Why does Norton claim to find problems that CCleaner misses?

[Strabo]

I have been forced to buy Norton Antivirus for my Windows11 PC , because it locks up with the ZoneAlarm antivirus software that I  used and liked for years.  Norton has many irritating habits, notably nagging me to buy its advanced features that duplicate what CCleaner does.  Immediately after CCleaner has done a thorough cleanup Norton claims to find "7172 unnecessary files and applications that slowing down your PC"

CCleaner staff should investigate this difference and either (a) call out Norton for sneaky scaremongering, or (b) clarify what issues Norton regards as significant and CCleaner does not.

[nukecad]

The first thing to note is that CCleaner is not an antivirus, so it's not going to be looking for the same things than an antivirus will be.

CCleaner cleans junk.

You may have made different setting in each of just what junk is to be cleaned.

There again Norton isn't saying that those files and applications are junk, it's just saying that Norton considers them to be 'unecessary'. (Whatever they mean by that).
Most AVs will flag up various PUPs/PUAs - 'Potentially' Unwanted Programmes/Apps.

You may disagree that they are 'unwanted' or 'unecessary' and may want to keep them and use them.

[Strabo]

That does not answer my question at all.  Essentially Norton is saying this: "If you pay us to do the same task (of junk cleaning) as CCleaner, we will find the following quantities of junk (more than CCleaner finds), and will make your PC run more sweetly."  There is no question of settings, or of virus-finding.  Either Norton is lying, or they can indeed find more "junk" to remove.

[nukecad]

Sorry if you don't see it, but you are trying to compare apples to pears,

One app is an antivirus, the other is a junk cleaner - they are different apps and are meant to do different things.

Again - Norton isn't saying that those files and applications are junk, it is saying that Norton considers them to be 'unecessary'.
Those are two different things.

Even if two different apps are meant to do the same things then of course your (different) settings in each one will make a difference.

[hazelnut]

I think that Strabo may be referring to this feature ?

https://support.norton.com/sp/en/uk/home/current/solutions/v120813372

[nukecad]

Thanks for the link.

However the OP talks about comparing junk cleaning in CCleaner to Performance Optimising in Norton, and that is obviously going to give different results because they are differnt things.

To be meaningful you would have to :
Compare the junk cleaning in one to the junk cleaning in the other.
Compare the Perfomance Optimisation in one to the PO in the other.
Compare the startup app reduction in one to the startup reduction in the other.

Ensuring that the setting in each are the same (or as close as possible) before comparing.
Not forgetting to reset the computer back to exactly how it was before running the first one, (reloading a full system  image), so that the second has exactly the same things to look at.

But before doing anything like that think about this:

Norton and CCleaner are now part of the same overall company, so such tools and techniques are being shared by the two companies and the underlying junk cleaning/Performance Optimising software is very likely to be the same software with just a different user interface.*

(In fact I don't believe that Norton even had a Performance Optimiser before the merger of the companies, in which case the one that Norton have now will be the Performance Optimiser  from CCleaner ported over and now included in Norton AV.
I'd also think that Norton's Startup-app reduction was probably also ported from CCleaner, and that the junk file cleaning now there is a version of CCleaner's Health Check).

The rest of the options there in Norton are a disc defragmenter/optimiser (CCleaner doesn't do that, Piriform have Defraggler for that), and tools that are specific to an AV to stop the AV itself interfering with performance, so those aren't in CCleaner.

In the end though it's the users choice which one they want to use, or if they want to use both.

* Looking at those 7 Norton categories on that webpage there are 3 that can be compared directly with the CCleaner equivalent (and are probably the same thing anyway):
Norton 'Speed up my computer startup time'. Probably the 'Speed'  module from CCleaners 'Health Check' (or Tools>Startup, same thing).
Norton 'Improve the time it takes programs and files to load'. Defrag/optimise - Defraggler not CCleaner.
Norton 'Remove temporary files and folders that make my computer run slow'. Probably the cleaning module from CCleaner 'Health Check' .
Norton 'Optimize your boot volume'. Defrag/optimise - Defraggler not CCleaner.
Norton 'Improve performance when I play games or watch movies'. Stops the AV interfering with running tasks, AV specific not needed in CCleaner.
Norton 'Stop interruptions when I use my favorite apps'. Stops the AV interfering with running tasks, AV specific not needed in CCleaner.
Norton 'Show me programs that consume resources and slow me down'. CCleaner 'Performance Optimizer'

[lmacri]

On 17/01/2024 at 08:21, Strabo said:

...Norton has many irritating habits, notably nagging me to buy its advanced features that duplicate what CCleaner does.  Immediately after CCleaner has done a thorough cleanup Norton claims to find "7172 unnecessary files and applications that slowing down your PC"...

Hi Strabo:

As a previous Norton Security user my initial suspicion is that this is just scaremongering by Norton. See StartlinkSyd's Nov 2021 Norton Pop-ups - When Norton Forgets Their Customer in the Norton community as well as my May 2022 comments in PC_confused's Internet Security vs 360 about the unnecessary bloat that Norton has added to their antivirus products in the past few years and why I now use the Microsoft Defender antivirus *** that's built in to my Win 10 OS. 

*** Note that I normally advise that users supplement their real-time antivirus protection with a weekly on-demand manual scan with Malwarebytes Free just to check for any PUPs (potentially unwanted programs like adware, browser toolbars, etc.) or malware that might have been missed by their antivirus.  If you'd like to try Malwarebytes Free see the hints I posted in post # 2401939 of Deze's  McAfee Popup Scam in the AskWoody forum.

You didn't say what Norton product you purchased (e.g., Norton AntiVirus Plus, Norton 360  Premium, etc.) or whether it includes Norton Smart Scan, but it's not really Piriform's job to call out Norton or any other company for the way their marketing department tries to up-sell unnecessary products to their customers.  If you haven't already done so, I'd suggest you turn off Special Offer Notifications in your advanced Norton settings (see the support article Manage Marketing Pop-up Notifications from Norton) and then post in the Norton community to express your displeasure and see if anyone there has further suggestions about other settings or disk cleaning / system optimization features you can safely disable.

If you're unhappy with your Norton product Norton keep in mind that they have a 60-day money-back guarantee.  See the support article Norton Annual and Monthly Subscription Refunds.
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