Pricing and Pricing Tiers
If you plot the price of popular antivirus apps on a chart, you’ll find a cluster of dots around $39.99 and another cluster around $49.99. That’s for a single license, for a year. With a list price of $49.99 per year for one license, McAfee falls squarely into the latter group. As for Norton, it stands out, but not in a good way. Norton’s price to protect one device is $59.99 per year, $10 more than its priciest competitors.
McAfee doesn’t offer volume discounts, and for a long time, neither did Norton. At present, you can get a five-license Norton subscription for $84.99 per year. That’s still more than the five-pack price for almost all competitors, and there are no deeper discounts for more than five licenses. With a significantly better base price, McAfee takes the win here.
Winner: McAfee
Independent Lab Test Scores
Independent labs around the world rigorously test antivirus apps and report on how well they do their jobs. I closely follow four such labs that regularly release reports. When an app appears in a report, it means the testing lab considered it significant. All four labs routinely report on Norton’s antivirus prowess, while McAfee shows up in the latest reports from three labs.
The labs report their results in varied ways, including numeric scores, pass/fail, and named certification tiers. I’ve devised an algorithm that maps them all onto a 10-point scale and returns an aggregate lab score. The algorithm yields 9.6 points for Norton, 9.8 for McAfee. The more scores involved, the tougher to get a top score, given that each test adds the possibility of a less than perfect score. McAfee edges higher in overall score, while Norton collected scores from more labs. I’m calling this one a tie.
Winner: Tie
Scores From My Hands-On Tests
When an antivirus utility gets top scores from the independent labs, you can be sure it’s effective, but not all antivirus companies choose to participate. For a dependable source of data for comparisons, I run my own tests on every antivirus. Doing so also gives me excellent real-world experience with how each product conducts itself.
My basic malware protection test starts with a wide range of malware samples that I regularly collect and analyze. Each antivirus uses all its resources to protect a test PC against these samples. At the end of each test, I calculate a score from 0 to 10 based on how many samples the antivirus detected and how thoroughly it prevented each sample’s malicious activities.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)McAfee and Norton both regularly earn high scores in this test year after year. Norton carries on that tradition, scoring 9.7 points in its latest test. McAfee, however, had serious trouble when last tested. Its current score of 8.5 is quite low. I anticipate a better result when I test it next.
Preventing malware installation is certainly good, but even better is ensuring that malware never reaches the protected PC. Both antiviruses do their best to fend off malware downloads, either by steering the browser away from danger or by eliminating the malware during download. Naturally, I test this capability using real-world malware-hosting URLs. In their latest tests, McAfee and Norton scored 94% and 99%, respectively. A related test challenges each antivirus with phishing URLs, fraudulent sites that try to steal your login credentials. McAfee aced that test with 100% detection, while Norton came very close with 99%.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)These two both score at or near the top when it comes to browser-level protection against malicious and fraudulent websites. But McAfee’s dismal score in the basic malware protection test makes it the loser this time.
Winner: Norton
VPN Protection
Think of your computer as a walled village inhabited by your data. Your antivirus is the village guard, keeping the peace and protecting residents from malware ruffians, but it has no power outside the gates. Data heading to the next village is vulnerable to beasts, bandits, and other dangers. That’s why you enlist a caravan guard squad, in the form of a VPN (virtual private network). Under the VPN’s protection, your data reaches the server unharmed by any dangers along the way. As a bonus, going through a VPN hides your IP address from trackers and hackers.
VPN protection is an excellent complement to any antivirus. McAfee and Norton both include a full, no-limits VPN in their security suites. Likewise, they both omit VPN from their standalone antivirus apps. With no VPN in either app, this one’s a tie.
Winner: Tie
Firewall and Exploit Protection
Many security companies reserve firewall protection for their suite products, but it’s not uncommon for antivirus products to include this feature as a bonus. Both Norton and McAfee have a firewall component built in, though their implementations differ quite a bit.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)A full-scale personal firewall protects in two ways. First, it protects against attacks coming from the outside, which includes putting your PC’s ports in stealth mode so they’re not visible from the network. Second, it monitors network access by local programs and prevents any misuse of the connection.
McAfee works in tandem with the built-in Windows firewall to manage stealth ports and prevent outside attacks. Its program control features only kick in when a local app connects to a dangerous internet or network address.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)As for Norton, it does all parts of the job, both network-level protection and program control. It doesn’t bombard you with annoying firewall permission pop-ups, choosing instead to manage those internally. In the rare event Norton’s firewall does pop up a query, you should pay attention.
