Hi! I use Comcast internet and cable, and they offer Norton Security alongside their services.

So, I
get Norton for free. Cool, yeah? Well, kind of.
I've noticed that Norton Security bogs down my laptop quite a bit, and it's already pretty slow. I kinda
don't want it, but I don't know how well Windows 10's built-in antivirus is. Should I uninstall Norton
security? I've looked around online, and nobody seems to provide clear evidence for yes or no, so I
figured I'd come here. Thanks in advance.

Edit: Thank you, everyone, for your feedback! I greatly appreciate every comment! I did uninstall it,
and I might install Malwarebytes or something way later on, but for right now, I think I'm good. Again,
thanks for the feedback!

Glad to hear you already uninstalled it. The comcast bundle of it is particularly awful. As a
suggestion, you can also avoid trouble (and have better performance) by using a script blocking tool
in your browser like uBlock Origin. It's a free and easy extension to install in chrome/firefox.
Additionally, I suggest using a major web based email provider like gmail (rather than an account in
outlook) and to strongly consider moving your passwords into a password manager like lastpass.
Taking those steps will help you avoid many of the current threats out there.

This is the dirty secret no one wants to talk about. They all use the same source for there virus
definitions. Everyone uses the same base. Some get a few zero days early or have a few extra
features but the same definitions on an enterprise ips are used by norton and windows and all the
rest. They are all the same. Delete the bloat of norton and make sure windows defender is running
and up to date. If you want to go all out look into using windows firewall to block some know bad
addresses but otherwise you should be fine.

If they are all the same, then why do different ones find different viruses?
I am not disputing what you said as I believe it too. But there are some differences in which viruses
they find, but I don't know what those differences are.

Of course there are other major differences such as resource usage, UI, and other security related
features they provide.

The real dirty secret is that it's all mostly unnecessary. Zero days always get through anyway, and if
someone actually decent wants to hack your home PC, they'll be able to do it.
Secure connections are more important than AV IMO, and social engineering generally trumps
everything. People don't realise that emails are not secure, at all.... they're like a postcard, rather
than a letter.

I am always so amazed at these complaints about Norton, I have been using Norton for over 15
years across various PCs and never had any slow-down problems, in fact I am still using it on a
system with a Core2 Quad Q6600 + 4GB RAM + 60 GB SSD and the system performs perfectly with
Norton Internet Security running in the background.

Windows Defender has become recently with the latest updates one of the best AV, it dectects many
threats other AV's dont have at their database, and it collects data from previous attacks too, as a
result it gets better day by day. Norton is heavy and slows down your pc. I think for a normal usage
Windows Defender is just fine.

I am not a MASSIVE fan of Norton, but I can see it's uses for a user who is prone to accidentally
downloading PUPs. Norton often gives false positives, is slow, and generally will miss some
important attacks like ransomware. It's price isn't the worst though but Malwarebytes is cheaper and
will give you better results.
If you a smart user and use the internet safely, no antivirus is needed. Windows Defender got a
massive update for Windows 10 and it's very good now. This is all thanks to the new SmartScreen
technology, which effectively stops viruses by running any program in a virtual environment before it
goes to the computer (this is a very crude explanation and it's much more complicated).
However, it's not all that bad. I think that if you got a yearly license for Grandma so she could check
her email, it would be helpful. In the event she opens a poisoned attachment, hopefully Norton will
catch it. This is really the only benefit I can see, as it's extremely slow and it wouldn't be a good
second defense security.