Norton Internet Security Good Or Bad - archivemiracle11’s blog

Jan 28, 2013 With its great detection rate and interface, Norton Internet Security 2013 is definitely worth a look, especially if you use Windows 8. Download Now Buy Now.

Norton Security Deluxe combines excellent malware protection with one of the most compact and useful interfaces in the business. It has neither the fastest malware.

Norton Security Deluxe combines excellent malware protection with one of the most compact and useful interfaces in the business. It has neither the fastest malware scanner, nor the one with the least impact on system performance, but it works unobtrusively in the background when no scan is running.

On the downside, Norton Security Deluxe had a significant performance impact on our test PC during full scans, mistakenly flagged several pieces of harmless software as threats on Windows 7, and has relatively few features for its price. Notably, it lacks parental controls, which most mid-range antivirus products include by default.

Cost and What s Covered

The 80 Norton Security Deluxe license includes protection software for up to five Windows PCs, Macs or iOS and Android mobile devices. Most 80 mid-range packages cover only three devices, so this is a bonus. Some online retailers offer a three-device version for about 70.

But the versions of Norton Security vary widely by platform. The Mac version has built-in file encryption, yet lacks a password manager, while the reverse is true in Windows. The Windows version doesn t support Microsoft s new Edge browser. The iOS app doesn t scan for malware and has far fewer features than its Android counterpart. This review covers the Windows version.

MORE: Best Midrange PC Antivirus Software Tested

Those with more than five systems to protect should consider Norton Security Premium, which covers up to 10 devices for 90 and adds parental controls, backup software and 25GB of cloud storage. If you ve got only one PC or Mac, check out the 60 Norton Security Standard, which is otherwise identical to the Deluxe edition.

Norton offers a money-back guarantee if it can t remove every piece of malware, but the catch is that you ve got to let trained Norton professionals take a look at your machine first.

Antivirus Protection

Norton Security Deluxe s malware protection for Windows includes the basic malware-signature matching, plus behavioral analysis of unknown code that Norton calls SONAR, for Symantec Online Network Response. Symantec is Norton s parent company.

The company s Community Watch program continually gathers threat data from systems running Norton or Symantec software and distributes daily, and often hourly, updates to subscribers. You can choose to participate in Community Watch upon installation.

Norton Security Deluxe enables advanced malware defenses that may not exist in older versions of Windows, such as Structural Exception Handler Overwrite Prevention SEHOP and address space layout randomization ASLR, and also prevents the disabling of the Java Security Manager.

You can choose among Quick, Full and Custom scans, the latter of which examines a single suspect folder or file that you designate.

There s also a Power Eraser for finding deeply hidden malware; a scanner for your Facebook Wall; Norton Insight, which looks at a file s reputation; and Diagnostic Report, which surveys a system for vulnerabilities.

You can schedule a scan for anytime, day or night, but the setup screens are buried in the Custom Scan section. Travelers can opt to have scans run only when a notebook is plugged in.

Norton Security flags suspicious email attachments, phishing attempts and malicious websites.

It also has browser toolbars that help protect Internet Explorer, Chrome and Firefox, and can stop the transfer of a key number or character sequence based on a registered fragment. However, Norton lacks Bitdefender s ability to proactively protect key folders from an attack by encrypting ransomware, or Trend Micro s ability to back up files threatened by ransomware.

In tests conducted by German independent lab AV-TEST earlier this year on Windows 7 and Windows 8.1, Norton Security found and deflected every piece of malware it encountered, regardless of whether the malware was well-known or brand-new. Among the other brands we ve recently reviewed, only Bitdefender and Trend Micro had a similarly spotless record.

Malware-detection chart, AV-TEST, May-June 2015, Windows 8.1

But Norton Security registered four false positives, a relatively high rate, in one of the two Windows 7 tests, and registered similar rates of false positives in earlier Windows 7 evaluations. It didn t have the same problem on Windows 8 or 8.1.

