McAfee or Norton?

[paulat585]

I've used Norton for years, but when I got a new laptop last spring McAfee antivirus was installed. Now it's time to renew one of them. McAfee is offering me a good 2-year subscription deal. Which do you think is best? I only have a Dell laptop and an older iphone. Thanks

[retiredguy123]

If you have Windows 10 or 11, I wouldn't buy any anti-virus program. I think they are a waste of money. I used to have Norton, but I haven't bought it in several years.

[Michael G.]

This might not be of any help, but doesn't Infinity (Comcast) offer free McAfee ?

[SIRE1]

I have Xfinity as my internet provider and they used to provide Norton for free which I downloaded to my laptop. Last year, they sent a notification that they were dropping Norton, but were providing antivirus protection within the Xfinity system gateway. Don't know who your internet provider is, but if it is Comcast do a Google search on "Xfinity Antivirus". They have instruction on what to do. That checks for antivirus up front and you don't have to buy either Norton or McAfee (or any of the others) for your laptop.

Now for my cell phone and tablets, I've downloaded the free version of the AVG Antivirus App. That app has done a good job protecting my android devices.

[retiredguy123]

I'm not sure, but I don't think android devices need anti-virus protection, unless you have apps that you paid for, or you have important files stored directly on the device. You can always do a factory reset and wipe the device clean.

[Stu from NYC]

If you have Windows 10 or 11, I wouldn't buy any anti-virus program. I think they are a waste of money. I used to have Norton, but I haven't bought it in several years.

Over the years Norton has intercepted a number of attacks on my desktop which has Window 10. You can negotiate their price down by 50%.

[retiredguy123]

Over the years Norton has intercepted a number of attacks on my desktop which has Window 10. You can negotiate their price down by 50%.
Stay off those porn sites.

But, seriously, have you disabled Windows Defender to use Norton? If so, how do you know that Norton is better than Windows?

[coralway]

If you stay away from obscure and dangerous (porn) sites, and do not click on suspicious links, you don't need either one.

[Babubhat]

Malwarebytes hand down

[villagetinker]

I had Norton for probably 2 decades, then when they and Lifelock merged, the reliability went down and I had to start making tech support calls. Then ALL of my Windows games stopped working, lots of confusion as most of the info indicated this was due to a Windows update. Fast forward about 18 months and I finally completely deleted Norton 360 from my life (5 devices) after many hours of tech "support" (more like tech UNsupport, now my games are back, so as mentioned above I use windows defender and the support provided by Comcast.

[paulat585]

I knew I could count on you guys for good advice. Thank you all! Wil reaactivate Defender and Xfinity support.

[ThirdOfFive]

I've used Norton for years, but when I got a new laptop last spring McAfee antivirus was installed. Now it's time to renew one of them. McAfee is offering me a good 2-year subscription deal. Which do you think is best? I only have a Dell laptop and an older iphone. Thanks
I have used many Norton products over the years; currently Norton360, which is a bit spendy but which offers several services beyond virus protection such as cloud backup, a VPN (which I don't use: I have ExpressVPN for that) some disc-tuning services, etc. My gripe with Norton is that it runs cleanup and other services in the background while you are working with the computer, which slows things up a bit.

I think it comes down to personal preference; both McAfee and Norton are good products. However if one is offered free--well, in my experience you get what you pay for.

[JoelJohnson]

Can't get a virus on my chromebook, just saying :)

[ROCKMUP]

I knew I could count on you guys for good advice. Thank you all! Wil reaactivate Defender and Xfinity support.

As a N. Calif. boy I applaud your decision and would add that you should run malwarebytes every so often and Ghostery all the time.

[dewilson58]

Ford vs. Chevy

:shocked:

[OrangeBlossomBaby]

I let Windows Defender do most of the work, PC Magazine and TechRadar both consider it a solid, well-built security system. Not the best, but better than several of the ones you have to pay for.

I run malwarebytes once in awhile, and ccleaner as well but I don't keep either of them running all the time.

I used to use Kaspersky, but their nag screens were annoying when my subscription was near the expiration date and then Windows Defender actually improved for the first time in 15 years.

[SFSkol]

I would say neither. Use the Microsoft built in Defender. Currently, I think better than any add-on program. Use that with Malwarebytes free , (that you must run occasionally manually) will adequately protect your PC's OS. Don't forget to also protect your browser with extensions, like an Ad-Blocker, and Ghostery (a privacy filter.)

Linux and chromebooks don't need OS protection but an Ad-Blocker and Ghostery are recommenced for your browser. I also find the the CyberGhost browser extension useful.

(45 years PC repair experience, still using an EeePC 900a netbook from 2008 with Linux Mint)