Separate from generally blocking unsafe network activity, Norton watches for specific exploit attacks on vulnerabilities in the operating system and in popular applications. Comparing its full-blown firewall plus exploit protection with McAfee’s partial firewall, Norton is the clear winner.
Winner: Norton
Ransomware Defense
If a ransomware attack gets past your antivirus, you’re in trouble. If you don’t pay the ransom, you’ve lost access to your important files. Worse, the perps may threaten to doxx you if you don’t pay, meaning they’ll reveal your private documents to all. Even if you do pay, you still may not get your docs back. It’s a mess.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)That being the case, the best antivirus tools, Norton and McAfee included, build in extra layers of ransomware protection. Norton’s Data Protector feature prevents unauthorized changes to documents in its protected folders, while McAfee simply includes ransomware protection as one element in its real-time protection system.
To test Norton’s ransomware chops, I turned off real-time antivirus, disconnected my test virtual machine from the network, and released a dozen real-world ransomware samples, one at a time. Data Protector detected 11 of the 12 and prevented changes to all protected files. However, most of the samples encrypted files outside the protected folders, from a handful to thousands of them. And one ransomware attack got past Data Protector, encrypting important files in the protected folders. Do bear in mind, though, that all regular antivirus protection was disabled for this test.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)As for McAfee, I found it was not possible to turn off real-time antivirus without also disabling ransomware protection. I managed to run a test anyway by using a new set of hand-modified samples. Some of my tweaked ransomware files slipped past the regular antivirus, only to be caught by the ransomware component. But one of them defied all of McAfee’s protective layers, encrypting over 10,000 files and blaring its ransom note across the screen.
It’s true that Norton missed one sample in testing, but that was with all other protection layers turned off. McAfee managed to miss a tweaked sample even with every system active.
Winner: Norton
Secure Backup for Files
I mentioned what a disaster a ransomware attack can be. Even if your antivirus gets an update and wipes out the ransomware it missed, your files remain encrypted. Unless, that is, you can restore your files to the newly cleaned-up system from backup. Keeping thorough, up-to-date backups is its own kind of security.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)Norton includes cloud-based backup in its entire product line, starting with the standalone antivirus under examination here. The main difference is the amount of hosted cloud storage provided. With the antivirus, you get 2GB. That’s not a lot, but it may cover your most important documents. At the top tier of Norton’s LifeLock-equipped suite, that amount rises to 500GB.
The backup system is diminished in several ways from what Norton used to offer. You no longer have the option to create local backups or to define multiple backup jobs with different settings. And it doesn’t store multiple versions of backed-up files, so if a damaged file gets backed up, you can’t go back to an earlier version. But McAfee doesn’t include backup at all, not even in its maxed-out suite, so Norton is the winner here.
Winner: Norton
Breadth of Security Features
When you install a new antivirus, you expect it to jump into action, clearing out any malware that sneaked in while you were unprotected. After that, it must stay vigilant, preventing any new attacks. An antivirus that accomplishes these tasks has earned its name, though most go a bit farther by adding browser-based protection against phishing frauds and malware-hosting websites.
(Credit: Norton/PCMag)Of course, you don’t win prizes by just doing the minimum. The best antiviruses add bonus features to enhance your security. For example, McAfee’s Tracker Remover and Norton’s File Cleanup tune up your system’s performance; Norton expands that tuning with a manager for programs that launch at startup. Other than this, their approaches to add-on features diverge.
McAfee’s unusual cryptojacking prevention detects apps and websites that try to hijack your CPU cycles to generate cryptocurrency for their own benefit. A PC that’s running inexplicably slow might be fully occupied mining bitcoin for a hacker in Peru—McAfee makes sure that doesn’t happen. It also includes a file shredder for secure deletion of sensitive files. After a file goes through the digital shredder, its data is totally gone. Nobody, not even the NSA, can get it back.
(Credit: McAfee/PCMag)Norton’s bonus features are both more mainstream and more numerous. Its Secure Browser puts privacy first and offers a collection of browser-specific security bonuses. You can use Norton to create a rescue disc or thumb drive, for when entrenched malware keeps you from even booting into Windows. And it comes with Norton Password Manager.
The list goes on. Norton’s Software Updater identifies and applies missing security patches for your apps. Privacy Guard prevents advertisers and other trackers on the websites you visit from profiling your online activities. Wi-Fi Security foils attacks such as DNS spoofing, man-in-the-middle, and more.
(Credit; Norton/PCMag)Granted, McAfee goes beyond the most basic antivirus capabilities. But Norton packs in so many features that it’s almost a security suite.
Winner: Norton