Malware-detection chart, AV-TEST, July-August 2015, Windows 7

Security Features

Norton Security Deluxe s firewall automatically adjusts its settings, but can also be manually controlled. Most of the package s other defenses can t be. For instance, neither Auto-Protect a real-time monitor, nor Intrusion Prevention for network protection are adjustable.

Norton s password manager is called Identity Safe, which is a free download from Symantec s site but is also fully integrated into all editions of Norton Security except the Mac versions. You ll need to create a master password, and there s a built-in password generator, but if the master password is lost or forgotten, Norton can t recover it. That s not a drawback, as it also means hackers can t steal the master password. Identity Safe stores an unlimited number of encrypted passwords in what Norton calls its Vault. The Premium subscription let you store up to 25GB of additional files in the Vault.

However, Norton Security Deluxe lacks many features that its competitors offer. We ve already noted that there are no parental controls, a striking omission as every other mid-priced antivirus package has them. But there s also nothing unique akin to Kaspersky Internet Security s Webcam protection, or Bitdefender Internet Security s ability to pre-emptively immunize files against encrypting ransomware.

None of the Norton Security packages include a hardened browser for online banking and shopping, or an on-screen virtual keyboard to thwart keylogging software two features that some competing brands include in low-priced packages. Norton reserves its file shredder for the separate 50 Norton Utilities package.

Performance Optimization

Norton Security Deluxe does have a performance section with several utilities, such as a disk defragmenter, a feature to clean up Windows Temp files and a Startup Manager that suggests delaying certain programs to boot the system more quickly. There s a nice Graphs section, but it only shows processor statistics, not disk or network performance. It does show historical downloads, installations, optimizations and other key events.

If your system gets so burdened with malware and other unwanted programs that it grinds to a halt, Norton has two approaches, both of which are also available free online.

The Power Eraser scan can ferret out deeply embedded exploits as well as adware, but because it needs to check for rootkit malware, you ll need to restart the system. If Power Eraser doesn t work, you can use the company s downloadable Bootable Recovery Tool, akin to other companies Rescue Disks, to independently boot the computer to clean the Windows system.

Performance and System Impact

As with all the other recently evaluated antivirus products, we tested Norton Security Deluxe on an ASUS X555LA notebook running Windows 8.1 with an Intel Core i3 processor, 6GB of RAM and 36GB of files on the 500GB hard drive.

With Norton Security Deluxe installed, but no active scans running, our OpenOffice benchmark test matched 20,000 names and addresses on a spreadsheet in 6 minutes and 50 seconds. That s just two seconds, or 0.4 percent, longer than the baseline without any antivirus software installed – a very light passive impact score, albeit one shared with ESET Smart Security, McAfee Internet Security and Trend Micro Internet Security.

Norton Security Deluxe took 39 minutes and 36 seconds to perform its first scan, during which it indexed our system. The full-scan time dropped to by the third full scan, during which Norton went from scanning 371,306 files to looking at 281,363 items. That s about three minutes shorter than the full scans of McAfee or Kaspersky Internet Security, but more than an hour less than Bitdefender Internet Security s very slow but light-impact scanner.

System-impact chart; shorter is better

Norton Security took to perform a Quick Scan and look at 6,671 files. That s faster than McAfee s , but glacial next to Trend Micro s 44-second quick scan or Bitdefender s blink-and-you-missed-it 4-second quick scan.

The program s impact during full scans was significant. Our ASUS laptop took to complete the OpenOffice test while Norton conducted a full scan, more than four minutes, or 60 percent, longer than the baseline. Only McAfee Internet Security took longer , or 82 percent more than the baseline.

Norton s quick-scan system impact was much lighter, and let the OpenOffice benchmark finish in . That s a slowdown of only 8 percent from the baseline, on par with Bitdefender s , and not something you d notice unless you were conducting a processor-intensive task. All the other programs we tested had substantially heavier system impacts during quick scans.

