Norton vs. Trend Micro – Comparison Review

Norton is the leading antivirus in the market. It is built on five core security features: device security, cloud backups, secure VPN, password manager, and parental control. With several options for technical support communication, this antivirus becomes user-friendly and one of the most user orientated.

Norton Antivirus has a long history – from the first release in 1990. This Antivirus requires small storage memory for installation and is very fast for finding all possible online threats, such as Trojan horses, spyware, malware, viruses, worms, and many more.

If you find the threat and Norton antivirus can’t delete it and heal your device, you are illegible to ask for a full refund of the subscription price. Norton can schedule some tasks as cleaning a browser history or backing up files. Most users do not even use quite a number of available features, so for them, default settings are more than enough for high-level protection.

Trend Micro is not a famous provider of antivirus services, but still quite reliable. Nevertheless, according to some research, Trend Micro Company has been on the market since 1988, and their Antivirus became 5th among Best Antivirus Software in 2022.

Trend Micro One is a unique cybersecurity platform to simplify and stop as fast as possible any online threats. It combines multiple market-leading security capabilities to ensure top-level protection.

Analyzing security threats worldwide, the platform reacts immediately with the best solution to protect your PC, cloud, mailbox, and network. It initiates your protection even before the attack on you starts. Even though it has some great features (even protection from unauthorized encryption), it misses the firewall. It has a very professional user interface that makes it very comfortable for usage and installation.

Norton Antivirus requires a couple of minutes for installation; after that, you can perform a quick, custom, and full scan. You can customize all scanning options for time-saving to exclude not required folders. A full scanner requires about two hours for the first time (the next ones are significantly less), and the user is not experiencing any performance degradation.

A full scan can detect all 100% rootkits, viruses, Trojans, and spyware. The quick scan requires only a couple of minutes.

From Norton, you can separately download for free Norton Power Eraser to remove malware from your PC. It is a lightweight tool for the quick and easy scan of your computer for aggressive threats that not all traditional virus scanners can detect. Unfortunately, it works only for Windows XP, Vista, version 7, and higher.

Trend Micro antivirus has two options for scanning – quick and full. During scanning, it takes the smallest part of RAM performance, one of the best results on the market. Standard malware protection scans your PC for known and unknown threats; the results are compared with heuristic analysis to find early signs of attacks.

In addition, the scan allows to find and fix the system from web security threats such as worms, Trojans, spyware, viruses, and other vulnerable attacks.

From Trend Micro as well as for Norton, you can download separately several tools that help to clean all your devices for free, among them virus scan – to find and repair devices from viruses and worms; and home network scan – to find potential online threats and to provide tips how to protect home devices connected to home Wi-Fi.

Norton has excellent multi-layer protection from viruses, malware, ransomware, and other more than 25 types of online attacks – a 100% virus protection promise. It quickly quarantines all malicious files and stops all suspicious processes. Using machine technologies, Norton every day learns how to protect their users from new threats before they hit them. Norton also protects from script-based attacks written in JavaScript, VBA, etc. A Smart Firewall is included in the package working in two ways to prevent incoming unauthorized access and outgoing traffic.

Norton uses insight reputation data from the Internet and artificial intelligence to find software applications for trust ability. Norton blocks websites and their redirected links identified as vulnerable, blocks browser extensions known to cause issues, and uninstalls them.

It will remove not only the threat itself but also all traces in the PC file system. AV-tests showed that Norton always receives 100% for detection threats. Norton uses emulations for all files on virtual machines for viruses to reveal themselves. So, Norton helps to detect all high-risk threats and helps the user remove them.

Trend Micro has an extensive list of IT technologies that identify and block any suspicious or unusual activity in real time. The program proposes three protection levels – normal, hypersensitive, and “switch protection level automatically” (switches automatically depending on the threats from normal to hypersensitive). It protects not only PCs but also files stored on cloud-based platforms (Gdrive, Dropbox, or any other).

