Norton AntiVirus 2009 Best
Selling Software
New Features include:
- Improved performance delivers faster
scans
- One click access to expert support
- Smart technology runs in the background
Key Technology:
- Antispyware
- Antivirus
- Internet Worm Protection
- Rootkit Detection
- Intrusion prevention
- OS and application protectio
- Pulse Updates
- Pulse Updates
- Recovery tool
- Rootkit protection
Key Features:
- Stops viruses, worms, spyware, bots, and more - Keeps your system protected against malicious software.
- Norton™ Insight - Delivers innovative intelligence-driven technology for faster, fewer, shorter scans
- NEW! Pulse updates for up-to-the-minute protection - Delivered every 5 to 15 minutes to detect and eliminate new threats.
- Prevents virus-infected emails and instant messages from spreading - Feel secure while you keep in touch
- Blocks browser exploits and protects against infected Web sites - Surf the Internet with confidence.
Antivirus Store Product
Review
The bottom line: Norton AntiVirus 2009 is still the leader
when it comes to protecting your home or work computer/laptop.
Norton Antivirus is solid protection against dangerous
viruses whiles offering a good user experience. With all
this you also get a good level of technical support.
Full Review
Robert Vamosi review date: 9/9/08, ZDNET
The good: Internet Security 2009 has
a leaner footprint, improved speed, white listing and
other technologies to mark clean files as trusted, and
free technical support.
The bad: Despite its free telephone support,
Norton Internet Security 2009 lacks adequate online technical
support and, either intentionally or not, drives users
to its paid technical support services.
The bottom line: Norton Internet Security
2009 hits all the right security notes and its superior
protection technologies might even win back some jaded
anti-Symantec folks, though for some technical support
may continue to frustrate
Editors' note: On September 11, 2008, we changed the
rating of this product after ranking it against other
2009 Internet security suites and after completing additional
customer service testing.
Symantec has been listening to its users, and this year
the company delivers a slimmed-down and faster Norton
Internet Security 2009. The suite of tools packs in the
kinds of features people want most in an Internet security
suite including some forward-looking technology. Almost
all the security vendors have recognized the changing
threat landscape and have rethought traditional protection.
We especially like the Insight feature, which identifies
"trusted" files and applications and doesn't
waste time rescanning and rescanning them unless there's
been a change. No other product does this. The redesigned
logic behind Norton Internet Security clearly shows in
CNET performance testing: it is faster and considerably
lighter than last year's version, and even some standalone
2009 antivirus applications. And Norton continues to win
awards in third-party effectiveness testing. Lagging behind,
though, is Symantec's technical support. While Norton
users now have free telephone support, Symantec still
doesn't provide enough of a knowledgebase, or even an
adequate user's manual. Once again, this year it emphasizes
its premium services a bit too much. That said, Norton
Internet Security 2009 presents a remarkable transformation
of a product and is worth a second look.
Installation
On our test system we downloaded the 58MB final build
of Norton Internet Security 2009 and installed the product
within a minute. Instead of relying upon Microsoft's installer,
which Symantec has blamed for much of its past product
bloat, the company started over, designing its own installer.
There is the added advantage that as criminals target
MSI files (say to prevent you from installing a security
defense product on your already compromised machine) Symantec
won't be affected--for now. The new installer process
works fast, borrowing streaming technology from its Norton
Ghost product. Symantec says installation takes less than
a minute, and they were right. On both Windows Vista and
Windows XP test machines, we were up and running in one
minute and without a reboot.
Should you want to uninstall, Norton includes an uninstall
option. In the past, Norton left a mess. Now, after rebooting
our machine, what is left behind is licensing information.
Interface
Speaking of a mess, we didn't like last year's Halloween
colors on the user interface. This year's redesign is
much cleaner and more sophisticated, one befitting a major
security product, and the colors used on the Interface
can be changed if you want. Also gone are the tabs reminding
you that you can purchase other Norton products. Specific
tools can be turned on and off easily without diving into
the configuration settings. The configuration settings
page itself is always one click below the main page. The
interface also offers a pop-up dialogs to explain specific
terms, although thorough explanations of the choice users
have in changing the settings is still lacking.
In the lower left-hand panel are two bar graphs representing
the overall Windows resources used and one for the specific
resources used by the Norton product. Compared with the
resources used reported within the Task Manager in Windows,
we noticed a slight synch problem between what Windows
reported and what Norton reported for the overall system.
Symantec confirmed that while Norton Internet Security
2009 is looking at the Windows Task Manager, it is doing
so at different intervals. We like the transparency, and
think the presentation here is better than the line graphs
used in some other security applications. Should you want
line graphs, an icon will reveal how the system and Norton
CPU usage has been since the system was last rebooted.
Features
Norton has, in the recent past, included some sophisticated
technology from its enterprise products, which is good
because it's cutting-edge, but it's also bad, because
it doesn't necessarily integrate with the product, nor
is it necessary. In Norton Internet Security 2009, they
seem to have found the right balance.
Whitelisting, the buzzword of security products for 2009,
is included within the new suite, and by marrying it with
other technologies, Symantec makes it more suited for
the user. Files on a whitelist are deemed trusted, and
thus do not need to be scanned as often. Not all "safe
files" make it onto the whitelist. For those, Norton
uses a community process, called Insight, similar to that
used by other security products such as Haute Secure.
The thinking is that if thousands of other people are
using this suspicious file, chances are it's not a new
piece of malware but a new application. On the other hand
if only a few are using it, then maybe it's worth it to
take another look to see if it's malware.