Setup and Installation

Rather than loading a small beachhead installer, Norton s servers send down the full 138MB program, which speeds the setup process.

You ll need to create a Norton account, and also decide whether to participate in Norton s Community Watch, which automatically reports malware encounters to the company. It took us, using a home broadband connection, 12.5 minutes to go from a vulnerable machine to a protected one.

Happily, Norton no longer tries to get you to agree to auto-renew the subscription when it expires. The software does show how many days remain on your subscription, with a link to renew it, at the bottom of most screens.

Interface

Norton Security s open and inviting interface has yellow highlights, in keeping with Norton s branding, but the main page will have green highlights if you re well protected, red if you re not. You can t run the main window full-screen, but Norton Security s scanning screens can run full-size.

Across the bottom of the main window are large boxes for Security, Identity, Performance and More Norton, each marked Protected or At Risk. Security is the default category and shows when your last scan took place and when the software was last updated. There are smaller icons for Run Scans, LiveUpdate, History and Advanced. The latter lets you select specific defenses to be used.

The Identity section links to the program s Safe Web, Antiphishing and Identity Safe features, as well as an opportunity to install Norton s Internet Explorer Toolbar. This screen also contains Identity Safe, ID Settings, Statistics and a Password Generator, which lets Norton Security create secure passwords, but isn t integrated into the Password manager.

Performance shows you when the last optimization and cleanup were done, and has options for defragmenting the hard drive, cleaning up the files and getting the system to start up quicker. Have a question about Norton s features and techniques. Hover your mouse s pointer over an item and a definition pops up.

Bottom Line

For a relatively bargain price. Norton Security Deluxe delivers some of the most advanced techniques for identifying and eliminating today s and hopefully tomorrow s worst online attacks. It neutralized all threats thrown at it, even if it was fooled by a few false positives and noticeably slowed our test system during scans.

However, the package does without several creature comforts found in other mid-priced antivirus products, such as a file shredder, a secure browser or parental controls. Paying an extra 10 for the Norton Security Premium package gains you only the last feature, plus backup software and online storage, two features that aren t directly related to computer protection.

Norton Security Deluxe is ideal for individuals or couples who want flawless, no-frills protection for up to five devices on several platforms. But customers who have small children or seek more features might want to look elsewhere.

Norton Security 2015 Internet Security Software review to help you choose the best Internet Security Software to fit your needs.
The new Norton security suits are simply known as Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security and Norton 360. It appears that Symantec has decided to drop the 2013.

There have been several recent posts about the WS.Reputation.1 detection. In order to clear things up, we thought it was important to explain this detection and.

Historically, Norton s antivirus products have done very well in testing with independent testing body AV-Comparatives. Over the past few years, Symantec has neglected to enter Norton in the twice-annual Whole-Product Dynamic Test, which measures how well the program s various security components work together to protect the PC. However, past tests resulted in high scores for Norton and a historical average of 2.5 out of 3 stars.

When we did our own independent testing, Norton did a decent job of blocking the fake viruses we threw at it. The couple of test files that were able to be downloaded to our system were picked up during a virus scan.

Performance Tests

Norton

11/10 Performance Test

07/11 Performance Test

11/11 Performance Test

07/12 Performance Test

N/A

10/12 Performance Test

04/13 Performance Test

11/13 Performance Test

05/14 Performance Test

11/14 Performance Test

Historical Average

The performance tracker retains its sophistication, tracking everything from how many CPUs to how much memory you are using as well as how much memory Norton eats up, just to show how efficient the program is. You can also get performance details on all your installations, downloads, detections, alerts and scans. The Startup Manager is also helpful in letting you know which applications are taking up the most memory while your computer is booting up. It can also turn them off or delay them to boost startup time.

