Norton 360 Antivirus review

Norton 360 is an all-in-one anti-malware solution that protects users against viruses, worms, ransomware, spyware, and phishing attempts, among many other online threats. Its real-time protection suite includes an antivirus, a smart firewall, and cloud storage.

Our in-house tests have shown excellent results, with Norton detecting and removing all malware samples that infected our computer. But it doesn’t stop at malware; Norton provides a number of tools to make you more safe online – a private browser, a VPN, a password manager, a dark web monitor, and more.

However, while Norton 360 is an excellent antivirus, it does have some drawbacks. It was surprising to find that some of Norton’s features open outside of the app itself, which can be slightly confusing for beginners.

In this Norton antivirus review, I’ll not only thoroughly test this antivirus protection capabilities but also analyze how it stands out in the market among other well-known antiviruses. Better yet, you can safely test Norton antivirus too with the risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee.

How much is Norton's annual subscription?

You can get Norton AntiVirus Plus for $29.99 per year for 1 device. While it’s the most affordable of the bunch, it’s still slightly more costly than many other antivirus solutions.

That said, while Norton AntiVirus Plus offers robust protection, there are more budget-friendly options available. For example, TotalAV Antivirus Pro is a similar suite but costs significantly less, only $19.00/year. However, Norton 360 is cheaper than Bitdefender whose similar solution starts at $19.99/year.

Other Norton plans are even more expensive per year. Three Norton licenses will run you $39.99/year, or you can get the Deluxe plan with 5 licenses for $49.99/year.

All plans include full antivirus protection, cloud backup, password manager, and a 60-day money-back guarantee. You can see the breakdown of all of Norton’s plans below:

	AntiVirus Plus	Standard	Deluxe	Select
Price	$29.99/year	$39.99/year	$49.99/year	$99.99/year
Device coverage	1	3	5	10
Malware protection	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
100% virus protection guarantee	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Cloud backup	2GB	2GB	50GB	250GB
Password manager	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
VPN	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Dark web monitoring	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
Parental controls	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes	✅ Yes
LifeLock identity theft protection	❌ No	❌ No	❌ No	✅ Yes

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Generally speaking, Norton offers a good selection of plans at very reasonable price points. Especially compared to other top antiviruses on the market, such as McAfee or Avira. Moreover, each Norton security plan comes with a risk-free 60-day money-back guarantee, which is one of the longest money-back guarantees that I’ve seen.

Considering that there’s no free version of Norton antivirus products, I recommend taking advantage of the free trial and 60-day money-back guarantee, giving you ample time to decide if it’s worth it. Plus, to save money on Norton, you can use our code to get up to 58% OFF your chosen antivirus package.

Also, November brings the best deals and biggest discounts.! Visit our page to find exclusive Norton 360 Black Friday offers.

Norton AntiVirus Plus

Norton AntiVirus Plus is the most basic Norton 360 plan that covers only 1 device for $29.99 for the first year. Although it’s cheaper than other plans, it’s not the best option if you’re looking for something to keep all your devices safe. Especially considering that the renewal would cost you $59.99/year.

Fortunately, a password manager, smart firewall, and a 2GB cloud backup are included. Yet, one of the most important features – Parental Control – is missing.

What’s great is that Norton doesn’t leave even the cheapest plan behind and promises 100% real-time virus and other threats protection.

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Norton 360 Standard

Norton 360 Standard (also called Norton AntiVirus Plus in select regions) costs $39.99 for the first year and can be used on 3 devices. After the first year, you’ll be paying $94.99/year. It offers most of the same advanced security features as the Deluxe and Select options, minus the Parental Control and Privacy Monitoring.

However, it has all the other security features Norton has to offer, including a PC cloud backup of up to 2GB and internet security tools, inlcuding a VPN and password manager. And it also comes with Norton’s 100% Virus Protection Promise, which means that, if Norton can’t fix your virus issue, you’ll get your money back.

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Norton 360 Deluxe

At $49.99 for the first year, there seems to be little reason not to choose the Norton 360 Deluxe instead of its most basic offering. For almost the same price as the standard plan, you can protect up to 5 devices, which gives you a lot more flexibility.