AV-tests checked the real-time protection of Trend Micro, and it received a good score – 98%, but with some false positives. It also protects your Browser (URL filters) and mailbox (spam filter); for all unsafe websites, you will receive a red screen with blockage and a warning about potential threats. You can choose the sensitivity of the URL filter with a protection strength slider (from low to high) and reduce the number of false alarms if required.

You can change the settings of this slider every time you or your relative uses the Internet. Ransomware protection prevents access to dangerous websites and email messages and deletes all downloaded files with such threats. As a bonus, the user will mainly receive a free spam filter for Outlook.

Norton Antivirus proposes VPN to keep the user’s transfer data safe and mask the actual IP address. It uses 256-bit AES encryption with a kill switch. In addition, this VPN has a no-log policy, so your account details are not stored. As a bonus, it blocks ads and allows gaming and streaming, but unfortunately, VPN does not allow access to all geo-restricted websites (for example, Netflix).

Trend Micro proposes VPN Proxy One Pro to users of the Premium plan (can be bought separately for 59.95$). It has many great features, such as standalone VPN – traffic encryption, protection in public Wi-Fi, and blockage of malicious websites.

Norton has several optimization tools – Optimize Disk and Startup Manager. The Optimize disc tool deletes unnecessary and junk files with defragmentation to obtain free space. The startup manager provides information on what unnecessary applications are launched automatically and closes them. Both tools lead to a significant performance speed increase.

Although these standard features Norton has Utilities Ultimate and Utilities Premium (39.99$ per year) that improve PC performance in one click, it can also optimize Internet settings for the best speed and steadiness. With Utilities, you can securely dispose of files. But these Utilities are available only for Windows users.

Trend Micro provides everybody with free tools that can be downloaded from the official website – Performance scan. This tool suggests optimizing system performance by deleting unnecessary files and enhancing PC protection from online risks. Another free tool is Unarchiver One to easily and quickly open archived files with rar, zip, 7z, zoo, MSI, etc. (works for all standard and exotic archives for Windows and Mac users).

All content can be preliminary previews and scans for threats before extraction. One more tool is paid – Cleaner One Pro (29.99$ per year for one device). The cleaner does not only find unnecessary and junk files but also removes them; it can check other storage devices and applications.

It can also manage big files and delete duplicate files and photos, with the built-in function – file shredder – they will be unrecoverable. Furthermore, with Cleaner One Pro, all start-up programs will be checked, and closed unnecessary ones to speed up the process.

Norton has advanced security and privacy options for identity theft protection wherever you use the Internet. It has a Privacy monitor to control privacy information available online. With this feature, you can find what information is available and aggregated at data brokers (public records, online activity, social media profiles, etc.) and delete it.

To increase your online safety, Norton protects your camera with Safe Cam to block unauthorized access from unknown programs (for Windows only). With Norton, you will also be protected online from phishing and scam sites; you will receive a warning about suspicious activity on this website and further decide whether to open, close, or open it in isolation mode. Standard packages also include Dark Web monitoring to check if your email has been sold, and premium packages check more detailed information (driver’s license, ID number, bank accounts, addresses, etc.).

Norton has a separate tool, Norton AntiTrack (34.99$), for blocking Internet tracking and reducing your digital fingerprint. With this tool, you can surf anonymously without slowing down with the automatic removal of cookies at the end of the session. A particular dashboard shows any tracking attempts. This tool is available only for Windows users with Chrome, Firefox, or Microsoft Edge and for Mac with Safari, Chrome, and Firefox.

Trend Micro has a Privacy scanner and Pay guard. With Pay guard, you can perform shopping, banking, and other transactions without worrying about your personal data leakage. A privacy scanner is a useful tool for those who spend a lot of time online or for those who share a lot of sensitive information. It scans all linked accounts (Google, Facebook, Twitter, etc.).

Another feature for privacy is ID Security (which can be purchased separately for 39.95$). It monitors the dark web for your personal data leakage (identity theft)– email address, credit card details, passwords, passport, phone number, and driver’s license. In addition, all tariff plans include a function to block unauthorized camera and microphone usage on your PC.

