How Norton 360 Deluxe works
NortonLifeLock I don’t think it needs too many introductions. It’s one of the most famous companies in cybersecurity, and its antivirus, Norton, is one of the longest-lived: anyone who has dealt with a Windows PC in the last 30 years has had it in one way or another to do. Today, however, I’m not here to talk to you about the past. Indeed, what I want to do is highlight how Norton has evolved over time and, today has become a lean and flexible solution, usable not only on PC but also on Mac and mobile devices.
To be precise, I want to tell you about Norton 360 Deluxe: an all-in-one solution that can be used on Windows PCs, Macs, Android devices and iOS / iPadOS that can protect the user at 360 degrees, in fact. It includes real-time protection against all the most dangerous cyber threats (viruses, ransomware, Trojan horses, cryptojackers, and other malware), a VPN to protect your online privacy, 50 GB of space for cloud backups, a firewall, a password manager, a Dark Web monitoring system and a child protection function to monitor and limit the online activities of children on all devices.
If you want to know more, read on: below you will find explained how Norton 360 Deluxe works, how to download it for free as a trial version to test all its features and, if it were to convince you, also how to buy it . Enjoy your reading and have fun!
Index
- Norton 360 Deluxe features and pricing
- How to use Norton 360 Deluxe
- Download and install
- System scan
- System optimization
- Secure VPN
- Backup to the cloud
- Password Manager
- Protection of minors
- Norton 360 app for smartphones and tablets
Norton 360 Deluxe features and pricing
Before we get to the heart of this tutorial and show you in detail how Norton 360 Deluxe works, let me tell you more about this solution and its main features.
Well, Norton 360 Deluxe integrates real-time device protection against viruses, malware, phishing and security holes in websites; a VPN to protect your online privacy; a dark web monitoring system that provides alerts if the personal information, usernames and email addresses are found on the dark web; 50 GB of cloud space for backups (ideal for always keeping important files safe without taking up space on the PC disk), a firewall to block unauthorized traffic, a password manager to keep access data and credit card data in a safe way and finally the child protection function to manage your children’s online activities on PCs, smartphones and tablets.
Norton 360 Deluxe protects up to 5 PCs, Macs and mobile devices running Android or iOS / iPadOS. This means that it provides complete protection for all devices, not just your computer (although some features are not available on all platforms).
The price of the product is 94.99 euros/year, and you can buy it at this link, without any obligation to renew. To find out more about how it works, read the next chapters of the guide.
How to use Norton 360 Deluxe
Now let’s move on to the practical side of the matter and see, therefore, how to use Norton 360 Deluxe. Below you will find explained how to download the program and how to take the first steps with it. I assure you that it is really very simple.
Download and install
First of all, the Norton 360 Deluxe purchase procedure is very simple: just connect to the official website, click on the button to subscribe and fill out the form that appears with your e-mail address: if you already have an account, you are asked to log in by entering your password; if you don’t already have one, you can create it right now.
Afterward, just follow the quick on-screen instructions to complete the payment, which can be done by card or PayPal. Once this is done, to download Norton 360 Deluxe just connect to the Norton site, log in to your account and press the Download (or Install now ) and Accept and download buttons.
If, instead, you want to try Norton 360 Deluxe free for 14 days, connected to the download page of the trial versions of Norton and click on the button free trial related to Norton 360 Deluxe.
When the download is complete, to install Norton 360, just open the downloaded .exe file and wait for the download of all the data necessary for the software to work. Then, to complete the setup, all you need to do is click on the Yes and Install buttons. In the last screen of the setup, you will be asked if you want to join the Norton Community Watch program, for sending anonymous data aimed at improving the degree of security of the software: you can freely choose whether to participate or not.
Once the setup is complete, Norton 360 Deluxe will automatically start, update and start protecting the system in real-time from viruses and threats such as ransomware (that malware that encrypt the contents of the computer and ask for it to be unlocked for a fee), trojan horses (malware that, often hidden in other software, is installed on the PC to allow remote access by malicious actors ), cryptojacking (malware that provides cybercriminals with access to “mine” cryptocurrencies on the computer of the victim) and form jacking(that malware that cybercriminals use to steal users’ credit card data through special forms). To access all the features of your subscription, make sure you log in with your Norton account by pressing the Login item.
