Gaming on a Windows PC demands performance, but that’s something security software doesn’t always play nicely with. And that’s something Norton wants to change.
If you know a PC gamer without security software, there’s a good chance the reason comes down to one of two things: performance and price.
Priced and cost is the easy one, because with yearly updates, security software isn’t always super wallet-friendly. Sure, it protects your computer from all sorts of nasties you wouldn’t want lurking under the hood, but with a yearly price, it’s not always a cost gamers (or any other computer owner) is happy to swallow.
We’ve often argued yearly security as the “toilet paper” of the computer industry: it’s a purchase that doesn’t make you feel good to do, but you kind of have to if you have one.
Performance is the other issue, because security software can have a detrimental effect on system performance depending on what it’s doing at the time.
With PC games, you typically want to reserve all the resources you have for the games you’re playing, but with security software on-board, there may not be a guarantee of that. You simply won’t know when it needs to kick in, and that’s a problem.
However it’s also something Norton looks set to change, with the recently renamed company of “NortonLifeLock” (which we’ll likely just keep on calling Norton) releasing a feature specifically focussed on that called “Game Optimiser”, or “GO” for short.
The idea basically cuts back on power hungry apps while keeping security switched on, moving those performance-hefty apps to a single processor core while giving the games the wide berth of performance they need.
“Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for gamers to compromise their online safety to preserve gaming quality and performance,” said Mark Gorrie, Senior Director for NortonLifeLock.
“Gaming in Australia has seen an increase since COVID-19, which means more Australians could be leaving themselves exposed to cybercrime,” he said.
“Game Optimiser is an exciting new technology that means gamers no longer have to make this compromise between cyber safety and game performance.”
The feature is supported in Norton 360 for Gamers, while the same app will also include a way to mine cryptocurrency in the coming days, as well.
Meanwhile, Norton 360 for Gamers is available now, one of the various plans for Norton 360, which in Australia starts from $150 annually.