You also get 50GB of PC cloud backup, meaning you can protect over 20 times as many files as you can on the Norton Antivirus Plus. You also get access to Norton’s Parental Controls feature, which is really useful if you have kids.

Lastly, it goes without saying that you’ll also get access to Norton 360 Deluxe's full suite of security features, a VPN, password manager, and dark web monitor included. But if you were to continue with your subscription, please note that renewal price goes up to $119.99/year.

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Norton 360 Select with LifeLock

Finally, if you want full-scale security with LifeLock identity protection and stolen funds insurance, Norton 360 Select is the right subscription for you. However, price-wise, there is quite a big difference compared to the other three plans, with $99.99 for the first year and $179.99 for the yearly renewal price thereafter. This plan includes all the internet security features you'll need – a password manager, a secure VPN, and a dark web monitor.

Other differences between Select and Deluxe are device coverage (Select allows up to 10 simultaneous connections) and cloud backup (250GB versus Deluxe 50GB). So, it’s clear that Select is a huge step up in terms of features, but unfortunately, that also means increased spending.

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Antivirus lab test results

Not only is Norton antivirus safe, but it also has a long history of perfect (or near-perfect) virus detection results. Even during the most recent independent AV-test testing period, it managed to score a maximum of 6 points in protection, performance, and usability.

In other words, Norton virus protection features caught 100% of zero-day malware, detected no false positives, and had less impact on computer speed than many other antivirus programs. This makes their malware protection untouchable.

Other independent experts also revealed that Norton 360 doesn’t stop functioning even after deleting some of its files, closing down the app’s processes, and unloading drivers.

A test with custom-made ransomware was also a success for Norton: the antivirus program detected the attack in seconds.

In-house Norton antivirus testing results

Even though independent lab results are very useful, I still ran my own in-house tests to evaluate Norton 360’s anti-malware capabilities. Together with the research team, I performed malware detection tests against prevalent viruses and ransomware and evaluated Norton’s ability to safeguard against phishing attacks. Additionally, throughout the entire testing process, we kept an eye on the CPU and RAM usage to see the antivirus’ impact on our computer.

Malware detection test

Protection against malware is the most important job of any antivirus. We put Norton 360 to the test to see how well it fares against various types of malware. This is what we did:

• Implanted 10 different malware samples
• Ran a full scan
• Observed the Norton app’s CPU and RAM usage

A full scan time took about 10 minutes, during which Norton scanned over 400,000 files. I’m used to full scans taking about an hour to complete, so I was pleasantly surprised that it took only 10 minutes.

The full scan results were also satisfying. Norton detected and resolved all 10 malware samples that we’ve implanted into the test computer. I like that Norton gives you an overview of each malware type and explains its risk level as well.

Ransomware test

We took a similar approach when testing Norton’s anti-ransomware protection. The research team implanted 10 types of ransomware onto the test computer. This time, however, we launched Smart, Quick, and Full scans, to see whether they can detect the ransomware.

The results for the Quick and Smart scans were disappointing. Neither the Quick nor the Smart scan was able to detect any of the ransomware samples. Both of these scans took less than a few minutes, however, which may explain why the ransomware was not detected.

The full scan, on the other hand, detected and removed all 10 ransomware samples in under 10 minutes. These results show that you shouldn’t trust the Smart and Quick scans to detect any malware.

Phishing test

Norton provides an anti-phishing browser extension called Safe Web. It’s a simple add-on that blocks you from visiting a malicious website. You can always ignore its warnings and visit the website anyway; however, it’s not recommended.

During our testing, we tried to visit 10 suspicious/malicious websites and found that Safe Web blocked us from 9 out of 10 of those websites.

However, I don’t like that Safe Web is compatible with only three browsers – Chrome, Firefox, and Edge. This means that if you use a different browser, you won’t get any protection against phishing attacks.

Norton 360 security features

Of course, the main thing people want to know about antivirus software is what security features it offers. Luckily, Norton 360 comes with one of the most impressive security suites on the market I’ve ever seen. It boasts real-time threat protection, an advanced firewall, and access to Norton’s VPN.

But what else does Norton’s security suite have to offer? Read on for a full overview of Norton 360 security features.

