Norton 360 for MAC need

Do I benefit from having Norton 360 on my MAC

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 15.6

Posted on Oct 25, 2025 8:53 AM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Oct 25, 2025 9:13 AM

Second Mac Jim ID's response!


Norton in particular is known for being one of the most invasive, nearly impossible to remove security titles out there. That on top of making any computer it's on, Mac or PC, much slower and causing issues running your apps and the OS itself.


In short, AV software is useless. All of it. See my user tip here:


What is malware? - Apple Community


Make sure to follow the link at the bottom to John Galt's tip about avoiding malware.


All of these types of software exist for one reason. To take your money while providing nothing useful in return. There are no viruses that can affect macOS or iOS. None. Nada. Zero. No AV software has ever been know to stop the user from downloading, installing or running a Trojan. Worms are also basically non existent. The only two ever known to appear were from well over a decade ago and are patched against.


Are there threats? Yes, of course. But nothing any AV software can help you with. Unless you're in a high-level military position, journalist in a authoritarian regime (like North Korea), or other person who would be in possession of incredibly valuable information, then you are not a target. The cost of attempting direct access to ONE device (iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC) is, at the very cheapest, is $250,000. Do you have data worth that much to anyone?


The main threat is social engineering. Which, again, AV software is completely useless for. As an example of a real, somewhat common scam, if you get an email or text message claiming your iCloud data is about to expire and all of your data will lost if you don't pay some fake subscription fee, the only thing that will stop the scam from happening is using your brain and not responding.

3 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Oct 25, 2025 9:13 AM in response to Help62me

Second Mac Jim ID's response!


Norton in particular is known for being one of the most invasive, nearly impossible to remove security titles out there. That on top of making any computer it's on, Mac or PC, much slower and causing issues running your apps and the OS itself.


In short, AV software is useless. All of it. See my user tip here:


What is malware? - Apple Community


Make sure to follow the link at the bottom to John Galt's tip about avoiding malware.


All of these types of software exist for one reason. To take your money while providing nothing useful in return. There are no viruses that can affect macOS or iOS. None. Nada. Zero. No AV software has ever been know to stop the user from downloading, installing or running a Trojan. Worms are also basically non existent. The only two ever known to appear were from well over a decade ago and are patched against.


Are there threats? Yes, of course. But nothing any AV software can help you with. Unless you're in a high-level military position, journalist in a authoritarian regime (like North Korea), or other person who would be in possession of incredibly valuable information, then you are not a target. The cost of attempting direct access to ONE device (iPad, iPhone, Mac, PC) is, at the very cheapest, is $250,000. Do you have data worth that much to anyone?


The main threat is social engineering. Which, again, AV software is completely useless for. As an example of a real, somewhat common scam, if you get an email or text message claiming your iCloud data is about to expire and all of your data will lost if you don't pay some fake subscription fee, the only thing that will stop the scam from happening is using your brain and not responding.

Oct 25, 2025 10:03 AM in response to Help62me

I’d use the built-in anti-malware. Not add-on anti-malware. Not outside of the cases needing end-point security.


Last year, Norton was inexplicably reporting problems with the macOS chronod process used for macOS widgets, and Norton kept reporting the false positive for months.


Answering the folks posting here seeking a fix for a non-issue got tedious, too.


Some background on the general topic: Effective defenses against malware and other threats - Apple Community


Norton 360 for MAC need

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