It even blocked phishing websites that the default protections in most web browsers missed. I tested Norton’s Safe Web with 100s of known phishing websites, and Norton was able to block every single one. Norton’s web shield, Safe Web, works really well. It stops you from accessing dangerous websites containing malicious file downloads. However, it’s still better than the default protections built into most major web browsers. I’m also not a massive fan of Malwarebytes’s ad blocker, which only blocked 35% of ads in my tests. This is pretty good - but it’s not as good as Norton, which has perfect detection rates. In my testing, Malwarebytes’s web protection blocked 90% of dangerous phishing websites. The protection works well and blocks phishing websites, trackers, and pop-up ads. Malwarebytes handles its web protections through Browser Guard - a browser-based extension that works on most Chromium-based browsers (Chrome, Edge, Brave, etc.) and Firefox. Visit Norton Malwarebytes vs. Norton: Web Security
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.
I downloaded the same malware sample archive I used to test Malwarebytes and ran Norton’s full system scan. The scanner took 40 minutes to check every file and folder on my PC and found 100% of the hidden malware files. 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. This is disappointing as Norton had perfect malware detection rates (and was much quicker). Unfortunately, Malwarebytes’s scanner took over 3 hours to finish on my computer and only found 95% of malware samples. I hid each sample in different locations on my Windows 11 PC - including inside critical system folders - and ran a full system scan. These samples included ransomware, rootkits, computer worms, and more. In my testing, I downloaded an archive containing 1,000s of malware samples.
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 2022, go with Norton. Norton has better malware protection, web security, features, and customer support.