Norton vs. McAfee

As you might imagine, we get a lot of emails here every week.

Among the most common questions are:

1. What's the best antivirus software for [insert some seemingly unique condition here]?
2. What has better antivirus protection Product X or Product Y?

Questions like these are what led to the creation of this head-to-head antivirus comparison section so consumers could easily compare one antivirus application versus another and get the best solution for their particular needs.

This page compares:
Norton Antivirus vs. McAfee Antivirus.

---

$39.99* Vs. $39.99*

Which Has the Best Real-time Protection?

Norton	McAfee
Norton's real-time antivirus protection is still an adequate option for PC security. However, this year's real-time protection has a heavy footprint, creating a slow PC experience. Even though Norton's antivirus engine is still good at what it does, it's still too resource-intensive for normal use. Testing showed Norton's real-time protection to be equally effective as other name-brand antivirus applications.	MaAfee's real-time antivirus protection is about the same as it was last year: average. Independent testing showed McAfee to have too many holes in their real-time protection capabilities, letting a few noticeable viruses slip by from time to time. Even though no antivirus is ever 100% accurate, McAfee should be able to do much better considering they're such a big name-brand.
RESULT: Winner Norton Even though Norton can be a resource-hog, it still out-performs McAfee in real-time protection this year.

Which is Most Effective Against Spyware?

Norton	McAfee
Norton's antispyware component has been shown to be just as efficient with spyware as it is with viruses and other malware. Antispyware definitions are often updated within 5 minutes, which helps keep your computer safe with the most current protection. Overall, independent testing showed Norton's antispyware feature to be a solid companion to its antivirus feature.	McAfee's antispyware component could be much more effective. Independent testing showed that McAfee let several known spyware threats get through undetected. Plus, spyware definitions are only available for download on a daily basis. With today's minute-by-minute threats, once a day simply isn't fast enough. Hourly or better updates are what are needed for maximum PC spyware protection.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton passed the test for antispyware protection due to better overall testing results.

Which Has the Lowest Resource Usage?

Norton	McAfee
While Norton has managed to streamline their product much more this year, they they're still having trouble reducing the sometimes heavy resource usage. During manual scanning, Norton used about 1/4 less memory than McAfee did. Norton was neck and neck with McAfee when it came to CPU usage. During real-time protection, Norton slowed things down by coming in over 4% total memory usage while McAfee hovered around 4% exactly. For the occasional manual scan, Norton does alright, but real-time protection is where Norton still lags behind.	McAfee performed slightly better than Norton, but is still on the heavy side when it comes to resource usage. McAfee used 1/4 more memory than Norton did during a manual scan. McAfee came in nearly equal with Norton on CPU percentage used. During real-time protection, McAfee did slightly better than Norton, but still too heavy for our tastes.
RESULT: Tie Both McAfee and Norton need to work on cutting their resource usage.

Which Has the Best User Interface?

Norton	McAfee
Norton provides a very detailed and sometime cumbersome user interface experience. The majority of navigation links are presented on the left side of the screen. However, more navigation links appear at the top of other pages. This can present a confusing challenge to those wanting a centralized navigation. Then there are multi-layer tree-navigation links on other screens, and then several pop-up screens as well. All of this combined makes Norton's user interface more confusing than it needs to be.	Even though McAfee's user interface is plain and simply designed, it does what it's supposed to do. The user interface is easy to use and easy to understand. All features are listed on the left side for easy navigation. System status is clearly labeled on the right side for quick reference. Both advanced and basic options are available for all user levels.
RESULT: Winner McAfee Compared to Norton, McAfee's user interface is a clear and simple enough for any user.

Which Has the Best Customer Support?

Norton	McAfee
Norton's customer service is still not as good as it could be this year. Phone customer support is still only a paid option despite the fact that many antivirus companies are now offering free phone support. Norton still has a solid knowledge base, but they need to offer free phone support to keep up with the competition.	McAfee's customer tech support offers FAQ pages, knowledge base, email, and chat for free. However, if you need to contact them for phone tech support, McAfee charges $10-$60 for each incident. Phone support simply needs to be free, in our opinion. There is a "Virtual Technician," but robotic services rarely get to the root of the matter. Overall, McAfee's support is average, but needs better phone support.
RESULT: Tie Both Norton and McAfee need to find a way to offer free, customer tech support.

Which is Easiest to Install?

Norton	McAfee
Norton's installation process is lighter and faster than previous editions, taking only one or two minutes typically. The install wizard will walk you through all necessary steps needed to complete the installation. There is one important thing to consider, however. If you choose to uninstall Norton antivirus, all registry elements may not be completely removed (this can cause issues for your PC down the line). Their LiveUpdate feature also needs to be separately uninstalled. While the install is fast and easy, the uninstall isn't as clean as it should be.	McAfee's installation process is simple and straightforward for the most part. The installation is fast and uncomplicated (install times will vary per PC). The standard install wizard walks you through all necessary questions needed to complete the installation process without any noticeable problems.
RESULT: Winner McAfee Due to Norton's poor uninstall feature, McAfee wins this round.

Which Has the Best Email Virus Protection?

Norton	McAfee
Norton's email antivirus protection does a decent job when it comes to protecting your inbox from spyware and viruses. All standard email clients such as Outlook or Outlook Express are supported. Any other clients that support POP3 and SMTP are also supported (such as Thunderbird or Eudora). However, since Norton uses the same antivirus engine for email protection as it does for overall PC protection, your PC could experience even more resource-usage issues.	McAfee's email antivirus protection is average and could use much more work to be effective. McAfee supports all POP3 and most web mail applications. However, McAfee didn't perform as well as expected in overall email protection. On top of that, many customers have reported that McAfee hasn't performed well in the email protection arena.
RESULT: Winner Norton Even though Norton tends to be slow, it still does an adequate job with email protection.

What's the Best Antivirus Software?

Norton	McAfee
Norton has been able to revive some of their previous status as top-dogs this year with a solid antivirus engine. However, there are still several issues with their product that need fixing. Their paid phone support is still an on-going issue from year to year. The user interface is far too cluttered and complicated for the average user. While resource usage is better, it still needs to be streamlined for faster performance. Norton antivirus is still a viable antivirus option for some, but consumers how have many more options available to them.	McAfee is still one of the top selling antivirus software applications on the market today, but they've let a few things slip by this year. Their lower test rankings show an inconsistent block and capture rate. Resource usage is average, but still slow during some scanning sessions. Free customer phone support is still lacking this year when others have wisely moved on to free support. McAfee is still a decent option for loyal users, but McAfee can't depend on name recognition alone in the future if they want to survive.
RESULT: Winner Norton Norton only slips by as winner this year due to a solid antivirus engine. They just need to work on their overall performance, customer support, and presentation.

Norton vs McAfee: Conclusion

Norton	McAfee
#1 $39.99*	#2 $39.99*
* $35.99 with our exclusive coupon.	* no coupon available at this time.
CONCLUSION: Winner Norton