When I turned the real-time protection on and tried downloading the same malware sample archive, Norton blocked the download and immediately quarantined the zipped file. Norton’s real-time protection also performed really well. I like that Norton scanned my computer without any slowdown too. The scanner took just 40 minutes to check every file and folder on my PC. Norton found every malware sample I hid on my system (I downloaded the same malware sample archive I used to test Malwarebytes).

Norton’s malware scanner uses a large malware database in addition to machine learning and heuristic analysis. Combined, these allow Norton to detect both known and new malware threats. Again, it’s not as good as Norton, but it’s still better than the default protections built into Windows and Mac. That said, I like Malwarebytes’s real-time protection, which blocked 98% of the malware samples I tried to download. The scan took over 3 hours to finish, and while a 95% detection rate is good, Norton had perfect malware detection rates (and was much quicker). I hid each sample in different locations on my Windows 11 PC - including inside critical system folders - and ran a full system scan. I downloaded an archive containing 1,000s of malware samples, including ransomware, rootkits, computer worms, and more. Malwarebytes found 95% of malware samples in my tests. Like Norton, it uses an extensive malware database and heuristic analysis that blocked the majority of malware samples on both my Windows and Mac devices. Malwarebytes’s anti-malware engine works well.

Malwarebytes vs. Norton: Malware Protection

If you’re only after a basic antivirus with essential protections, then go with Malwarebytes. If you want the best antivirus suite in 2023, go with Norton. Norton has better malware protection, web security, features, and customer support.

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