Give me arguments for keeping Norton Security after Comcast drops free

I have been using Norton Internet Security since dirt was young, provided for free by my ISP Comcast. Now Comcast is trying to pull a switcheroo to get me to rent their new "security enabled" gateway. To which I say, "phooey, I bought my own cable modem and I want to keep using it." So Norton Lifelock is offering me six months free usage before they start charging $75/year.

I'm Ok with paying for a full-coverage suite. But before I sign up, I want to know WHY I should do this:

1. Are there better paid security suites?
2. Is Windows Defender really, truly as good as if not better than Norton? The money is not the issue here, not when system and network security is at stake.

I tried the Norton free trial just this month and dropped it immediately. My own testing showed that the Norton VPN leaks DNS. Maybe you don't need the Norton VPN--I certainly don't because I use a different one, but if such a so-easily tested feature of Norton doesn't work at all, what are we to think of the rest of the product? Do things that aren't easy to test work? Way too sloppy for me.

Norton gives you more than the anti-malware capabilities of Microsoft Defender [Windows Defender].
- You might as well assume that the anti-malware detection & removal capabilities of both utilities are more or less the same.

Go to Norton's website where they will regale you with stories about how wonderful the additional capabilities of Norton 360 are.
- Password manager
- VPN
- whatever

If you decide that those additional capabilities are worth paying for then give them your money.
If you don't decide that then use Microsoft Defender [Windows Defender] and consider installing the free version of MBAM so you have a built-in second opinion ready for use.

- I use Microsoft Defender [Windows Defender] and I run a scan with MBAM once a month or so to check that nothing nasty has got past WD.

Denis

ignatzatsonic said:

I don't think many here use a "suite", paid or otherwise.

I use only Defender and Malwarebytes. Maybe you could call Malwarebytes a suite? I think its about 20 a year to new users? I'm not sure how many here use it and it alone.

Based on your post, I wonder if you'd ever be confident in anything but Norton, considering your long and apparently successful experience with it and your indifference to cost.

If you are satisfied with what you have, why not keep it?

All you can get here are anecdotes and pointers to "tests", which many will quibble with, based on their own personal preferences.

As the OP, I forgot to mention that I also have a paid copy of MalwareBytes.

In general, I like free utilities and applications. However, for security, the downside risk of big financial loss, identity theft, etc., etc, is such that I will gladly pay a reasonable amount for better protection.

two months ago, my desktop was hit with some really nasty malware that turned off the Norton firewall. I tried to turn on the Defender firewall, but that also got turned off. In each case, I would turn on the firewall, it would stay on for maybe five seconds, and then get turned off again. Scans turned up nothing. At that point, I realized that I was dealing with some pro level hackers, so I had to reformat Windows and reload all my applications, reconfigure everything, etc. Days and days lost.

Fortunately I keep all my data on a separate D partition, so when I reformatted C I didn't have to worry about data loss.

I would gladly pay something reasonable to not have that experience again.

Can't provide an argument for, quit using Norton after Symantec bought it and fairly quickly did away from some of Norton's other programs.

x509 said:

two months ago, my desktop was hit with some really nasty malware that turned off the Norton firewall. I tried to turn on the Defender firewall, but that also got turned off. In each case, I would turn on the firewall, it would stay on for maybe five seconds, and then get turned off again. Scans turned up nothing. At that point, I realized that I was dealing with some pro level hackers, so I had to reformat Windows and reload all my applications, reconfigure everything, etc. Days and days lost.
Fortunately I keep all my data on a separate D partition, so when I reformatted C I didn't have to worry about data loss.

Since you did not have to disinfect your D drive, that sounds more like a fault than malware.

System imaging would have reduced your recovery time to less than half an hour.
Macrium Reflect is often recommended in this forum for making system images. Other utilities are available but this one is so commonplace that you can get plenty of help for it.

Backup and Restore with Macrium Reflect - TenForumsTutorials
Macrium Software Macrium Reflect Free
Macrium USB - TenForums
Macrium Reflect KnowledgeBase - user guide [version-independent link]

It can also make bootable system images. This facility is called viBoot and it requires Win10 Pro.
Macrium viBoot - Macrium KB
Macrium viBoot - Create Virtual Machine using Macrium Image - TenForumsTutorials

Denis

I gave up on Norton because it became so bulky and a memory hog even with 16 gigs.
then there were the "occasional" ads and the insistent nags to upgrade to 360 or whatever
and no way to turn them off.