Which one should you choose, McAfee Total Protection Essential or Norton Antivirus Plus? Let's do a side-by-side comparison to find out the differences and help you choose the right one. Let's start with a quick comparison.
Quick Overview of McAfee Total Protection Essential vs Norton Antivirus Plus
McAfee essential offers 5 devices license for its total protection product keeping all the features it offers in basic plan. It comes with Scam detector. Identity monitoring and password manager is included in it.
Norton Antivirus Plus is an entry level security software. If you are looking for a simple, powerful and reputed device security software then this is the best option.
Smart firewall and web protection with anti-phishing and anti-spam capabilities make it the right choice.
As a bonus it also includes free password manager in this plan.
Norton provides 60 days money back guarantee and 100% virus removal guarantee.
It also includes a 2GB cloud space to take backup of your important documents.
What I like in McAfee Total Protection Essential
- Password Manager is included
- Identity monitoring is included in the essential
What I like in Norton Antivirus Plus
- Powerful antimalware.
- Password Manager is included
- 2GB cloud backup.
What I dislike in McAfee Total Protection Essential
- Missing mic and camera monitor
What I dislike in Norton Antivirus Plus
- No extra features included.
Features Comparison
Find out the detailed difference between McAfee Total Protection Essential and Norton Antivirus Plus
Common Features
Features that are common in both software. Check out how each feature is different in both software
Antimalware
McAfee's Antimalware has multiple layer of protection to protect against all kind of common threats like ransomware, viruses, trojans, spyware etc. McAfee uses AI based malware detection. I didn't found any other feature to configure.
Norton antivirus provides many scan options to detect and remove any malware like smart scan, custom scan, full scan etc. You can also schedule the scans. In terms of its effectiveness it has scored good in independent testing labs. In our in house test it blocked all the threats effectively. As per my personal long term experience it never missed any threat.
Firewall
McAfee uses Windows firewall to control inbound connections and an advanced firewall for the outbound connections. So basically it uses two firewall. I don't know it is good or bad. But it is offering a two way firewall protection.
Norton has a two way firewall for inbound and as well outbound connection monitoring. It offers intrusion detection and highly customized options to define your own rules. Settings are also easy to manage. A WiFi security is also included in it.
Web-protection
McAfee's web protection alert you about dangerous websites and avoid you to visit phishing websites. McAfee do this with a browser extension named McAfee WebAdvisor.
Norton's web protection provide security from array of threats even without using any browser extension. But for more security Norton recommend to install its Safe Web browser extension. I found two extensions one named with Safe Web and another with Safe Search. Safe search replaces the search engines and provides its own search customize search engine powered by ask.
Password-manager
McAfee's password manager help you to store, organize and autofill passwords easily. Its password manager is named as McAfee True Key. It is a browser based extension. It has the option to import passwords from other popular password managers.
You require to install the password manager as a browser extension to automatically store the passwords. It is a simple to use and powerful password manager to get rid of the password hassles.
Extra Features in McAfee Total Protection Essential
Features that are only available in McAfee Total Protection Essential but not available in Norton Antivirus Plus
-
Vpn
McAfee VPN let you encrypt your connection and make you anonymous on the internet. McAfee VPN is named as Safe Connect.
-
Privacy-tools
In this plan there is not special privacy features included.
Extra Features in Norton Antivirus Plus
Features that are only available in Norton Antivirus Plus but not available in McAfee Total Protection Essential
-
Antiransomware
Its antimalware has the capability to block the ransomware. I found this this second layer of protection a good thing that if some how any ransomware enters in to the system it can alter anything in the protected folders. We can also protect filetypes. For these protected folders and file types we can also allow only certain apps to access them.
-
Cloud-backup
Cloud backup is something that not all antiviruses are providing. It comes with a 2GB cloud backup space in this plan. You can sync your important files and folders to keep them safe. It is a useful feature to secure you important files in case of any data loss.
-
AI Scam Protection
Genie Scam Protection is an AI powered scam assistant, help you to avoid suspicious websites and texts.
Popular Comparisons