Running scans is simple and only slowed our computer down a little bit. You can choose from a basic Quick Scan, Full Scan or Custom Scan. Social media users will also enjoy the Facebook wall scanner, which connects to your account and scans your wall and newsfeed for potential threats.

Norton Security 2015 Identity Safe - Click to enlarge

Notifications are unobtrusive as well as small, and you can toggle silent mode to prevent any update sounds from disturbing when streaming video or playing a game.

Norton always does well when it comes to independent testing of its performance, historically scoring 3 out 3 stars in testing from AV-Comparatives, an independent antivirus testing organization.

Mobile Security

Norton s Mobile Security app can be downloaded through an email sent by your Norton account or on the Google Play or Apple App stores. Its installation is short and simple, and upon completion the app runs a full scan of your device to check for malware. The interface is similar to several other mobile security apps we ve reviewed large buttons and a simple design. In addition to being able to press a button to open up the selected content, you can also conveniently swipe to the left or right to scroll through each screen and switch fluidly from feature to feature.

The features are broken up into six sections: Anti-Malware, Anti-Theft, App Advisor, Backup, Call Blocking and Web Protection. Norton doesn t offer anything groundbreaking when it comes to mobile security, but it covers the basics.

Norton Security 2015 Mobile - Click to enlarge

Anti-Malware: Here you can see the results of your last scan, as well as click an icon to navigate to the App Advisor screen. When a scan is running, this screen changes to show its progress.

Anti-Theft: The first time you open this feature, you are presented with a four-digit passcode that is assigned to your device. This passcode can be used from another device to issue SMS commands, in the event that your phone is lost or stolen. You can lock, locate, activate a scream alarm and wipe your phone s data from your Norton account online or by sending your phone a text with that code. For example, if your phone is lost you can find its location by sending locate 1234 to your number from another device.

In addition to these features, you can use the sneak peek function from Norton s website to help find your phone or catch a thief in the act. If your device is locked using Norton security, it will automatically take a photo every ten minutes.

App Advisor: When you run a scan on your phone, this feature checks your installed apps to ensure there aren t any problems. Unfortunately, there isn t much of an explanation in-app as to what problems it looks for or how those are remediated.

Backup: Back up your phone s contacts, schedule regular backups and restore your contacts from a previous backup.

Call Blocking: In addition to adding specific phone numbers to your block list, you can view a history of calls/SMS messages that were blocked and choose to block all unknown numbers that try to reach your phone.

Web Protection: Only available for Android, Chrome and Chrome Beta browsers, enabling this feature lets Norton block fraudulent websites. If you want to continue to the site anyway, it will be unblocked for 30 minutes so you can use it without any problems.

Although Norton s mobile app offers a solid set of features and a great design, there are a couple of quirks that some may find irritating. Rather than letting you scan your device from the feature page itself, you have to select that option from a drop-down menu at the top of the screen. It took a little bit of hunting for us to realize this. Additionally, the limitation of web protection only being available for a handful of mobile browsers is disappointing.

Conclusion

Norton offers PC users top-notch protection with plenty of features that will help keep your computer safe while you use the Internet, as well as a simplified interface design that is easy to navigate. The mobile app isn t the best we ve seen, but it will protect your devices, and it is great that it offers protection for iOS devices as well as Android.

System Requirements: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8-8.1; Android 2.3 or later, iOS 6 or later

AV-Comparatives ratings on a variety of tasks related to the antivirus and anti-malware product. Known Malware refers to a product s ability to catch pre-identified viruses, while Unknown Malware refers to its ability to detect brand new viruses. Older scores may reflect previous software versions.

Visit Norton Security 2015 Website

Compare to Other Internet Security Software

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Service Details

Averaged 2010/2011 scores for each company s antivirus/anti-malware product by independent testing agency AV-Comparatives. Score indicates overall effectiveness in a variety of tests over time. indicates that company did not take part in all tests. See reviews for details.

Score indicates impact of antivirus product on system performance. Average of performance tests by AV-Comparatives.

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