Saturday, October 17, 2009

At the end of June I did a video where I reviewed Norton Internet Security.  Unfortunately, I did not publish a review of it to this website - so here it is.

Everyone has their “faves” in utilities.  Some tools are better than others, and some are more consistent than others.  I have found that over the years, Norton’s (Symantec’s) products are a cut above the rest and are very consistent in quality.  They generally have a good user interface and do the job of repairing or protecting your computer well.  This applies for versions on the Macintosh and Windows platform alike.  Without further ado, let us proceed to the review.

Installation of this program is simple and straightforward.  As far as operation of the program, I suggest that you watch for the frequent updates that this program gets.  This is especially true of new virus definitions. (This should be a no-brainer to everyone out there, but I will say it again - your antivirus and spyware solution is only as good as the latest definitions you have downloaded.)

You can bring up the main window for the program by clicking on the Norton icon in the notification area of your taskbar.  One note here: always watch this icon - as long as you have a green checkmark you are OK.  If it is a red X then you have a problem.

Once the main window is active, you will see that the window is divided into several sections:

1. •Home Tab - Divided into three sections:
   

2. •Computer - control for updates, protection settings, inbound firewall, as well as virus and spyware scans
   

3. •Internet - Email scans and intrusion protection and advanced firewall settings
   

4. •Identity - phishing protection
   

1. •Norton Internet Security Tab - Divided into three sections: (each is selected by clicking on the triangle at its end)
   

2. •Tasks and Scans - scan scheduling managing of quarantined items and identity safe password control
   

3. •Settings - allows you to turn features on and off quickly
   

4. •Reports and Statistics - giving information about phishing protection, activity log and a link to Symantec’s online virus encyclopedia
   

In the lower-left corner you will see clickable links to run the liveupdate, do a virus scan, view the history, set options, or enter your subscription information.  Norton, like most other anti-virus providers, requires a subscription to their service for continued support.  After the initial subscription period has ended, you will have to purchase new subscriptions to keep the program usable.

The options settings on this section control lots of important things like turning on the protection for the Norton Internet Security program. You will have to temporarily disable this to do some software installations, do a Windows System Restore, or to do repairs to the system files or registry - just don’t forget to re-enable it.

You will notice several options down the side of the Internet Security Options window.  Most of these duplicate or enhance the controls found elsewhere in the program, so it is a good place to go to change the settings for this program. 

If you have any additional questions about this program, I recommend you watch the video I did of the basic features, located below.

I hope this helps you in understanding this program a little better.