Is norton just shit then?

[procrastinatingagain]

If so, what should I be using? Annoyingly, I've just renewed it for another year. It says it's blocking a threat, and has removed a Trojan, but the internet still keeps crashing. I've now downloaded malwarebytes anti malware (the free one), and it's scanning at the moment and has found 3 objects do far. Am I doing enough? Would appreciate advice from people who know more than me please! Thanks in advance

Norton is usually rated as one of the best products by the experts. I would certainly use that in preference to Malwarebytes given that the producers of Malwarebytes do not submit their product for expert independent testing.

How is the internet crashing?

Hi, thanks for replying. I seem to remember that I've used malwarebytes successfully as a supplement to norton when I've had a problem before. Might have been something else though. Stupidly I didn't make a note of the message, but it was something to do with norton blocking a threat. I've only just gone back on the laptop and so far it hasn't crashed (fingers crossed). The mwb is still scanning.

You wouldnt use Malwarebytes in preference to Norton as they are two different things,one is an antivirus and the other is a malware scanner,they should be used in conjunction with each other.

malwarebytes is regarded as being the best at what it does,use it alongside weekly virus scans.

one is an antivirus and the other is a malware scanner

Pardon? As someone who used to work in the PC security industry I can assure you that those are two different terms for the same thing. The industry prefers to use the term "malware" as technically "virus" only describes a particular type of threat (one we don't really see these days) whereas "malware" covers all kinds of malicious software. However, the general public understand the term "virus" so anti-malware applications tend to be referred to as antivirus.

malwarebytes is regarded as being the best at what it does

No it isn't. The fact they have never submitted their product for independent testing by AV Test, AV Comparatives or VB speaks volumes.

I used to use FreeAVG and something else (can't remember what it was called - helpful, I know)

As someone who used to work in the PC security industry I can assure you that those are two different terms for the same thing.,sorry that is crap,norton will find things that malwartebytes wont and vice versa,as has been described in the ops post,i

No it is not crap. Anti-malware and antivirus are the same thing. Ask any computer security expert.

As malwarebytes has never been submitted for testing by experts I would be highly suspicious of its detections. Many of the poorer products on the market detect as malware things that are perfectly genuine.

In the most recent test by AV Test, Norton detected over 99% of nearly 20,000 genuine malware samples used - somewhat better than the industry average. That included detecting 100% of samples of malware that is in the wild, i.e. the stuff that is circulating now. The chances of any product finding something Norton has missed are very low.

Malwarebytes have refused to allow authoritative independent testers to publish the results of their tests. Why do you think that is? That really does tell you everything you need to know about the product. Anyone in the industry will tell you that their claim to detect malware that other antivirus software misses is not credible.

For what it is worth, all the major antivirus vendors and most of the second tier vendors share samples with each other so a single reputable product is all you need to protect your PC.

So if Nortons rated so highly( not by the techs and geeks that I know) and its all you need why did it miss things on the OP,s pc and Malwarebytes detected them.

There is no evidence that Norton missed anything on the OP's pc.

There is no evidence that the stuff Malwarebytes detected was actually malware.

If you like I'll produce a scanner you can run on your PC which will detect things both Norton and Malwarebytes have missed. It will be wrong - everything it detects will be an ordinary, uninfected file. But by your reckoning it will be better than both Malwarebytes and Norton.

Thanks everyone for your replies. After I ran the mwb, the problem stopped, but I accept that it could have been norton working away which did it, or mwb, or both. So I think I'll have a look at some other advice because it's obviously a controversial subject! Thanks again

OH is a computer geek and recommends using Avast, which is free.

I agree with Bunbaker's OH that Avast is the best of the free products. It gets very good ratings for detection and usability in expert independent tests. The only downside is that it is a bit slow. The only other free product worth considering in my view is Panda's Cloud Antivirus.

Of the paid products the best are BitDefender, F-Secure, Kaspersky and Norton. All rate well for detection, performance and usability.

It isn't really a controversial subject within the antivirus industry. Whilst everyone likes to believe that their own product is best there is general agreement as to the strengths and weaknesses of the various products. For example, I worked for one of the 3 largest players in the industry (not one of the companies named above) and there was general acceptance at that time that Kaspersky had the best antivirus engine, although it was let down by some other aspects of their products.

If you want an authoritative view of the various products visit www.av-test.org and www.av-comparatives.org.