Which part of Norton provides protection from websites? Is it the safe web part of the toolbar excluseivly, or does the Norton antivirus auto protect provide web protection? The reason I ask is, Norton safe web causes my browser to slow down and I want to disable it, but I don't want to loose web protection. Thanks!
Hi Drew99GT
Do you have a firewall? It is not enough to just have antivirus.
Norton safe web icon appears not to be a real time process so if the website gets infected after it has been awarded a Norton safe web icon the firewall should block it.
Check out post 3 on the link below.
ATB
intesec
Drew99GT wrote:Which part of Norton provides protection from websites? Is it the safe web part of the toolbar excluseivly, or does the Norton antivirus auto protect provide web protection? The reason I ask is, Norton safe web causes my browser to slow down and I want to disable it, but I don't want to loose web protection. Thanks!
Hi,
The safe web icons are an indication that, when tested, the site was found to be safe. This has no connection with protection for your system. Other than there should be less chance of infection from a safe site.
Regardless of site ratings you still need to have real-time protection for your system at all times. Safe site will not protect you from infected emails nor infected file downloads. There are also the other threats that exist and continuously cause problems for users, even those with protection.
Stay well and surf safe [be protected]
So safe web has no inherent antivirus capability? It just checks a website URL against a database of safe and bad sites, but won't in and of itself block malware from entering a browser?
Drew99GT wrote:Which part of Norton provides protection from websites?
It all depends on what sort of protection you mean. Norton Safe Web uses a blacklist of known malicious sites. It alerts you when you browse to a site that is known to be hosting malware, or engaging in phishing, and will block access to those sites in its default setting. IPS (Vulnerability Protection) detects actual attacks that attempt to install malware, and Auto-Protect targets the malware itself.
Safe Web is not a real-time component, but it can help to prevent you from wandering into sites that are known to be risky - and since the bad guys are always finding new ways to evade detection by the other methods, it is always best to avoid dangerous sites altogether whenever possible.
Drew99GT wrote:So safe web has no inherent antivirus capability? It just checks a website URL against a database of safe and bad sites, but won't in and of itself block malware from entering a browser?
Hi,
It will block sites it will not block downloads from 'safe' sites
You need a program with real-time antivirus protection to prevent that. There are free as well a s fee programs available. I'm prejudiced so I always recommend a Norton product 
This doesn't mean that it's better or worse than the others just that it's the one I prefer
Keep us posted
Drew99GT wrote...Which part of Norton provides protection from websites? Is it the safe web part of the toolbar excluseivly, or does the Norton antivirus auto protect provide web protection? The reason I ask is, Norton safe web causes my browser to slow down and I want to disable it, but I don't want to loose web protection. Thanks!
I'm with Dick. I'd be using Norton Internet Security or Norton 360 for protection, and also using Norton's DNS Servers, which will give you all the protection you need for safe internet use...I use Norton's DNS servers and there is NO noticeable slow down, when browsing. 
OK, just to confirm; if I have Norton Toolbar disabled, the antivirus engine itself will scan URLs and internet traffic, correct???
The products literature states that Norton Antivirus doesn't include the toolbar, yet it:
"Browser Protection – Proactively protects you by checking for and blocking online threats as your browser loads, to stop online threats before they can do damage."
Anyone?
Drew99GT, this answer from a Symantec employee might give you the insight you're looking for.....
Although it refers to Chrome, the same applies.
Thanks. That still doesn't awnser the questyion fo whether, if a website is malacious and can do a driveby download of malware; whether Norton's will stop it at the browser level with the toolbar disabled. That is my concern. Will it do URL filtering of malacious code with the toolbar disabled?
Drew99GT wrote:Thanks. That still doesn't awnser the questyion fo whether, if a website is malacious and can do a driveby download of malware; whether Norton's will stop it at the browser level with the toolbar disabled. That is my concern. Will it do URL filtering of malacious code with the toolbar disabled?
If you check your Add Ons in your browser, do you see an entry for the Norton Toolbar, and a separate entry for Norton Vulnerability Protection. It is the NVP that protects from within the browser, before Norton Autoprotect has to do its job.
Yea, I left that one enabled since it doesn't seem to affect browser speed.
Perhaps I should try and clean reinstall Firefox.