Feature	What does it do?
Antivirus, malware, ransomware, and hacking protection	Detects and protects against common online threats like viruses, malware, spyware, and ransomware.
Smart Firewall	A two-way silent firewall that works by monitoring the network traffic that’s both sent and received on your computer.
100% Virus Protection Promise	If your device gets infected with malware Norton can’t remove, you will receive a full refund.
Cloud backup	Convenient as secure remote cloud storage that will save space on your personal device.
Password Manager	A handy tool that stores all of your passwords in a secure vault.
Secure VPN	Hides your IP address and encrypts your online activities for an additional layer of privacy.
Dark Web Monitoring	Lets you know whether any of your credentials (bank account, phone numbers, passwords, addresses) have been compromised and posted on dark web marketplaces and forums.
SafeCam	A webcam protection feature. It blocks unauthorized access to your device’s webcam. The feature is only available on Windows computers.
Optimize Disk	Cleans your device from duplicated, old, and broken files, and optimizes the device’s performance.
Safe Web	A browser extension that analyzes websites before you visit them to look for any online threats and alerts you about it.
Parental Control	Allows parents to create house rules for their kids' online activities. This includes blocking certain websites and tracking the kids’ behavior online.

What I personally appreciate about Norton 360 is the number of unique features users get access to. I will go over the main security features and share my personal experience using them. Let’s jump right in.

Real-time threat protection

Norton 360 uses artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to monitor all manner of online threats, protecting your devices against malware such as viruses, spyware, and ransomware.

Norton 360 software comes with the option to install the Norton toolbar with Norton Safe Web on your browsers. Once I installed it, I found that whenever I performed a web search, there was an icon next to some search results to indicate how safe the links were:

• Green means it’s perfectly safe to click on
• Grey indicates an unknown URL
• Yellow is a potential risk
• Red is a risky site.

Icons are fully clickable, so you can read the full Norton report on each website you search for.

Even more impressive, this system also works with Twitter and Facebook feeds, as well as web-based emails. And while this sounds like it might be obtrusive and would just clutter your feeds with extra icons, all it does is highlight any risky links in red to keep you safe without impeding your user experience.

Elsewhere, I found the Norton 360 Isolation Mode pretty useful. This handy feature lets you visit a potentially risky site without it causing harm to your machine. It does this by rendering the web page on Norton’s server, thereby stripping it of any dangerous content before presenting it to you. It also stops you from sharing any sensitive data with the potentially harmful website to keep your information safe. Norton antivirus security leaves no gaps for vulnerabilities.

Norton 360 opens supported financial sites in Isolation Mode for added security. For example, I noticed this feature in action when logging into a banking website from a new device. So have your security answers ready.

Norton 360 also defends against ransomware by protecting your documents against modification by an unknown program.

Malware and virus scans

Norton 360 has several scan types available:

• Smart scan – scans your device, checks whether there are any privacy issues with the Wi-Fi network, and tunes up the system.
• Quick scan – scans for malware where it is usually found – in temporary files, system files, as well as running processes.
• Full system scan – scans the device system from head to toe.
• Custom scan – scans specific files, folders, and disk locations.
• Norton Insight – marks any suspicious files that might need a custom scan.

I tested some of the Norton 360 scans, and here are the results:

Smart scan

The smart scan was very quick – it took around 30 seconds to scan around 10,000 files. While the scan found some junk files and registry issues, it didn’t manage to detect any of the 10 specifically planted malware files. The CPU load was around 40%.

Quick scan

The quick scan took around 40 seconds. It also scanned around 10,000 files and didn’t find any of the 10 malicious files planted specifically for research purposes. The CPU load ranged from 25% to 30%.

Full system scan

The full system scan took a lot longer than the smart and quick scans – more than 11 minutes. It also was much more successful than the other scans. Among 300,000 scanned files it managed to find all 10 malicious files. The CPU load was between 70% and 100%.

Smart Firewall

Most firewalls work by preventing outside attacks from accessing your computer via your internet connection. But the Norton Smart Firewall is a two-way silent firewall that works by monitoring the network traffic that’s both sent and received on your computer whenever you’re online. Norton’s smart firewall feature has more functionalities than other antivirus programs out there, such as Avira or Bitdefender.

