Why do people hate Norton and/or Symantec?
Why do people hate Norton and/or Symantec?
I really like BitDefender—it's a solid antivirus with great coverage. I use MalwareBytes alongside it. Currently, BitDefender holds the top rating in security.
Probably some folks dislike Norton because it used to be overly heavy, slowing down machines. Things have improved now, though it’s still not very fast. I’m also running the free Avast version, but it doesn’t show up with any purchase prompts.
It does penetrate browsers and comes loaded with a system monitoring utility along with other features. I've never managed to eliminate it from any machine without using the specific removal method. This add-on often stops receiving updates once Firefox releases its new version.
I've disliked Norton from the start after it detected a false positive in each of my storage drives once. The scan finished, but an hour later all files were corrupted, mainly because of Norton. Plus, it consumed an enormous amount of resources—its true impact remains unclear.
You're asking about false positives. I understand Malwarebytes focuses on malware rather than viruses, which is different from traditional antivirus solutions. I'm curious about Bitdefender's ranking and who gave it a top spot. Would you like a review of their performance?
The default uninstall process for Norton automatically removes Norton itself when you click to uninstall. Sometimes Norton can trigger false positives, especially if they modify game files. I've sent the file to Symantec for evaluation, which approved it as an exception. After my laptop failure, I tried AVG and it deleted all executables from my code. Luckily, Dropbox wasn't synced at that time.
I haven't installed antivirus in a year; I maintain encrypted files on one drive for safety. I understand which actions are safe and which aren't, perform monthly checks with Avira, yet I always remove it even though I have the business version available at work. The safest method is avoiding downloading unnecessary files.
Norton consumes a lot of resources, particularly on budget machines. *cough* laptop