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Windows Defender or Norton 360?

Pghpooh

Pghpooh

Senior member
HI
Finally bought a new laptop.
Laptop has windows defender loaded and ready to use.
I am a Comcast internet customer and as part of the service Norton 360 is available for free,
I've used Norton 360 for years.
But,,,, in your opinion,,, what do you think is the better antivirus?
Running defender now and it seems slow. Past experience with Norton is I think it's slow.
Laptop has ssd drive which helps,,, but??? Would like fasterl LOLOLOL
Seriously,,, what do you feel is best???? Or,,, possibly reccomend another brand.
 
What is the make and model of the laptop. Is it windows 10? Where in PGH are you? I'm in Oakdale.

Generally a new laptop comes loaded down with speed and memory eating programs that have a large impact on performance.
While we wait for your specs, let the computer and it's programs do all their updates for a few days. That alone can make a substantial difference.

Give the computer a week unchanged before deciding what to stop and remove.
 
The days of definition based av are just about done. I'd use defender since it doesn't have many annoyances. Norton is technically better due to higher definition counts, but that comes at the cost of more hassle, and potential problems while still allowing new viruses in. I don't recommend av on any computer I manage. YMMV
 
From my experience, Norton is very much superior to Windows defender, and not just in terms of protection, but performance as well. When I use Defender, my PC is noticeably slower; especially when it comes to extracting and decompressing files. I would only recommend using Defender if you have safe browsing habits, ie you don't visit torrenting websites or any other high risk websites, and if you couldn't afford a better antivirus. But since Norton is free for you, there's no reason not to use it.

I'm currently using the latest Norton Security right now, version 22.9.2.12, and to me it runs very fast and is stable on the Windows 10 Creator update RC 15063. This version of Norton is also native 64 bit as well, so it has no 32 bit processes anymore like previous versions had.
 
HI
Thanks for the info. laptop is a dell inspiron 256 gig ssd, 8 gig ddr4 ram, etc. No bloat ware on the machine. After 3 days using machine, it's still doing updates, etc. Will give it week to settle in and then clean out old files from updates, etc. Will keep defender till things settle then try norton as it is free from comcast and compare how things work out.
Thanks
Pghpooh
 
Is it worthwhile using the Norton from Comcast? I just run Windows Defender in Win10, and I've not noticed any real slowdowns because of it.
 
I would not put any software from Comcast anywhere on my network. Hell, I don't even have any hardware from Comcast on my network!

If you insist on using Norton, I'd see if Comcast will give you the license key and use it with the downloadable installer from Norton's website directly.
 
The only annoyance with Defender is that you have to run Windows Update to install definitions.. not quite automatic and AV depends on definition updates. I would use BitDefender if you are concerned with security at all because Defender is a baseline protection that most serious malware is designed to defeat.
 
PliotronX said:
The only annoyance with Defender is that you have to run Windows Update to install definitions..
Click to expand...

Not quite sure what you mean hear. The Windows Update process runs all the time, Defender defs are updated 2 or 3 times a day. It's automatic, just like any other AV.
 
Ketchup said:
Not quite sure what you mean hear. The Windows Update process runs all the time, Defender defs are updated 2 or 3 times a day. It's automatic, just like any other AV.
Click to expand...

PliotronX means that you can't disable Windows Updates (like if you have a production machine that you do not want auto-updated) & still get signature updates because Windows Defender updates are delivered through Windows Update. If you disable Windows Update, you disable Windows Defender updates. Otherwise, you either need to do it manually through Microsoft's public security portal website, or create a task to get signature updates on a schedule (i.e. daily) by running the MpCmdRun.exe executable with the -SignatureUpdate argument:

http://www.thewindowsclub.com/update-windows-defender-automatic-windows-updates-disabled
 
Again, not quite sure why you would be online with Microsoft's latest OS and not be receiving security updates automatically. Honestly, if I had to choose, I would take Windows Updates over daily AV definition updates.
 
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