Norton then uses the two-way silent firewall to offer intrusion protection. It works by monitoring internet traffic and protecting against unwanted communication. This will help keep your machine safe from intrusion attacks. Also, if you decide to disable the firewall, you’re going to get a warning that your device will not be secured anymore.

Aside from that, Norton Smart Firewall offers a nifty vulnerability assessment feature. This works by sussing out any way in which a cybercriminal could potentially attack your machine and guarding against them. I found this feature to be very reassuring, as vulnerabilities appear anywhere from your operating system software and applications to weak passwords.

Norton’s vulnerability assessment will constantly monitor these vulnerabilities and warn you if one is discovered anywhere on your computer. It’ll then make a recommendation to help you resolve the problem. It may, for example, suggest downloading and installing the latest updated version of your operating software. Or it might warn you if a link leads to a potentially threatening site. So it’s great for your peace of mind, it's Norton Internet Security standard.

Norton’s PC cloud backup

Norton’s Cloud Backup feature provides you with secure remote storage for all your important documents.

You’ll get a different amount of cloud backup space depending on what plan you sign up for. But whichever plan you choose, you’ll get a very generous amount of backup space, particularly compared to the competition. Total AV, for instance, doesn’t offer cloud storage with any of its plans.

I found Norton’s cloud backup to be incredibly convenient. It makes it really easy to access your files on your computer, phone, or any other device you use to access the internet. So you won’t ever lose your data if your machine packs up or gets lost or stolen.

But of course, as with all Norton products, the main reason to use it is to keep your machine safe. And in the case of its PC cloud backup, this will keep your sensitive files and data safe from ransomware.

Hackers can use ransomware to encrypt your files, forcing you to pay for the encryption key in order to restore your data. And so, using cloud backup is a very helpful way to defend against this threat. Because your files are safely backed up on Norton’s servers, even if anyone does manage to access them, you’ll still have copies safely stored.

Like the rest of Norton’s features, its cloud backup is really easy to set up and use. When setting it up, Norton allows you to choose which files you want to back up and how often you want this to happen. You can schedule backups on a weekly or monthly basis. I liked the automatic backup option, which backs up your files whenever you’re not using your computer. This minimizes the chance of you losing any data without slowing down your machine when you’re trying to use it.

Norton VPN Standard

When you sign up for a Norton 360 package, you’ll get access to Norton’s VPN Standard as part of your Standard, Deluxe, or Select plan. For those of you wondering, a VPN (or virtual private network) encrypts your internet traffic and hides your IP address to stop anyone from being able to trace your location, identity, or find out what you're doing online.

I find VPNs particularly useful when connected to public Wi-Fi, which is usually not secure and can leave you vulnerable to malicious actors.

Norton VPN Standard features include:

• Ad blocker – blocks pop-ups, banners, or redirects, and protects against malicious websites.
• Wi-Fi security – available on Android and iOS devices. Automatically connects to Norton VPN Standard once an insecure connection is detected.
• Split tunneling – allows excluding certain apps from being encrypted by the VPN. Available on Windows and Android.

Using Norton VPN Standard is really simple and easy because it’s fully integrated with Norton’s security software. However, if you wish, there is a separate Norton VPN Standard subscription.

When I tested Norton’s VPN, I had no problems accessing the geo-restricted content on Netflix (UK and US). In addition, I did not detect any DNS or IP address leaks, which means that you're truly safe when using Norton VPN. I also liked that the VPN blocked all the ads during my session. It’s important to note that it does not serve as protection from malware, however.

Norton’s system optimization

Norton’s system optimization is a neat feature that scans your device for any duplicate, old or other unnecessary files. It removes them, and thus cleans your device from anything that could potentially slow it down or take up storage space.

System optimization features include:

• Disk optimization – scans the disk for free space, optimizes files.
• File clean up – scans temporary files folder, browser temporary files folders, and removes duplicates and old files.
• Startup manager – allows selecting which programs start automatically once the device is turned on, and optimizes startup time.

I tested the optimization feature myself. The difference between a clean and overloaded device was not stark, as my testing PC wasn’t extremely loaded with unnecessary files. Nevertheless, the system optimization feature successfully removed any duplicate or old files that it found.

