Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #17 in Software
• Brand: Norton from Symantec
• Released on: 2009-03-31
• Platforms: Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows XP
• Format: DVD-ROM

Customer Reviews

Good but...
After experimenting with various Symantec security products over the years and finding that they all without exception slowed my machine down to a crawl I swore I mighty oath I would never install another. I soon broke that vow when I tried and was very impressed by Norton Internet Security 2009 - 1 User 3 Computers (PC), which was fast, stable and did not impinge very much upon my PC's performance. So I was particularly keen to give this new version of Norton 360 a go.

The install on my Vista SP1 laptop was fast and incident free and the application was quickly registered. Once booted up the computer seemed to work well and not noticeably slower than before. I did note a possible slow down in accessing web pages, but this may not be the direct result of N360 and if it is I suspect a tweak of the security settings (set to maximum) could cure this.

The interface is stripped down and far more user friendly than the confused interface of NIS2009 but there are a full range of options available if you choose to delve into the menu structure. The default settings are fine for most people, I suspect.

Like many new security product this one comes with 2 gigabytes of online storage - I am not sure if this is to be shared between the three users of this product or if each of the three included licences has it's own.

One problem I found is that the backup routine seems to be tightly woven into the disk cleaning and security monitoring schedule and I found it difficult to set up a scheduled scan without including a backup. I also found the setup routine for defining the backup parameters to be confusing and poorly designed.

As well as the usual virus, spyware, firewall, backup and spam facilities this product also comes with a disk cleanup option to remove spurious files, cookies, registry entries and a very interesting network analysis and protection feature. With this the user can define available networks and the devices on them to different levels of security and allow the appropriate access level to them. This is similar in some ways to the Network Magic application and has been expanded greatly in this version of N360.

After a few days of use I have found that my web page access and reverted to normal but that system startup time has been greatly extended. The rest of the desktop loads as normal but the N360 icon does not appear for a full minute afterwards. During this waiting period everything else seems to function as normal.

A useful toolbar is installed on Internet Explorer which facilitates access to the anti phising and online browser security features. This was installed only on IE and not on my Mozilla based Flock browser. Elsewhere I noted that Firefox is far less supported here than IE, a surprising oversight given the move away from IE in favour of Firefox and other browsers.

The product comes with built in online support which I used when contacting Symantec to see is a Firefox plugin was available. Loading directly from the product and after a long delay whilst N360 did a self assessment routine, another whilst navigating through various script driven pages, and yet another in a online queue, I was able to chat live with a Symantec technician in India to attempt to resolve the problem

So in conclusion I would say this is a first class security product with excellent customer support but not without it's problems. It may be too large and all embracing for those who prefer a lean and mean computing machine and those who prefer not to use Internet Explorer.

Best security software around
Norton 360 is easy to install and once set up it gets on with protecting your PC in many different ways. It notifies you of any threats and solves them quickly. It also runs lots of different scans when your computer is idle (this can be set to run anytime between 1 and 30 minutes of your computer becoming idle) which I found to be very useful.

Of course there are some features which don't seem entirely necessary such as the ability to record your bank details securely for online shopping. I have much more peace of mind just inputting my details when needed rather than securing them with some third party.

However, Norton is a reliable brand and I would definately recommend Norton products and will continue to use their software in future. If you need anti-virus or other computer protection, look no further than this product.

Leave your worries at the door...
Well it's an inevitability these days, isn't it? Norton just isn't seen as what it used to be like. But after using 360 version 3.0 for a while now on 3 different machines, I really don't think issues that plagued older versions are apparent in this version.

If you're not sure what exactly I mean, basically Norton Antivirus/Internet Security programs have gotten a LOT of stick in the past for being slow, ineffective and a pain to use. I haven't used a Norton product since 2006, but this one seems to differ from what I've seen and heard about previous incarnations of the program.

What Norton 360 3.0 offers is an antivirus, firewall, data backup facility (with 2GB free online backup included for expandability) and a nice PC tune-up option to get the most out of your current PC. What this adds up to is a great package that protects your computer against viruses, adware, spyware... in short, all the nasties out there on the internet. More than that, the firewall provides an active 'barrier' which will catch the vast majority of infections before they have a chance to affect your PC. On top of all that I've mentioned, it provides integration into your internet browsing program (such as Internet Explorer) to stop you stumbling unknowingly into dangerous sites that'll likely turn your computer into a breeding ground for viruses. Shopping online and internet banking is also made safer and with the option to store commonly used details in Norton's handy drop-down menu, you needn't keep typing that precious information into sites and run the risk of someone seeing what you're typing without you knowing.

So this program means business...

If you're a novice user with limited knowledge of using the internet (safely), then I'd highly recommend this program. If you find your PC running slow even though you've got plenty of storage space left on your hard drive, this might just solve your issues too. Upon running the tune-up facility for the first time on my main home PC, it managed to remove a load of junk I'd had stored as temporary files Windows didn't even tell me about, but it also went to work on other little things too, I find my PC does run quicker now than it did a month or two ago.

Flaws? Err... Possibly the only one is that to change settings I found I had to click around a little, the stuff I wanted to disable (like turning off data backup which I didn't need) was a bit less intuitive than I'd expected, but most of the time, this shouldn't cause a problem.

One last note, take negative reviews with a pinch of salt. I'm not saying they're all wrong, but I must say I believe a lot of them are somewhat tainted by the less-than-perfect history of the Norton series of programs. Some professional users might find the interface a little 'bulky' and the features unneeded for their useage, but to be honest from a home-user point of view, there's no need to look any further for your internet security, antivirus and backup program than this.