1.22GHz. When I click on something, the clock speed returns to 2.4 and raises up to 3.4GHz
I don't know what SEP does in background. When I do absolutely nothing, any AV must stay around 0%, but SEP is not
my experience shows, even with one of the lightest AVs (zemana antimalware), if it never settles at 0% CPU in idle, it will significantly impact the battery life
zemana is one of the lightest products I have ever used but it consumed more battery than Kaspersky internet security! It was version 2, long ago
 

Vitali Ortzi

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When i think about it you can do nearly every thing you can do with application and control module via registry / group policy
And BTS has nearly as good as sep pishing and web protection

according to task manager, that's how my laptop manages itself. I haven't touched anything
when there 0-1% of CPU usage, the max. clock speed is lowered to 1.18-1.22GHz. When I click on something, the clock speed returns to 2.4 and raises up to 3.4GHz
I don't know what SEP does in background. When I do absolutely nothing, any AV must stay around 0%, but SEP is not
my experience shows, even with one of the lightest AVs (zemana antimalware), if it never settles at 0% CPU in idle, it will significantly impact the battery life
zemana is one of the lightest products I have ever used but it consumed more battery than Kaspersky internet security! It was version 2, long ago
In that laptop i run comodo firewall on ltsc with many hard tweaking for performance
I got between 0 to 0.6 cpu usage by comodo fw while browsing and overall under 20% running MalwareTips and a few news sites in tabs
Maybe you should deblot windows and ditch SEP on every laptop imo
Kaspersky is lighter then SEP default
 

Evjl's Rain

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In that laptop i run comodo firewall on ltsc with many hard tweaking for performance
I got between 0 to 0.6 cpu usage by comodo fw while browsing and overall under 20% running MalwareTips and a few news sites in tabs
Maybe you should deblot windows and ditch SEP on every laptop imo
Kaspersky is lighter then SEP default
I agree. I only tried SEP for a few days because I couldn't tolerate its CPU usage
I use Kaspersky free on every other PC/laptop and use WiseVector in my own laptop due to the consistency and performance they have
 

Vitali Ortzi

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I agree. I only tried SEP for a few days because I couldn't tolerate its CPU usage
I use Kaspersky free on every other PC/laptop and use WiseVector in my own laptop due to the consistency and performance they have
Wise vector ai is very good unfortunately it's still a beta product and doesn't have a big user base for getting very high stability i had a a minor BSOD already caused by wise vector and removed it from my main machine(of course reported about it ) .
If stability is important to you.
So i wouldn't use it yet on a main machine even though the high protection it offers and performance .
 

Evjl's Rain

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Wise vector ai is very good unfortunately it's still a beta product and doesn't have a big user base for getting very high stability i had a few days ago a minor BSOD caused by wise vector and removed it from my main machine .
If stability is important to you i wouldn't use it yet on a main machine even though the high protection it offers and performance .
actually, I've been using WV since version 1.x since June 2019 (~10 months). I don't get many troubles with it. When I do, I talked to developer and he supported me well. It's perfectly fine in my laptop
instead, I had BSODs with ESET and comodo. ESET was very unstable on my machine. It's the product of choice for many users
 

Vitali Ortzi

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Version of WVSX 2.09 is not beta (=> 2.53)...
My mistake anyway it's still quite a new product

actually, I've been using WV since version 1.x since June 2019 (~10 months). I don't get many troubles with it. When I do, I talked to developer and he supported me well. It's perfectly fine in my laptop
instead, I had BSODs with ESET and comodo. ESET was very unstable on my machine. It's the product of choice for many users
for example i Never had problems with comodo
(Not including how much malware is flagged by comodo as clean and a few false positives i had to manually write exclusions)
Kinda funny how everyone had some problem with a security software XD
Btw SEP is one of the worst with stability ask any long term sysadmin!
 

marcopaone

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When i think about it you can do nearly every thing you can do with application and control module via registry / group policy
And BTS has nearly as good as sep pishing and web protection


In that laptop i run comodo firewall on ltsc with many hard tweaking for performance
I got between 0 to 0.6 cpu usage by comodo fw while browsing and overall under 20% running MalwareTips and a few news sites in tabs
Maybe you should deblot windows and ditch SEP on every laptop imo
Kaspersky is lighter then SEP default
Do you have a tweak guide to windows' performance?
 

Vitali Ortzi

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Do you have a tweak guide to windows' performance?
Started bby using a few power shells scripts from Reddit then did the rest manually disabling services and registry tweaks
Just look over Reddit and i recommend using ltsc even though you can technically make any windows version as barebones as ltsc if not more with tools like msmg toolkit
 

DDE_Server

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for example i Never had problems with comodo
(Not including how much malware is flagged by comodo as clean and a few false positives i had to manually write exclusions)
Kinda funny how everyone had some problem with a security software XD
Btw SEP is one of the worst with stability ask any long term sysadmin!
so that is prove one thing. the same product may behave different on many machines.Not due to hardware difference only but due to many other factors
such as other software installed/OS installed/it is build/Architecture.
so iam saying protection is not the only factor to measure security soft also it is long term stability and usability
what is the benefit of software provide me with highest protection with tons of annoying false positive which decrease day to day productivity or produce usability issue for OS such as BSOD or boot failure
as i said before software which balance the three factors (performance/usability/protection) is the best in my point of view so may be medium protection with good performance with simple backup solution is best strategy
 

Vitali Ortzi

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SEP unmanaged was always free, don't pay for a license on eBay most likely a scam.
only management part of the endpoint product requires an active license .
symantec.PNG
 

Vitali Ortzi

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@Vitali Ortzi
according this link i don't see difference in protection the only difference is management but i want to know if all settings could be tuned:unsure::unsure: ??
also i want to know where to download the installer ?? or shall i pay for licence for one time :unsure::unsure:??
A lot of settings that are really important to reduce attack surface can't be tuned without SPEM .
SPEM requires a license unmanaged doesn't.
 
Last edited:

DDE_Server

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A lot of settings that are really important to reduce attack surface can't be tuned without SPEM .
SPEM requires a license unmanaged doesn't.
could you tell me an example i donot find any difference between managed/unmanaged except remote administrative tasks and setting adjustment as in the following screenshot
1589366096008.png
 

Vitali Ortzi

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could you tell me an example i donot find any difference between managed/unmanaged except remote administrative tasks and setting adjustment as in the following screenshot
View attachment 239751
Symantec doesn't have the best documentation basically you can't set your own policies if it's for application control with many prebuilt ones for lowering attack surface , other things like host integrity Wich can make sure all your computers in your family have the current updates for windows and other software.
Deception isn't available in unmanaged as well.
System lock down and many many more stuff .
 

Vitali Ortzi

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I agree. I only tried SEP for a few days because I couldn't tolerate its CPU usage
I use Kaspersky free on every other PC/laptop and use WiseVector in my own laptop due to the consistency and performance they have
Did you test installing network and host exploit Mitigation without proactive nor auto protect from SEP .
To complement wisevecter /KSC free?
 

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