Norton improves on most data breach monitors by using live human agents who are paid to infiltrate dark web forums — Norton’s dark web assistants can find data that most companies can’t, and they can give you advice and feedback in the event that your information is found on the dark web. Overall, Norton’s malware scanner is excellent— the full system scan detected all of my test malware without slowing down my PC, and the real-time protection blocked all of the malware samples I tried downloading.

Privacy Guard: Blocks ads and trackers to improve your browsing experience (although a few ads were able to bypass this feature in my tests).Did you know from the moment you subscribe, a Norton expert is available to help keep your device virus-free or give you a refund 2? To pass the first test, the antivirus software needs a perfect score, while the malware test offers two scores: Level 1 for blocking every malware and Level 2 for having some malware slip through but being destroyed in 24 hours. The alert appears as a pop-up window from the side of your display, with the option to see further details on the harmful software. As you can see, my download speed was barely affected— with Norton’s VPN on, I was still able to stream HD video and browse the web without any noticeable slowdown. It’s available in more languages than any other product I’ve tested, and its phone and live chat representatives are generally extremely helpful and knowledgeable.

Most antivirus software uses a malware directory, cross-referencing the code of each scanned file against thousands of known malware files, but Norton’s consistently ranks among the best on the market. Utilities Ultimate cleans up cached browser files, Windows junk files, and registry files in real time (so you never have to run a system tune-up scan).

Norton’s full disk scan took about 40 minutes to complete on my PC, which is faster than most competitors (the average full scan time is 1 hour, though many brands take much longer). Norton 360 Standard, which lies between AntiVirus Plus and Deluxe, is kind of in an odd middle-ground as it isn’t that much cheaper than Deluxe – it’s around 20% to 30% less, depending on discounts – but still only offers single device support. Unfortunately, social media is exactly where you’ll find scams and dodgy links leading to malware-infested pages. If online security is a priority, and you don’t want any chink in your armour, Norton 360 Platinum has your name on it.