Do people still use norton on PCs? Is it helpful?

I am keen to hear from people who use microsoft as their regulator OS.

(basically I have about 2 hours to try to find out why my mom’s PC is so slow, it’s old mostly but I wonder if norton is a waste of money)

@Myotis_cuniculus @futurebird
Antivirus software is basically a rootkit. If the computer is running Windon't 10 or 11, Microsoft Defender is generally good enough.

If your mom is up for learning something new and if there are versions of the programs she uses available for it, then "switch to Linux" is a genuinely viable option these days, especially in light of Microsoft's craptacular 2024.

I read most of these replies to my mom, and I think it's helped a lot. She got Norton way back in the 90s when it was the thing to do and has *never* believed me when I've explained it's making her PC slower. After all why would it be "good" to get rid of "anti-virus" ?

But I wanted to check if spending $300+ a year was even worth it. In status monitor it's the top program using the most processing power, and the most memory.

Thank you for the responses!

"The hospital (now defunct) sent me a letter three years ago saying there was a data breech and the letter said that I had one year of free protection from hacking due to their data breech. But only if I had anti-virus software, so that's why I didn't get rid of Norton the last time you told me to get rid of it."

THIS is what I'm dealing with.

That letter was a legal CYA, no one will EVER get to use that "insurance" but things like that do keep some of these outfits in business I suppose.

@futurebird That is a special kind of stupid. Whether the user has antivirus software or not has literally nothing to do with if the company was breached... (Plus as others pointed out, Windows already has Windows Defender.)

I bet they used some service from Norton after the breach and were basically paid/required to push Norton's software.

@nazokiyoubinbou

The more terms the insurance has the less likely they will ever have to pay out. That's all that's about. They lost a law suit over the breech and this was in the court-mandated penalty. They are going through the motions.

Really such letters are almost better ignored. Well except as inspiration to refresh passwords, and more carefully monitor cards.

@futurebird i declined to answer your OP because my instinct has for decades been "if you see the name 'Norton' anywhere, DROP AND RUN" but the fact of the question now itself made me doubt that long-unupdated wisdom

i see it is still current

@apophis

This is also my instinct but I wanted to verify that it was based on the experience of people who use microsoft, which I don't use very often at all.