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Norton Security 7.1.1 For Mac
. Pros Certified by one independent testing lab. Firewall blocks exploit attacks. Cleans up unneeded files. Now includes password manager.
Cons Expensive. Poor score against phishing sites. Limited detection of Windows malware. Firewall's application control generates many pop-ups. Bottom Line Symantec's Norton Security Deluxe delivers excellent Mac antivirus protection along with a two-way firewall, a password manager, and a cleanup tool to recover disk space. Norton antivirus protection has been around since PCs ran DOS and displayed only text. Back in the late '80s, before Symantec acquired Norton, Symantec Antivirus also existed as separate choice for protecting Macintosh computers.
These days, Norton Security Deluxe for Mac goes far beyond those early attempts at protection. While this excellent software is not as full-featured as the corresponding Windows edition, it offers more than simple malware protection, with a firewall, exploit prevention, phishing detection, and more. Once the system reboots, Norton prompts you to install extensions for Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. Just keep clicking where it tells you to and you'll soon have all your browsers protected. It also launches a quick tour of program features. If you miss the tour, you can launch it again from the Help menu.
The main window has a white background with a security status indicator occupying most of the real estate and five green icons across the bottom: Security, Scans, LiveUpdate, Advanced, and Clean. When you click one of the icons, its details and settings slide in to replace the status indicator. The color scheme is much the same as that of the Windows-centric, but the two aren't much alike beyond that.
Quite a few features of the Windows edition don't show up on a Mac. Among them are the spam filter and the startup program manager. New in this edition, you get a utility to clean up junk files. You pay $89.99 per year for a Norton subscription, which lets you install protection on up to five macOS, Windows, or Android devices. Among current Mac antivirus products, only Intego costs more, listing at $99.99 per year for three licenses. However, both Norton and Intego offer more than just antivirus protection.
On the other hand, is also a full security suite, and its pricing matches that of many standalone Mac antivirus utilities. The price range for my current collection of Mac antivirus products starts at zero. You don't have to pay anything for Sophos Home. As with Windows antivirus, the most common single-license yearly price is $39.99, and several products offer three licenses for $59.99. That same $59.99 per year lets you install McAfee antivirus on all your macOS, Windows, Android, and iOS devices. There's quite a spread here, both in pricing and in what you get for the price.
Support for old versions is a bugaboo in Windows. XP is dead, and Vista is on the way out, yet tons of PCs still run these outdated platforms. Mac users, in my experience, are more likely to keep up with the latest versions of their OS. Norton supports the current macOS plus the two previous versions, so now that macOS Mojave is out, you'll need Sierra (10.12) or better, the same as what Kaspersky supports now. Those stuck on an old operating system should probably consider Webroot or, which extend support back to Lion (10.7) and Snow Leopard (10.6), respectively. Norton really should take care of any malware attack, but on the off-chance it doesn't, the company's Virus Protection Promise kicks in.
You have to enable automatic renewal to get this service, which seems fair. Norton's tech support experts will analyze your problem and, if necessary, remote control your computer to wipe out the sneaky attacker. In the unlikely event they can't get rid of it, the company will refund your subscription price. McAfee offers a similar promise. Good Scores From a Malware Protection Lab I like to get my hands dirty, hitting products with real-world malware and noting their reactions. Alas, most of my testing regimen just doesn't carry over to macOS.
Fortunately, a couple of the big international antivirus testing labs test Mac antivirus too. As with Windows antivirus utilities, rates Mac antivirus tools in three categories: accurate protection against malware, small effect on performance, and few false positive results (valid files or websites identified as malicious). Products can receive up to six points in each category, and Norton did exactly that, for a perfect score of 18 points., Intego, and Trend Micro also managed a perfect 18 points. Schedules and Scans Like many Mac antivirus products, Norton lets you choose between a full scan of your entire system and a quick scan that just looks in the most likely places. The time required for these scans varies wildly from product to product, but Norton is on the speedy end of the spectrum.
Its quick scan proved to be truly quick in my testing, finishing in 50 seconds. Was even faster, with a 30 second quick scan, but Webroot leads the pack, completing a quick scan in just 17 seconds. The average full-scan time for recent Mac antivirus tools is 24 minutes. Norton finished a full scan of the MacBook I use for testing in just 14 minutes. Here again, is even quicker, completing its full scan in two minutes. At the other end of the scale, Sophos took 45 minutes to get through a scan on the same Mac. I copied the malware collection from my Windows antivirus testing to a thumb drive and challenged Norton to clean it up.
It didn't do so well, detecting just 59 percent of my assorted threats. It's true that Windows malware can't hurt your Mac, but eliminating it ensures that your Mac won't be a carrier bringing infection to other devices on your network. In theory, once you've installed your antivirus and completed a full scan, real-time protection should handle any new infestations that crop up. That being the case, Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and eschew scheduled scans. Symantec votes with the majority, letting you schedule a weekly scan on the day and time of your choice.