Note: I used a PC with Windows 10 to make the tutorial, however the procedure to follow for Norton 360 Deluxe for Mac is almost identical; just make sure you give the necessary permissions for the software to work in the System Preferences, following the instructions on the screen.
System scan
As just mentioned, Norton 360 Deluxe protects your system in real-time from viruses, malware and all other major computer threats, blocking them before they can do any damage. However, my advice is to run a full system scan every time you install a new antivirus.
To perform a quick system scan with Norton 360 Deluxe, just click on the appropriate item in the main program window. Alternatively, you can right-click on the program icon in the notification area (next to the system clock) and select the Run quick scan item from the context menu.
If the quick scan is not sufficient, Norton 360 Deluxe allows you to perform many other types of checks: by clicking on the arrow next to the Open button in the main program window, you can go to the Scan Options menu and choose to perform a full scan of the system (to check the whole system and not just its most important areas, as is the case in the quick scan) or a custom scan (i.e. a scan of areas chosen by you). When you have chosen the function you prefer, click on the Go button (bottom right) to start the check.
Please note that from the same screen you can also access the Norton Power Eraser (to eliminate threats that are difficult to detect), Norton Insight (to determine the files to be scanned) and Diagnostic Report (to view key information about the device) ).
If, on the other hand, you want to customize the real-time protection settings in an advanced way – for example by activating or deactivating modules or adding exceptions – proceed as follows: from the Norton 360 Deluxe main screen, click on the arrow next to the button Open and select the Performance item from the menu that is proposed to you. The window with the overview and tools for optimizing system performance will open.
At this point, click on the Settings item at the top right, go to Antivirus and you will have access to all the settings related to scanning and checking the system in real time. From the same menu, you can also adjust settings related to the firewall and other Norton 360 Deluxe features.
I recommend: only use the advanced settings if you know what you are doing, otherwise, you risk lowering the degree of protection provided by the program!
System optimization
Norton 360 Deluxe offers not only protection, but also tools to optimize your system. To access it, click on the arrow next to the Open button in the main window of the program, and select the item Performance from the menu that is proposed to you.
This will open a window with the overview of the system status and all the useful tools to improve its performance: Optimize disk to defragment or optimize the disk by making access to files and programs faster, File cleanup to delete unnecessary files and free disk space, Startup Manager to view and possibly disable programs that start automatically with Windows and, finally, Graphs to view PC performance graphs.
Instead, by clicking on the Fix button shown by Norton 360 Deluxe when system performance problems are detected, you can automatically apply all necessary optimizations.
Secure VPN
Nowadays it is very important to have a VPN in your digital “toolbox” . If you have never heard of it before, a VPN (acronym for Virtual Private Network ) is a “tunnel” in which the connection is routed and which acts as an intermediary between our devices and the resources we want to reach online. .
It can be used to encrypt the connection data and hide them from any malicious people who want to “sniff” the Wi-Fi networks to which we connect (very useful especially when using public Wi-Fi networks, alas very subject to monitoring activities by malicious people), but also to Internet providers and other third parties. It also allows you to disguise your locality and thus overcome various types of regional censorship and restrictions, with the possibility of accessing foreign content of streaming services (where permitted by the latter).
The VPN service included in Norton 360 Deluxe is called Secure VPN and is very easy to use: to activate it and automatically connect to the fastest server, just click on the Activate button next to the Secure VPN item in the main program window. Alternatively, by clicking on the arrow adjacent to the button in question, you can manually choose the VPN region to connect to (there are many countries to choose from), while by selecting the Settings item you can adjust the advanced settings of the VPN, such as automatic connection and the split tunneling.
Again, if you don’t know where to put your hands, I advise you not to venture into configurations that could compromise your user experience.
Backup to the cloud
If this is not the first time you read my site, you know how much I want to reiterate the importance of backups: making a regular backup copy of your data is essential to avoid finding yourself in unpleasant situations and losing important files. Well, even in this Norton 360 Deluxe comes to the aid, offering its users a cloud backup service with 50GB of available storage space.
To set up the backup of your data on the Norton cloud, all you have to do is click on the relevant Set button in the main program window and create your rule sets by deciding What to save, Where and When. It is all extremely intuitive. To save the settings, just click on the Save settings button. By pressing, on the other hand, Run backup, you can command the immediate execution of the backup.
