Review by J. Friedman

I’ve been using Symantec/Norton security software exclusively on all my PCs and Macs for at least a decade. This review pertains to the PC/Windows environment only.

Over the past few years I had been noticing system slowdowns that seemed to be related to things like auto-download and installation of frequent updates of virus definitions. I figured that’s the price I’d have to pay to keep my PC and data safe. I’ve been reading over the past year or two, though, that McAfee users seemed to feel the software and updates didn’t bog down Windows (XP) as much.

After installing this software via the included CD (I much prefer buying software online these days…personal preference), I did a few startup tests to note extra delays (McAfee definitely loaded faster); virus scans to monitor speed (no viruses here, fortunately), and made sure to monitor an online update/download while my PC was running 4 or 5 other applications, the way I usually work. I heard some disk activity but barely noticed a slowdown in the other processes.

I’m going to stick with it for a while, especially since this comes as a 3-user pack, but I hate the idea of wasting the 200+ more days of Norton virus updates I already paid for. Also, the McAfee scans did drive home the welcome realization that the Norton/Symantec software I had been running was doing its job pretty darn well. On the other hand, I’m certainly willing to change at this point.

I think what I’ll do is run McAfee for a while on my main desktop machine and Norton on my main laptop. We’ll see if a change is in order…or whether it really matters one way or the other.