need help re anti-virus protection

For the past few years, I've had Norton in addition to primary Malwarebytes.

My original Norton was the $39. antivirus plus. Gradually, Norton adds "services" that I don't want and didn't ask for, like "dark web" monitoring. My new bill is $104 for 2 devices.

After trying for an hour to make contact with Norton by Chat or Phone, I gave up and terminated Norton. I don't know what protection I need and can install to supplement Malwarebytes Premium.

Can you make a suggestion? I suffered a severe Trojan crash a few years ago; need to avoid that happening again.

Thank you both very much. I'm having trouble getting Defender Real Time to turn on in Security Settings. It says, "You're using other antivirus providers."

noguru11 said:

Thank you both very much. I'm having trouble getting Defender Real Time to turn on in Security Settings. It says, "You're using other antivirus providers."

You have leftover Norton files on your computer. Anytime Windows sees that it will think you have a different AV and will not allow Defender to start. As others have suggested, run the dedicated Norton removal tool and also search and remove any Norton files from your registry and C drive. After you get Defender started, you can use the free ConfigureDefender tool to turn on extra protection that is not enabled in the basic Windows Defender.

Download ConfigureDefender 3.0.1.0

Run the installer in Admin mode and set it to High to enhance WD. You have to restart the computer for the changes to take effect. WD with Configuredefender is just as good as any paid AV. WD does not nag you with upsells or ads either and is least likely to cause compatibility problems with Windows updates. WD with a good ad blocker like Ublock Origin is all you need on a modern Windows 10 or 11 system. I don't use the full Malwarebytes app but I do use the Malwarebytes Browser Guard extension to help avoid trackers, ads and phishing. It's a good tool.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/browserguard

[QUOTE=Compumind;2369515]@noguru11 -

Something isn't quite right...

I just renewed my Norton 360 (Three Devices) - 2 years for $69.95 USD.
Perhaps you need to call them again - no live chat or email. Ask for Academic Pricing.

No Academic email address needed.

You can easily turn off Dark Web Monitoring and the like.
HTH,
This is so disturbing! I couldn't find a way to turn off Dark Monitoring, and price boost to $104, after it was $39 the previous year, happened automatically

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Jimmy, thank you very much for your advice, which I will definitely follow. Defender is now working, though I didn't download anything. I left the Browser Guard unchecked, but I will check it now.