Among Trend Micro’s free separate tools, there is a Browsing history scan to check visited websites for scams and avoid coming there again. Another free tool to prevent online tracking (only for iOS) and block annoying pop-ups – AdBlock one; it is supported for Safari and Chrome Browsers (on Windows, Mac, Linux, or iOS). This tool will open websites faster as unnecessary ads are blocked and less memory is used. It can hide parts of the websites, banners, and pop-ups on all websites, including social networks, but you can also set an exception.

Norton has a password manager as a web extension only. But it can generate complex passwords and store them securely in the vault with 256 encryption and two-factor authentication. The passwords can be saved and filled automatically in Edge, Chrome, and Firefox. In addition, it has an Auto-change password feature to update passwords from the password manager automatically.

If you want to strengthen your account Trend Micro has a Password Manager (which can be bought separately for 14.95$). It checks your existing passwords and strengthens them to solid ones. Password Manager stores all account details and protects information with encryption and touch ID (if available on your device). Moreover, the manager speeds up your surfing without annoying inserting account details in Chrome, Safari, and Mozilla Browsers all the time.

Norton proposes a free mobile application for Android and iOS users with top features for the best antivirus protection: malware search, real-time protection (Android only), Wi-Fi check, web protection with safe search, and checking of application trust ability. In Premium price plans, the user can also install a password manager, parental control, secure VPN, and device security on mobile. Unfortunately, some features are available separately and require numerous permissions.

Trend Micro has one of the best mobile antivirus applications on the market for Android and iOS; surprisingly, you can download it for free. The mobile application protects from other malicious applications, dangerous websites, ransomware, and more. It shields from phishing scams, banking frauds, and identity thefts and protects public Wi-Fi networks. In addition, it checks if all applications are regularly updated.

Norton has a game mode; while in full-screen mode, all notifications will be muted, and you will receive only security alerts from Antivirus. At the same time, Norton has a separate proposal, Norton 360 for Gamers (44.99$ per year), to optimize your PC performance for the fastest game, including top-security protection.

Trend Micro doesn’t have a game mode, but it can be customized in full mode screen of other applications, including games. So, for example, you can turn off notifications – mute mode.

Norton has a unique antivirus feature, Cloud backup, to store your most sensitive information in the cloud securely. The cheapest price plan has 10 GB of cloud space for backups, the Deluxe plan has 50 GB, and the most expensive has 75 GB – these offers are significantly higher than other Antiviruses. Also, you, in addition, can access files from any device at home or on the trip. With Norton, you can set an automatic backup process, customizing the place for backup (also it could be done on the connected USB device or any other) and choosing the required files and folders; it is also possible to copy data with a specified file type (images, photos, documents, emails).

Trend Micro has a unique Folder shield tool that can watch your particular folder (for example, a folder with essential files); it will alert you if any file from this folder has been changed or is about to be changed.

Norton provides excellent value for your money and has several subscription plans for multiple devices. The first option includes anti-spyware, antivirus, malware, and ransomware protection; online threat protection; 2 GB cloud backup, a smart firewall; and a password manager. The second option adds to the first one, secure VPN, PC SafeCam, and Dark Web Monitoring. The third option includes more cloud backup storage – 50 GB, parental control, privacy monitor, in addition to all features from the second option. The fourth option includes all features that Norton can propose. All plans have a 100% virus protection promise with a full refund if your device becomes infected with Norton Antivirus.

Trend Micro has four price plans determined by the number of devices and their OS. The first option includes Antivirus, Folder shield, pay guard, and spam protection (keep a note that there are separate options for Windows and Mac with different prices). The second option also has privacy protection for social media, a system optimizer, and parental control features. The third version has all the second plus password manager features and a mobile device protection application. The fourth plan includes all features of Trend Micro. All price plans have a 30-day free trial period without any personal information or credit card. In addition, you can generate detailed status reports for all plans to analyze all threats and Trend Micro suggestions.