Overall, it is a nice feature to have, especially if you’ve been using your PC for quite a long time and have a lot of files accumulated.

Impact on performance

Antivirus scans and general background activity put a lot of pressure on your computer’s CPU. Some antivirus programs are heavier than others. For example, Avira used up to 92% of the CPU during the same test, which significantly slowed down the overall PC performance. Luckily, that’s not an issue with Norton 360.

During our previous test, I found that Norton’s full scans take up between 18%-42% of the CPU, with 42% being the maximum detected. Our most recent tests have shown slightly different results, with the full scan taking up to 72% of the CPU. This puts more stress on the CPU; however, my computer was still working just fine.

Compared to Avira, this number is remarkably low. When comparing Norton 360’s impact on PC performance with Bitdefender’s, Norton still takes up less CPU. So, it’s truly one of the best options performance-wise, especially if you have an older device.

Norton 360 – ease of use and setup

Norton 360 offers one of the most comprehensive security suites I’ve tested. It’s compatible with the major operating systems, including Windows, macOS, Android, and iOS. However, I find it strange that it doesn’t support Linux. Norton 360 is pretty reasonably priced for the level of protection you’re getting. But for all that, is it easy to use? Let’s find out.

Norton 360 installation

Norton 360 is pretty easy to download and install on the desktop, although I did find it a little annoying. Unlike other antivirus products, which allow you to download the installer straight from their website, Norton requires you to log in through the browser first.

I installed Norton 360 on a Windows Server 2022 Intel Xeon 8259CL, 32GB RAM. First, I logged into My Norton account and assigned a license to my computer. Then, I selected Download in the Install My Apps dashboard.

From there, the process was pretty simple as Norton walks you through it step-by-step. Norton prompted my computer to open the correct window and gave me instructions on granting Norton the relevant permissions. And within a few minutes, it was up and running. Be mindful that it does insist on restarting your device as a part of the installation process.

As the last step, Norton will give you a guided tour of your software so you know where everything is. And if you ever forget anything, you can refer back to this information by clicking on the cog icon on the home page.

I found Norton’s user interface slightly confusing. The layout is not very intuitive, so navigating through the settings and customizing features seems unnecessarily challenging. While overall functionality is faultless, Norton could improve by making their app design a bit more streamlined and user-friendly.

Another thing to remember is that many of Norton’s features open outside the app. So, whether you want to launch the Software Updater, access your Dark Web Monitoring, or add parental controls, you’ll be redirected to a webpage with more information. A new tab for each function is not quite ideal. So, Norton really should create a more unified interface to enhance user experience. Overall, while Norton’s security is undoubtedly great, a more minimalistic and functional app design could really elevate the general experience.

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Norton 360 mobile apps

The Norton Mobile Security app brings Norton’s best security features to your phone. The app is really easy to set up and use, and the design is similar on both Android and iOS devices. Simply go to the app store, download the Norton 360 app, and sign in – way more simple than the desktop app setup.

It’s got a beautifully simple interface with all the main features available on the homepage. It starts quick scans straight away too. So you don’t even need to tell it to start monitoring your privacy and checking for potential threats.

My main issue with Norton’s mobile app is that there are a lot of features on Norton Mobile Security you can only use if you download separate apps (Password Manager, Secure VPN, and Parental Control).

This is really annoying, as it’s much more convenient if everything is included in one app.

Visit Norton Antivirus

Norton antivirus for Android

Like with most antivirus services, the Norton Android app is more feature-rich than the iOS one. For starters, whenever you open a link, Norton’s Link Guard feature will check if the site is secure in order to keep your phone safe from phishing scams and malicious sites.

The Norton Mobile Security app comes with such features:

• Web Protection to block fraudulent sites that could potentially steal sensitive data.
• Wi-Fi Security, which scans your Wi-Fi connection for possible threats.
• System Advisor that will alert you about operating system threats.
• Safe Search, which will help you to avoid phishing scams and risky sites while you browse the internet.
• Privacy Report, which tells you what data your apps share.
• Anti Malware scanning and real-time malware protection (Android only).
• App Advisor, which checks apps for privacy and potential battery issues.

