Derrick
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Norton Internet Security 2009 has raised the bar for consumer security software. The new scan engine is very impressive, while the noticeable drop in resource requirements and scanning time makes this the software we’ll be using at home and the office.
It is no secret that Symantec is not the security software of choice for techies or any computer enthusiast for that matter. The problem has always been twofold: their software is heavy on system resources and it’s always been slow.
At the recent EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) launch of their 2009 range of software, Symantec managed to wow us with their brand new scan engine and incredible sub 1 minute install process.
Yip you read correctly, the software takes an impressive 50-odd seconds to install - we tried the install on a few machines to see how much variation there is, but not one of the machines took longer than a minute to complete the install.
Even more impressive is the new scan engine that Symantec has been working on for the last two years. Dubbed Norton Insight, this new engine uses a clever system of distributed computing to compare the files on your machine to that of a known and trusted database of file data.The result of this is that known safe files (compared using hash values) are not scanned, thus greatly reducing the time it takes the software to scan your computer.
In our test, Norton Internet Security 2009 only had to scan 9 percent of my work machine’s files. These included application data that was not on the Norton Insight database yet or files that have not been trusted yet. The software has also been redesigned to only start scanning when the machine is idle.
Norton Internet Security 2009 will also not interrupt you should you be playing games, watching a movie, or giving a presentation.
As the with software suites before it, Norton Internet Security 2009 features an all round comprehensive list of protection tools which include spyware, Rootkit, Antiphising, and Bot protection.
The software also features a Firewall, and has a comprehensive set of Parental Controls. One of the other aspects to this software that will make it even more appealing to users is the fact that each license supports up to three computers in a household - this means that you will only need to buy one copy for every three computers you own.
Consumers who are not technically orientated will also appreciate the fact that Symantec has now made all support for their software free, even phone-in support, for the first year from the day you activate your license. Chances are that you will not need this though, as the new interface has been improved quite a bit, and configuration of it is fairly straight forward.
While we have only been running the software for a few days, Symantec somehow managed to completely change our perception of the Norton suite of products.
In fact, for the first time in years we will actually be running Norton software at home, an impressive feat considering we have licenses for every security suite at our disposal.
We will be reporting back in a few months on our long term experience with the new Symantec software, but things are looking good for this security giant.
It is no secret that Symantec is not the security software of choice for techies or any computer enthusiast for that matter. The problem has always been twofold: their software is heavy on system resources and it’s always been slow.
At the recent EMEA (Europe Middle East Africa) launch of their 2009 range of software, Symantec managed to wow us with their brand new scan engine and incredible sub 1 minute install process.
Yip you read correctly, the software takes an impressive 50-odd seconds to install - we tried the install on a few machines to see how much variation there is, but not one of the machines took longer than a minute to complete the install.
Even more impressive is the new scan engine that Symantec has been working on for the last two years. Dubbed Norton Insight, this new engine uses a clever system of distributed computing to compare the files on your machine to that of a known and trusted database of file data.The result of this is that known safe files (compared using hash values) are not scanned, thus greatly reducing the time it takes the software to scan your computer.
In our test, Norton Internet Security 2009 only had to scan 9 percent of my work machine’s files. These included application data that was not on the Norton Insight database yet or files that have not been trusted yet. The software has also been redesigned to only start scanning when the machine is idle.
Norton Internet Security 2009 will also not interrupt you should you be playing games, watching a movie, or giving a presentation.
As the with software suites before it, Norton Internet Security 2009 features an all round comprehensive list of protection tools which include spyware, Rootkit, Antiphising, and Bot protection.
The software also features a Firewall, and has a comprehensive set of Parental Controls. One of the other aspects to this software that will make it even more appealing to users is the fact that each license supports up to three computers in a household - this means that you will only need to buy one copy for every three computers you own.
Consumers who are not technically orientated will also appreciate the fact that Symantec has now made all support for their software free, even phone-in support, for the first year from the day you activate your license. Chances are that you will not need this though, as the new interface has been improved quite a bit, and configuration of it is fairly straight forward.
While we have only been running the software for a few days, Symantec somehow managed to completely change our perception of the Norton suite of products.
In fact, for the first time in years we will actually be running Norton software at home, an impressive feat considering we have licenses for every security suite at our disposal.
We will be reporting back in a few months on our long term experience with the new Symantec software, but things are looking good for this security giant.