Norton is the best antivirus in 2022. It includes one of the best anti-malware engines on the market, comes with a good range of additional features, and has an intuitive and easy-to-use online dashboard.
AVG’s anti-malware engine isn’t as good as Norton’s, and the company was caught selling user data for a profit. You can read more about the scandal here.
AVG vs. Norton — Final Verdict:
- 1st place:
Norton is better for malware protection, web security, features, ease of use, and customer support. If you’re after the best antivirus in 2022, then go with Norton.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
AVG vs. Norton: Malware Protection
Norton’s malware scanner uses machine learning, heuristic analysis, and a vast online malware database to protect your computer from malware. This includes worms, rootkits, trojans, ransomware, and more. The full system scan took less than an hour to run on my computer, and I didn’t notice any slowdowns.
I tested Norton’s malware scanner by hiding an archive containing thousands of malware samples on my computer. Norton’s malware scanner found every malware sample, including those I’d hidden in zipped folders, and removed them.
I also really like Norton’s real-time protection — I couldn’t even begin to download any samples when I enabled it. I launched multiple simulated ransomware attacks against my machine, and Norton stopped every simulation before any files were encrypted.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
AVG vs. Norton: Web Security
Norton’s Safe Web feature is a great way to stay protected from phishing attacks. In my tests, Norton blocked every sample phishing site I tried to visit, including those that Firefox and Chrome’s default protections missed.
Norton also offers an “Isolation Mode”, which is really cool. When it’s enabled, your browser is forced into a read-only mode. This means harmful web scripts or malware that steal your information can’t run. This makes for one of the most secure ways to enter personal data online.
Finally, Norton offers color-coded assessments of every website listed in search results. Green websites are safe, orange websites are potentially unsafe, and red websites contain malware or are known phishing sites.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
AVG vs. Norton: Features
Norton offers coverage on up to 5 devices and includes:
- Web protection.
- Smart firewall.
- Dark web monitoring.
- Parental controls.
- Password manager.
- Virtual private network (VPN).
- Performance optimizer and clean-up tools.
- Identity theft protection (US only).
- 60-day money-back guarantee.
- And more…
I really like Norton’s Smart Firewall. It monitors inbound and outbound network traffic and alerts you to any network intrusion attempts. It works well, and it was able to block exploit attacks that Windows’s built-in firewall failed to block.
Norton’s parental controls are also pretty good and have various features to keep your kids safe online. They allow you to monitor your kids’ YouTube and Hulu activity, block apps on their Android devices, and set limits and usage schedules across all of their devices.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
AVG vs. Norton: Ease of Use
Norton is pretty simple to download and install. Once you’ve installed Norton, you’re offered two interfaces: My Norton and Classic. My Norton takes you to the default interface, which contains all of Norton’s features on the main screen. Classic is similar to My Norton and offers large buttons to access certain features.
I much preferr Norton’s online dashboard to the desktop app. The online dashboard is responsive and clearly laid out. It lets you configure all of Norton’s features, access the password manager’s vault, and more.
Norton’s mobile apps are really good and easy to use, too. They come with some unique features not available on the desktop version of Norton. For instance, Norton for Android includes an App Advisor that scans the Google Play Store and alerts you to any malicious apps before you download them.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
AVG vs. Norton: Customer Support
Norton offers two customer support options: phone chat and live chat. Each option is available in multiple languages, including English, Dutch, Mandarin, Arabic, and German. No matter which option you pick, you can get in touch with someone most hours of the day.
Most of the time, I connected with a live or phone chat representative quickly. There were a couple of instances where I had to wait (and one instance where the live chat crashed before I could talk to someone). Still, overall I had an excellent experience getting hold of customer service representatives. Each representative was really helpful and offered clear instructions on how to resolve any issues I was having with Norton.
We no longer recommend AVG due to allegations of its unethical practices involving user data. If you want a quality antivirus you can trust, go with Norton or one of our other recommendations for the 10 best antiviruses in 2022.