Norton antivirus for iOS

Norton’s Android app has a few more features than the iOS Norton app for iPhone. But given Apple’s built-in restrictions, that’s to be expected. The interface, however, is very similar if not identical to Android.

The iOS app comes with web protection, a secure calendar, identity monitoring, and Wi-Fi, Device, and SMS security. And, of course, you can get a password manager, VPN, or cloud backup as separate apps.

Customer support

Norton offers a range of customer support options, which include live chat, a 24/7 helpline, a community blog, and an extensive knowledge base.

24/7 live chat	✅ Yes
24-hour phone support	✅ Yes
Email support	✅ Yes
Social media support	✅ Yes (Facebook and Twitter)
Knowledge database	✅ Yes
Community support	✅ Yes

When you first click on the Customer Support page, you’ll be redirected to Norton’s knowledge base, where you’ll find a large variety of very detailed articles on the most frequent issues. There’s also a search bar to help you navigate through help guides and FAQs.However, if you wish to talk to someone, you can opt for Norton’s live chat or a 24/7 helpline.

When I tried contacting customer support via live chat, I was a little annoyed with the whole process. First, finding the contact support button was difficult. Once I found it, I had to sign in, and only then could I start the live chat. I was greeted by a chatbot that tried to resolve my issue on its own. I had to convince it to redirect me to a live agent, and the whole process took way longer than it should have.

Although the live chat agent was friendly and tried to be helpful, they did take their time answering my questions. Moreover, I noticed that their answers weren’t always correct.

However, I did appreciate Norton informing users that it may take longer than usual to get help due to the National Public Data (NPD) breach. This gives users a better idea of how long they may have to wait for support.

Overall, Norton has quite a few customer support channels. Whether you need human assistance or want to figure it out yourself, you’ll find plenty of suitable options.

Norton 360 video review

Take a look at our comprehensive video review of Norton antivirus and all of its ins and outs:

User reviews

Norton 360 has generally good reviews on various user review platforms. Here’s an overview of what the consumers think.

	Trustpilot	Capterra	G2
Norton	4.5	4.4	4.2

The majority of users are satisfied with Norton’s products, particularly with its antivirus software and malware detection capabilities.

A decent number of Norton users have experienced difficulties with customer support, and I agree that contacting customer support via live chat can be a hassle. However, while I had a relatively good experience with the live support agent, many users were connected to agents who had no idea how to solve their queries.

Another common complaint is Norton’s pop-ups that try to sell users upgrades or entirely new products. It seems that it’s impossible to turn them off completely, therefore some users are leaving Norton for good.

All in all, however, Norton 360 seems to offer valuable protection against malware and online threats to most of its users.

Is Norton Antivirus worth it?

Overall, Norton is a great internet security suite that boasts nearly perfect malware detection rates and minimal impact on device performance. There certainly are cheaper antivirus packages out there, but there are few that offer such comprehensive cover. And almost none that can offer this level of protection.

Of course, there are certain negatives such as higher renewal prices, annoying marketing tactics, and a clunky desktop app interface. Generally, however, those are the things that do not make Norton 360 any less worthy of attention.

Additionally, Norton does come with some added extras, like access to Norton VPN Standard and its password manager. So if you already have another VPN plan and password manager you’re happy with, Norton might not be the best value option for you. But if security is your primary concern, Norton 360 is about the best choice you can make.

How I tested Norton Antivirus

Here at Cybernews, we follow a comprehensive antivirus software testing process to give you the most relevant information possible. I collaborated with our research team and tested Norton 360 to give you an overview of its malware, ransomware, and phishing protection capabilities, security features, ease of use, customer support quality, and user reviews. We did in-house testing to evaluate the following:

• Malware protection. Our research team did in-house testing of Norton 360’s malware detection and removal capabilities, including prevalent viruses and ransomware.
• Anti-phishing features. We evaluated Norton’s anti-phishing protection by going to malicious websites and observing how the antivirus software behaves.
• Impact on performance. Antivirus software should be unnoticeable. While we ran malware tests, we observed the app’s CPU and RAM usage.

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See how Norton 360 compares to other antivirus programs

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