Norton enhances its home network monitor, giving you
a system administrator's perspective on the relative health
and security of all the computers within your home.
And Norton Internet Security 2009 brings back the concept
of the Recovery Disk once popular in the early 1990s,
but declines to include a backup solution (you'll have
to buy another Symantec product for that).
Gone is the awful LiveUpdate component of past Norton
products. With 2009 products, Symantec is providing antimalware
definition signatures every few minutes or so. On the
interface you'll see a notice indicating how many minutes
since the last update. We didn't see definitions older
than four minutes in our testing.
Missing still are the various security utilities provided
in other products, namely McAfee Total Protection. We
would like to see, for instance, a secure file eraser
or the ability to trace potentially malicious IP addresses
within Norton Internet Security. Nor is there any mobile-specific
security solution provided within Norton Internet Security
2009.
Performance
In CNET Labs' performance tests, Norton Internet Security
2009, as a suite, scored better than some standalone antivirus
applications on our test Windows XP systems. In third-party,
independent antivirus testing using live viruses, Norton
products have scored in the upper ranks, although not
always in the top position. On the CNET iTunes test, Norton
Internet Security 2009 scored close to the test system
result at 272 seconds, 3 seconds faster than the standalone
version of Kaspersky Anti-Virus 2009. On the CNET Microsoft
Office test, Norton Internet Security 2009 finished at
a respectable 1,443 seconds, placing near the middle.
In a test scanning a single folder with compressed and
media files, Norton Internet Security 2009 came in at
202 seconds, which was the upper end of middle. In terms
of boot speed, once again Norton came in fast at 33 seconds.
To find out how we test antivirus (and now Internet Security
suite) software, see CNET Labs' How we test: Antivirus
software page.
In terms of how well Norton Internet Security 2009 will
protect your PC, we cite results for Norton Antivirus
from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations.
In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, for
on-demand scans Norton Antivirus 2008 earned an Advanced
+ (highest) rating, catching 97 percent of all malicious
software tested. However, for the Retrospective/Proactive
test, Norton Antivirus 2008 earned an Advanced rating,with
Norton falling behind the others, proactively blocking
only 18 percent of the "new samples" in the
test. From CheckVir.com, Norton Antivirus 2008 received
its Standard award.
In antispyware testing on CNET, Norton Antivirus 2008
scored in the upper half of our top 10.
Support
Symantec has dropped its overinflated per-call pricing
schemes of the past; all regular telephone technical support
calls are finally free. That's good. But its online manual
and knowledgebase could be more robust, and an in program
link to its community forums would be wise.
To take advantage of the free offerings, Symantec encourages
users to use its One Click Solutions self-diagnosis tools
first; that's understandable since common problems can
be self-remedied. In our tests, however, after answering
no to "Does this resolve your problem?" we still
didn't get a telephone number, but an online form. Only
after supplying a first name, last name, e-mail address,
and phone (information you previously gave when setting
up your Norton Account; why the two can't be linked is
unclear) are you offered a help ticket along with an option
for a free online chat, free technical support phone,
or an e-mail address. Once contacted, a technician may
remotely control your PC while you watch them solve your
given problem.
Our first encounter with Symantec's technical support
ended in frustration. Prominent on the technical support
page and competing for prime eyeball space are Symantec's
premium technical support services: Spyware and Virus
Removal (prices range), PC Checkup Service ($29.99), Green
PC Service ($14.99), and PC TuneUp ($69.99). These premium
services are also mentioned when you call for technical
support. But in subsequent testing, we found neither the
call nor the chat technician tried to steer us toward
these premium solutions. Of course that depends on what
specific problem you have and which technician you get.
The Norton in-program Help is better than in past years.
Within the Help file, more terms are explained and less
jargon is used this year, but it's still not as thorough
as other Help documents we've seen in competing products.
And user options when changing configuration settings,
long the bane of this reviewer, are once again not adequately
presented to the end user: you still have to trust Symantec's
opinion on many things.
And the 38-page online manual, although indexed, is not
very comprehensive, and leans heavily toward installation
and the creation of the Recovery Disk. Only by accessing
the Symantec Web site do you see the free community forums.
That's a mistake. Despite the company response that the
Norton community forum is still in beta, these open communities
provide more technical support than the canned responses
offered through Symantec's One Click Solutions process.
Conclusion
Norton Internet Security 2009 hits all the right security
notes and its award-winning protection technologies should
start to win back even jaded anti-Symantec folks. We love
its sleek build, performance speed, and array of quality
security tools. Our only fault remains with the products
lackluster online consumer technical support.
Customer Reviews
Norton AntiVirus 2009 is still the best in the business.
They continue to offer the best protection overall.
tap2009 - August 28, 2008
Solid Protection. I run Norton AntiVirus 2009 & Norton
AntiBot. Caught some nasties that other well knowns missed.
No problem with resource consumption on this end.
noodlenut - Augusr 21, 2008
Norton AntiVirus 2009's worst feature is that it shares
a name with Norton Antivirus 2006. I have been a long
time user of Norton, F-Prot, and Kaspersky. It has been
an amazing turnaround in the last two years.
Big big improvements in performance and detection. It
can catch a wide variety of threats, not just viruses
and worms, but also stealth rootkits, morphing threats,
threats which target AV programs and more.It does lack
some advanced user features and protection that its big
brother Norton Internet Security has.
byte2 - August 12, 2008
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