Password Manager
Another good habit that I always recommend is that relating to the use of a password manager in which to keep access data to Internet sites, social networks, applications, credit card data and other important information.
Password managers, however, precisely in light of the importance of the data they hold, must be designed by companies with proven reliability. It is therefore with pleasure that I inform you that Norton 360 Deluxe also includes a tool of this type, very easy to use and able to integrate perfectly with all the most popular browsers ( Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and others), as well as to work on Android and iOS / iPadOS devices through a dedicated application.
In addition to storing login and credit card data, Norton Password Manager allows automatic form filling and securely synchronizes data between multiple devices over the Internet.
To activate the Norton 360 Deluxe password manager, just click on the relevant Set button in the main program window and then install the appropriate extension in the browser of your choice.
Afterward, you must authenticate with your Norton account or you must scan the QR code displayed on the screen with your smartphone, and then proceed to create your vault , that is the password-protected digital safe in which you will go to keep your data.
Protection of minors
The use of devices such as computers, smartphones and tablets should not be precluded to young people. Indeed, conscious and profitable use of these means should be facilitated and, in light of this, in some circumstances, it may be useful to monitor/limit the activities carried out by minors.
This is where Norton 360 Deluxe’s Parental Control comes into play, which allows you to restrict access to certain online content by children. The function is available both on PC and on smartphones and tablets and is very simple to configure and manage.
To start, press the button Manage on the Protection of minors in the main window of Norton 360 Deluxe and, if necessary, sign in to your Norton account on the Web page that opens. Then click on the Accept and continue button and follow the guided procedure to create the profiles of the minors whose activities you intend to limit / monitor.
In addition to setting your name and photo, you can set a different level of restriction ( low to very high ) for each profile. With that done, go ahead and choose which device to apply the restriction on between Android phone or tablet, iPhone and iPad or Windows. You will then be given instructions to download the Norton Family application and set it up. On Windows, for example, just start the executable and click on the Yes and I accept and continue buttons; then follow the on-screen instructions to register and associate the device with your Norton account and select the user account that the child uses on the system.
Once this is done, by downloading the Norton Family extension for the browser it becomes possible to monitor and limit the activities carried out online by the child.
From this moment on, to monitor and regulate the various activities carried out by the child on the devices controlled with Norton Family, just access the dedicated management panel, which can be found by clicking on the Manage button related to the Family Filter in the Norton 360 Deluxe main screen. .
Norton 360 app for smartphones and tablets
Using Norton 360 on smartphones and tablets is as easy as it is on a computer. Just install the Norton 360 application available on the Android and iPhone / iPad stores and, in a few taps, you get complete protection of your device.
Thanks to the application in question, you can protect your device in real-time from malware designed for Android (on iOS / iPadOS this function is not present as the malware risk on Apple’s mobile operating systems is almost non-existent, unless you do the jailbreak ), check the degree of privacy of the applications installed on Android (also this function, for the same reason as before, is not present on iOS / iPadOS), check the security of the Wi-Fi networks you use, check the reliability of Web sites, detect privacy/security issues in the device settings (eg. the failure to update the operating system), and more.
Once you are logged into your Norton account, the app automatically scans your device and notifies you of any security issues that need to be corrected. Pressing, therefore, the tab for security you can access various options for a Security app, Internet Security, Secure Browsing, Security Wi-Fi and safety of the device.
It should be emphasized that to activate some functions, such as that relating to app protection on Android or Internet protection on iOS / iPadOS, you will need to grant the app some advanced permissions by following the quick on-screen instructions.
By pressing the ☰ button, located at the top left, you can access the Norton 360 menu, where there are settings and quick links to other Norton apps.
In addition to Norton 360, in fact, there are also other very valid apps related to Norton 360 Deluxe on the Google and Apple stores, for example, Norton Secure VPN, to use Norton’s secure VPN also from Android and iOS / iPadOS, and Norton Password Manager, to use Norton password manager also on Android and iOS / iPadOS.
Then there is the Norton Family Parental Control app to apply Norton 360 Deluxe Parental Controls on Android and iOS / iPadOS. For more details on Norton 360 Deluxe features, I invite you to visit the official site.