Symantec’s latest version of its antivirus security suite also includes a VPN (which we have reviewed here: Norton Ultra VPN review), system cleanup, and privacy-based features depending on the subscription plan you opt for.

Similar to its previous versions, Norton 360 downloads and installs easily and requests permission to access your entire hard drive for file scans, as well as permission to create a new network extension should you decide to use its VPN features.

Take a look to see how Norton 360 compares to the other Mac Antivirus apps we have looked at in our round up of the Best Mac antivirus apps.

While menu navigation in Norton 360 can still feel a little convoluted and take some getting used to, the program still gets to work and does it well.

The application feels more like a suite, offering antiviral tools as well as file cleanup, cloud backup, a Smart Firewall feature, parental controls, intrusion prevention, a Safe Web feature, quarantine, browser extensions, and access to Norton Private Browser, which is based on the open-source Chromium browser. These tools do a good job of warning you away from spam and phishing-based websites, but it’s not perfect and still allowed me to travel to questionable websites that appeared via my Gmail’s Spam folder. 

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container"><button class="lightbox-trigger" type="button">
<svg fill="none" height="12" viewBox="0 0 12 12" width="12" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<path d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z" fill="#fff"></path>
</svg>
</button><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">

Norton’s Firewall.

</figcaption></figure>

Foundry

Where its antiviral core features are concerned, once you’ve assigned the application full access to your Mac’s hard drive and let it go to work, the results are impressive. External volumes were easy to scan and set up to be automatically scanned, with only a few elements, such as AdWind, slipping through in random tests. Quick and Full scans on both internal and external hard drives proved speedy, with Norton 360 offering a handy progress bar and percentage tracker in its user interface, and it was easy to scan specific folders, external volumes, and create whitelists of regions to avoid scanning to save time.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container"><button class="lightbox-trigger" type="button">
<svg fill="none" height="12" viewBox="0 0 12 12" width="12" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<path d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z" fill="#fff"></path>
</svg>
</button><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">

Antivirus protection from Norton.

</figcaption></figure>

Foundry

Symantec has been working on and marketing Norton’s privacy tools for several years now, and the offerings are useful, but still decidedly mixed. In addition to its Norton Privacy Browser, which works well but seems limited to a dedicated third-party security browser such as Brave, Norton 360 offers its Safe Web extensions, which can be downloaded and installed for the Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, and Microsoft Edge web browsers.

The results of testing with these proved mixed, and the Safe Web extension allowed visits to every spam website tested under Microsoft’s Edge browser, while issuing sporadic warnings and still allowing traffic to questionable websites under the Mozilla Firefox web browser. The Safe Web extension performed the best under the Google Chrome web browser, and both displayed warnings as well as blocked malicious code installation attempts, but still allowed access to some scam-based websites.

<figure class="wp-block-image size-large wp-lightbox-container"><button class="lightbox-trigger" type="button">
<svg fill="none" height="12" viewBox="0 0 12 12" width="12" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg">
<path d="M2 0a2 2 0 0 0-2 2v2h1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 1 .5-.5h2V0H2Zm2 10.5H2a.5.5 0 0 1-.5-.5V8H0v2a2 2 0 0 0 2 2h2v-1.5ZM8 12v-1.5h2a.5.5 0 0 0 .5-.5V8H12v2a2 2 0 0 1-2 2H8Zm2-12a2 2 0 0 1 2 2v2h-1.5V2a.5.5 0 0 0-.5-.5H8V0h2Z" fill="#fff"></path>
</svg>
</button><figcaption class="wp-element-caption">

Norton Browser Extensions.

</figcaption></figure>

Foundry

Other tools, such as the VPN feature and the File Cleanup module, worked well, even though their offerings were less customizable than specific applications for these tasks. The fact that you can schedule file cleanup for both internal and external volumes came in handy.

• The VPN is more basic than a dedicated client, it’s easy enough to configure your preferred country of origin and initiate a connection. For other VPN options, see our round ups of the best VPN for Mac and best VPN for iPhone and iPad.





• The password manager is reliable and includes a downloadable recovery key, should it be needed, and there’s an admirable level of possible customization on the firewall, albeit you’ll need some technical knowledge going in so as not to get yourself in trouble. We have mo