Guides
Background explainers that stand on their own. No product is being sold in these pages: they exist so that the vocabulary in a security product’s marketing means something concrete by the time you read it.
How antivirus software actually works
A plain-language explanation of signature matching, heuristics, behavioural monitoring, cloud reputation and exploit mitigation — and what each layer can and cannot catch.
By Ashley Jackson · 23 September 2026
Ransomware: what actually stops it
The five stages of a ransomware attack, the defence that interrupts each one, and why the backup you make today matters more than the scanner you buy.
By Ashley Jackson · 23 September 2026
How to read an antivirus laboratory test
What AV-TEST, AV-Comparatives and SE Labs actually measure, what their scores do not tell you, and how to avoid being misled by a single number.
By Ashley Jackson · 23 September 2026
Our main product article
Separately from these guides, we publish one article that does carry commercial links and is disclosed as such throughout: Norton AntiVirus Plus in 2026 — what the tier includes, what it does not, and who it suits. It includes a public record of the claims we corrected in an earlier version.
How we decide what goes into any of this is set out in the editorial policy.