The Norton 360 security suite is hailed as one of the best antivirus programs around, and it ranks #2 on our best antivirus list. It has excellent malware detection rates, offers good real-time protection, and is possibly the most feature-rich antivirus application. But what security features does Norton’s security suite offer? And what’s the difference between Norton’s AntiVirus Plus, Standard, Deluxe and Premium plans?
Is Norton 360 safe?
Not only Norton antivirus is 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 (February, 2022), it managed to score a maximum of 6 points in Protection, Performance, and Usability.
In other words, Norton’s security suite 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. Click here to Buy Norton 360 Deluxe.
Norton 360 security features
Of course, the main thing people want to know about antivirus software is the security features it offers. And luckily Norton 360 comes with one of the most impressive security suites on the market. 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.
Real-time threat protection
Norton 360 uses some clever artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning to monitor all manner of online threats, protecting your devices against viruses, malware, spyware and ransomware.
Norton 360 software comes with the option to install the Norton toolbar with Norton Safe Web on your browsers. Once you’ve installed it, you’ll find that, whenever you perform a web search, there will be an icon next to each search result to indicate how safe it is:
- Green means it’s perfectly safe to click on
- Grey indicates an unknown URL
- Yellow is a potential risk
- Red is a risky site.
If you want to find out more, you can click on the icon to read a full report on the link.
Even more impressive, this system also works in 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, we 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. It’s worth noting that this makes it appear to a banking website that you’re logging in on a new device. So have your security answers ready.
Norton Secure VPN
When you sign up for a Norton 360 package, you’ll get access to Norton’s Secure VPN as part of your plan. For those of you wondering, a VPN (or virtual private network) hides your IP address to stop anyone from being able to trace your location, identity, or find out what you’re doing online.
And it encrypts all your online data to protect you from hackers and to ensure your online activity remains private. This is particularly useful if you use public Wi-Fi, which is usually not secure and can leave you vulnerable to hacks. It can also be a vital tool for those who need to stay anonymous or for anyone who values their online privacy.
Using Norton Secure VPN is really simple and easy because it’s fully integrated with Norton’s security software. So you don’t need to download an extra app. It’s just there on your Norton home screen.
When you switch it on, it connects automatically to the fastest server outside your country. However, if you want to choose which country you want to connect to access region-restricted content, you can do this manually. By the way, Norton’s VPN allowed me to access the geo-restricted content on Netflix (UK and US). This is great, as not all VPNs are able to do this.
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.
My main complaint with Norton Secure VPN is that it’s not very feature-rich and has no kill switch. If the VPN drops out, you’ll still get a warning from Norton. But in the meantime, your real IP address will be immediately exposed. Don’t forget that a VPN doesn’t give you malware protection.
Also, it seems that Norton VPN blocks P2P traffic, as I was unable to download an Ubuntu installer through BitTorrent with the VPN enabled.