You can also choose whether to run a full system scan, a scan of all user folders, or a scan of just the startup disk. Phishing Protection Disappointment Phishing is the term we use for websites that masquerade as financial sites or other sensitive sites, hoping to steal login credentials from unwary victims. Unlike malware, which generally must be tuned to a specific operating platform, phishing works on any platform and any browser. All it requires for success is an inattentive user.
In the past, I used Norton as a touchstone for phishing protection, reporting each product's score based on how much it diverged from Norton's detection rate. Earlier this year, though, I found that Norton was no longer consistently achieving detection in the high end of the 90 percent range, so I switched to simply reporting each product's raw detection rate. I do still report the difference between the product's detection rate and that of the phishing protection built into Chrome, Firefox, and Internet Explorer. I tested the macOS product simultaneously with on Windows. Given that both products implement Norton Safe Web protection as a browser extension, I am not surprised to see the same results on both platforms. What is surprising is the low, low detection rate, just 40 percent.
That's the lowest score among Mac antivirus products that include phishing protection. All three browsers fared substantially better than Norton just using their built-in phishing protection.
Among macOS-oriented products, McAfee earned the best score, beating out all three browsers and achieving 100 percent protection. Tested on Windows, Kaspersky did the same, but only managed 84 percent detection in the latest macOS test. Holds second place in Mac antiphishing, with 90 percent detection.
Going beyond the other firewalls, Norton includes active protection against exploit attacks on vulnerabilities in the operating system and popular applications. You can view the impressive list of attacks blocked, and even dig in for an online page describing each.
A feature called DeepSight blocks contact coming from a constantly updated list of known attackers. Application blocking, disabled by default, prevents unauthorized programs from using your network and internet connections. If you turn it on, you get a pop-up query each time Norton sees a new program attempting a connection.
When I turned it on for testing, it didn't generate as many popups as when I last evaluated the program. I did have to give permission for Chrome to access the internet, but that was about it. Norton's Windows firewall is vastly more sophisticated. To start, it automatically configures permissions for a huge collection of known and trusted programs.
The Mac edition clearly doesn't; it asked me whether to allow Chrome to go online. When the Windows version doesn't recognize a program, it monitors that program closely for suspect behavior and cuts the network connection if it detects abuse. Even though it doesn't come up to the level of the Windows firewall, the firewall in Norton's Mac edition does more than most. If you enable application control, be prepared for an initial flurry of pop-ups. Once those are past, it should be smooth sailing. Decent Password Management.
In my review of, the successor to Norton Identity Safe, I point out that the documentation and features aren't entirely synced up across platforms. For example, the documentation clearly states that macOS is not supported. And yet, you'll find that on the Mac Norton offers to install the password manager along with Norton Safe Web.
Given that the password manager functions as a browser extension, it makes perfect sense that it would work on a Mac just the same as on Windows. The addition of the password manager isn't precisely a bonus, since you can get Norton Password Manager for free, but it's a nice addition. Read my review for full details. Briefly, Norton Password Manager handles basic password manager tasks such as password capture, password replay, and filling web forms, and it can sync your data across all your Windows, Android, iOS devices, and macOS devices. It now includes an actionable password strength report with automatic password updates for popular sites. However, it lacks advanced features, among them secure password sharing, digital inheritance, and two-factor authentication. Norton Clean New with this edition, Norton Clean aims to regain some disk space for you by eliminating files you don't need.
Norton For Mac Free
It can remove duplicate files, including duplicate photos and duplicates in your iTunes account. There's also an option to identify similar files and let you remove any that aren't necessary, for example 720p and 1080p versions of the same movie. Finally, it gets rid of junk files left by applications and other temporary files. On my test system it quickly found many files to sweep away. I let it eliminate the junk and temporary files, but I wasn't so sure about the handful duplicates in iTunes and Photos. And when I checked its list of similar files, I found many that most definitely shouldn't be deleted. For example, it found a set of files created around the same time, with filenames differing only in a digit at the end—these were notes on a day's worth of talks at Black Hat, and all different.
As for the actual duplicates, most were CSS (Cascading Style Sheet) files. To be fair, on a Mac that someone actually uses for day-to-day work, Norton would very likely find many more actual duplicates and junk files. Norton Clean is definitely a welcome addition to this suite.
Norton For Mac Download
Excellent for Mixed-Platform Households Your $89.99 per year subscription to Symantec Norton Security Deluxe for Mac does let you install protection on five devices (macOS, Windows, iOS, or Android), but it's still a higher entry price than most. In addition, you get a lot more when you use one of your licenses to install protection on a Windows box, or even an Android device. While Norton is excellent, there are even better choices—especially if you have a Mac-centric household. Kaspersky Internet Security for Mac is also a suite, though with a different feature set from Norton, and it's priced the same as many standalone Mac antivirus utilities. In addition, it has certifications from two independent labs to Norton's one.
Norton For Mac
Bitdefender Antivirus for Mac also earned two lab certifications, and it took the top score in every lab test. While Norton is a very good product, Kaspersky and Bitdefender remain our Editors' Choice winners for Mac antivirus.