Norton vs. CA

When it comes to purchasing antivirus software, consumers often narrow their choices down to two or three products.

Typically, one of these things isn't a make-or-break part of the decision on which antivirus program to purchase, but it's a comparison of sorts of all of them in some form or another.

Knowing how important each of these things are and and also how important the combination of them is, we set out to help consumers compare each of the top antivirus applications against another one another.

On this page, our comparison has: Norton Antivirus vs. CA Antivirus.

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$39.99* Vs. $39.99*

Which Has the Best Real-time Protection?

Norton	CA
Norton's real-time antivirus protection scores average to good in overall protection, but the heavy footprint makes it too sluggish for many users. Independent antivirus reviews showed Norton to be quite resource-heavy during real-time protection. Despite the slower PC speeds, Norton does do an adequate job at protecting against real-time virus and malware threats.	CA antivirus real-time protection is better this year than previous years. Despite its low test scores, CA still managed to catch the basic virus threats despite its bare-bones structure. Unfortunately, with no antispyware or firewall, CA antivirus is still open to many real-time threats.
RESULT: Winner Norton Even though Norton has a heavy foot-print, their overall record for stopping viruses and malware is still very good.

Which is Most Effective Against Spyware?

Norton	CA
Norton's antispyware feature stacks up nicely when compared to its antivirus feature, proving to be just as effective against spyware as it is against viruses and other malware. Current antispyware definitions are downloaded quickly and easily--often within 5 minutes. Testing proved Norton's antispyware to be adequately effective against incoming antispyware threats as well as finding and deleting old spyware infections.	Unfortunately, CA Anti-Virus has no antispyware features.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton is the clear winner by including a solid antispyware feature instead of having none at all.

Which Has the Lowest Resource Usage?

Norton	CA
Norton's resource usage has dropped considerably this year, but their antivirus engine still tends to run heavy. Independent testing showed Norton antivirus to run a bit lighter than CA overall. However, during real-time protection, Norton continues to bring the total system performance down, often noticeably so. Average memory and CPU usage were recorded during manual scanning, but real-time protection speeds are where Norton fails this year.	Testing showed that CA antivirus had one of the largest resource footprints among its competitors. CA tends to significantly slow down your PC during a manual scan as well as during real-time protection. Despite CA being a bare-bones antivirus application, there's still a lot of processing going on behind the scenes creating an overall heavy resource usage.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton wins only because of it's slightly better performance during a manual scan.

Which Has the Best User Interface?

Norton	CA
Norton's user interface is more complicated and cumbersome than it needs to be. The initial navigation links on the left side are easy to use and clearly labeled, but navigation gets less intuitive as you dig deeper. Rather than stick with a centralized navigation system, links begin to show at the top of some pages and on the left of other pages. You'll also need to dig through several pop-up screens and expandable tree menus to find what you want. Without a centralized navigation system, Norton's user interface isn't as user-friendly as it should be.	CA's user interface is simple and easy to understand. The design and color scheme aren't very appealing, but the user interface is efficient. The front page shows a snapshot of information, then each section is clearly labeled for easy navigation. Advanced users may find this too simplistic, but the average user will have no trouble navigating CA's user interface.
RESULT: Winner CA While CA's interface may be too simplistic, it's less confusing than the numerous settings found in Norton.

Which Has the Best Customer Support?

Norton	CA
Norton's customer support is still challenging for customers this year. While a good knowledge base and support pages are helpful, Norton continues to charge a fee for customer tech support. Most antivirus companies now provide free phone support, but Norton continues to buck the trend. Support pages and a knowledge base may be plenty for some customers, but free phone support is a must in our opinion.	Customer support for CA antivirus still needs a lot of work. Their knowledge base for one thing is difficult to navigate and find what you need. There are too many options making it hard to even know where to start. They offer a search box, but their system is quite picky requiring you to "ask a complete question." If you don't answer correctly, you won't find what you're looking for. Email and chat support are free, but phone tech support will cost $19.95 per incident. In our opinion, phone support needs to be free and easily accessible.
RESULT: Winner Norton At least Norton has a good knowledge base that's easy to navigate.

Which is Easiest to Install?

Norton	CA
Norton's installation procedure is much faster and lighter than previous versions, sometimes taking a mere minute or two at most. The installation wizard guides you through just a few steps needed to complete the installation without any trouble. There is one important issue to consider, however. If you choose to uninstall Norton antivirus, all of the registry components may not be completely removed from your system. This may cause some problems for you down the line. Their LiveUpdate feature also needs to be separately uninstalled from your PC. Even though Norton has created a faster installation process, the uninstall needs to be much cleaner.	CA's installation process is easy and effortless for the most part. The standard installation wizard will ask you a few simple questions, then complete the process without any trouble. The overall install was fast and easy with no significant resource usage to report.
RESULT: CA CA wins only because they don't have the same uninstall issues that Norton has.

Which Has the Best Email Virus Protection?

Norton	CA
The email antivirus protection feature on Norton performs adequately when it comes to in-bound spyware and virus threats. All of the major email clients are supported, including Outlook and Outlook Express. SMTP and POP3 supported accounts will work with Norton as well, such as Thunderbird or Eudora. One downside is that Norton's email protection uses the same antivirus engine for regular PC scanning. This may create an overall sluggish PC experience.	The email protection feature on CA antivirus is not as good as it could be. Independent testing showed CA to be effective against most major viruses and spyware but not enough to be considered truly effective. Overall, there is much to be desired with CA's email antivirus protection.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton's record shows more reliability in blocking and detecting incoming email attacks.

What's the Best Antivirus Software?

Norton	CA
Norton has made some real improvements over last year's efforts, but there's still some work to be done. Norton's antivirus engine in general is still solid, but can create a slow system during real-time protection. They need to start offering free phone tech support for all of their customers. A major redesign needs to be done on the user interface to make it more user-friendly. Overall, Norton continues to be a solid antivirus option for loyal users, but there are plenty of lighter and more efficient competitors on the market today.	CA antivirus simply isn't up to task this year. With no antivirus and a sluggish performance, CA doesn't hold up to the competition. Their help pages are confusing, and charging $19.95 for phone tech support isn't reasonable. For actual antivirus and malware protection, CA only ranks average. Most antivirus software at least has a few bells and whistles (namely antispyware and firewall software that's at least optional). With CA at a higher price this year, they would be well-served to bring something extra to the table.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton's solid antivirus engine is still formidable despite the fact that Norton's resource usage and support leave much to be desired. Compared to CA, however, Norton wins for taking antivirus protection seriously.

Norton vs CA: Conclusion

Norton	CA
#1 $39.99*	#2 $39.99*
* $35.99 with our exclusive coupon.	* $31.99 with our exclusive coupon.
CONCLUSION: Winner Norton