Norton 360 with LifeLock Review: The Best All-in-One Security Package
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These days, it can seem like you need a lot of security software to protect your money, data, and identity. To help you make the right decisions, we’re reviewing some of the more popular digital services in this sphere so that you know what’s best and what to expect. That brings us to Norton 360 with LifeLock. This service combines three separate operations into one package and shores up some of the shortcomings of those services. Here’s how it works and what we think.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Features
With Norton 360, you’re essentially getting three products in one, so let’s look at them separately to check out some of the details.
Device Security: This is the Norton antivirus portion of the package, and since it’s Norton, it’s quite complete. You get PC cloud backup to help restore data (very nice if you don’t already have data backup services), protection against malicious websites, and antivirus/anti-malware software. It also includes a basic password manager if you aren’t already using one (very nice for security), and parental controls for blocking certain content or websites. Unfortunately, there are no anti-phishing benefits and Norton’s software has a notoriously heavy footprint on devices it’s installed in, but the security options are excellent.
VPN: Norton also offers a VPN as part of its package, which will automatically encrypt internet data to prevent spying over Wi-Fi networks and to prevent ISPs from easily identifying you as you browse. It also helps block ad tracking and promises not to keep logs of your activity. Unfortunately, this is limited compared to what most other VPNs offer these days, with no options for boosting file sharing, switching servers, split-tunneling, enabling a kill switch, or other core features that some VPN users rely on. It’s only a good deal if you or your family currently aren’t using a VPN at all and don’t want the hassle of picking one.
LifeLock: LifeLock adds identity theft protection and insurance in case something goes wrong like your bank account is stolen, you lost your wallet, etc. It can communicate with credit bureaus on your behalf and monitor all kinds of suspicious online technology. As we’ve talked about before, LifeLock has had a troubled past with repeated deceptive advertising fines, and it remains to be seen if the company has totally cleaned up its record now that it’s part of Norton. However, the core services here are nice for those who want identity theft insurance.
Norton 360 with LifeLock User Interface
We do like how Norton has incorporated VPN and LifeLock services into its software interface. The idea of “big buttons for different categories” remains, and makes it easy to add your personal information to set up financial monitoring and more. The clear categories of “Cloud Backup” and “Secure VPN” or “Password Manager” make it very easy to know where you are and where you need to go. There are also handy alerts and updates for each category to let you know if you need to set it up, or if there’s something that you should take notice of.
Norton hasn’t always been this easy to understand and use, and it’s good that the company has made such improvements to its system, especially since this version includes so many extra features. However, it still has that annoying tendency to get entangled with your operating system at every level and can sometimes show up when you don’t need it, cause slowdowns, or creates issues with app compatibility. It’s a common complaint about antivirus software of all kinds, but important to note before you choose to download.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Pricing and Plans
Norton 360 with LifeLock (we assume they’re going to move to a shorter name eventually) comes in three different price tiers.
- The first tier is currently available at $9.99 per month (with a discount for purchasing by the year). It covers up to five devices for security and VPN, and gives you a $25,000 coverage limit via LifeLock for expenses and stolen funds reimbursements.
- The second tier costs $19.99 per month, and increases device limits to 10 devices, more of a whole-household option. The identity theft coverage gets increased $100,000, which is a significant hump if you like the insurance aspect of the package.
- The third tier increases fees to $29.99 per month, and gives you an unlimited number of devices, plus $1 million coverage for reimbursement and compensation.
This is an incredible deal for paid services. To put it in perspective, LifeLock’s solo services cost just as much, but without any of the antivirus or VPN protection. Buyers are certainly getting a lot out of this package if they don’t have any digital security measures in place yet.
Competitors
With the integration of LifeLock, there just aren’t many services that can come close to offering a package that includes antivirus software, a VPN, and identity theft protection and insurance. The closest is McAfee Total Protection. However, it covers far fewer devices and doesn’t have identity theft insurance – but to compensate, it’s more affordable at around $3.33 a month for the 5-device tier. It’s also a viable option for covering just a single device.
Norton 360 with LifeLock Privacy and Integrity
Antivirus software like Norton knows a lot about you, and they can use that data in limited ways, although they do try to monetize it wherever possible. That’s just the price of using one of these big antivirus companies. As we mentioned before, LifeLock has also had a troubled past with deceptive advertising and repeated fines from the FTC over violations, although we hope that this will change under Norton ownership. Norton itself has a good track record of avoiding violations and data breaches and positive reviews across the board, and we certainly think it’s worth trying.
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