Norton AntiVirus 2008 - Dependable Protection for Your PCs

For years, Symantec products have offered top-notch protection and that, coupled with a marketing budget of which many other companies would be envious, has helped the security veteran retain a significant share of the antivirus market. Norton AntiVirus 2008 continues to build on that foundation and offers first-class protection from viruses and other forms of malware. Despite this, Norton AntiVirus is starting to appear somewhat tired and dated; it's big and  resource-intensive, and is missing the innovation seen in products from the new(ish) kids on the block, such as ESET and Kaspersky.

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Installation is an easy but somewhat sluggish process. Simply double-click the setup file and Norton will install, run a quick scan, and automatically update itself.

What's Not: 

Norton AntiVirus supports Windows Vista and Windows XP with SP2--earlier operating systems are not supported. The program is rather chunky--it's a 57 MB download and needs a minimum of 300 MB disk space. That's considerably bigger than some competing products.

Norton AntiVirus comes bundled with the Yahoo Toolbar, which, unless you uncheck the appropriate box, will be installed along with Norton AntiVirus. I don't object to the developers of no-cost programs generating money by bundling other applications along with their own, but find it a somewhat annoying when the developers of

pay-for programs resort to such practices.

[insert screen Installation options]

A number of Norton's default settings appear to be somewhat odd. For example, there's an option to "Turn on Suspicious Activity Monitoring" (which is checked by default) and a related option to "Turn on Advanced Mode" (which is unchecked by default). With Activity Monitoring enabled, any suspicious activity will be logged--but the user will not be alerted to that activity unless Advanced Mode has been turned on. In my opinion, most users would want to be alerted to such activity and so I believe Advanced Mode should really be on by default.

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Norton AntiVirus's UI is extremely well designed. The main screen provides you with access to the program's basic and most commonly used features, such as scanning.

[insert screen UI basic]

The main screen also contains links to the more advanced options that enable the fine-tuning of Norton's operations.

[insert screen UI options]

Hiding the less commonly used functions in this manner results in a UI that is clean, uncluttered, and easy to use.

What's Not: 

Norton certainly isn't aesthetically pleasing--in fact, its dark and gloomy appearance reminds me of Halloween. Or maybe Batman. Another minor irritation is the useless gadget that Norton places in Vista's Sidebar. In my opinion, it's completely unnecessary--but at least it's easily disabled.

Some of the options are not well explained. What the heck is "Turn on Advanced Mode" supposed to mean?

[insert screen Advanced mode]

Thankfully, the Help is context-sensitive and so if you click the Help button on a particular screen you're taken to the section of the Help that relates to that screen. This makes things somewhat easier, but you really shouldn't need to consult the Help file to find out what the dialogue boxes mean.

Additionally, the meaning of some of Norton's alerts is unclear.

[insert screen Low risk alert]

The recommendations certainly help, but it would be nice if Norton provided a "Get More Information" link in the dialogue box that would enable users to make an informed choice about what action should be taken.

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While Norton AntiVirus isn't as customizable as some other products, it certainly isn't short on features. In addition to the expected on-access protection against viruses, Norton also provides email protection, instant messenger protection, internet worm protection, and web browser protection. Norton also enables you to monitor the security of other computers on your network--so long as those computers are also running Norton. And, of course, Norton offers the functionality you would expect, such as the ability to run manual scans and to schedule scans.

What's Not: 

Browser Defender is a feature that is new to Norton 2003. I initially thought it would provide protection from malicious content on websites, but, on visiting a number of websites that host such content, I received no alert. So I'm not too sure what Browser Defender is supposed to do. The Help says that it "Checks for vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 6.0 and Internet Explorer 7.0"--but surely it must go beyond simply checking that Internet Explorer is fully patched? Once again, this is an area in which Norton simply doesn't explain itself properly--I could find no information relating to the function of Browser Defender. But, whatever its function, I would expect to see that functionality extended to browsers other than Internet Explorer--especially Firefox, as it's capturing an ever-increasing share of the market.

Despite the fact that it's supposedly the 2008 edition, Norton's instant messenger protection doesn't support the most recent instant messengers.

[insert screen Instant messenger protection]

Support for Yahoo Messenger is restricted to versions 5.0 to 6.1 and support for AOL Instant Messnger (AIM) to versions 4.7 to 5.9. Yahoo Messenger is now at version 8.1 and AIM at 6.5.

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Virus detection is the most important function of an antivirus product--and it's a function at which Norton excels. Check out any indepedent testing site and you'll find that Norton's detection capabilities put it close to the head of the pack: the product was rated Advanced+ by AV Comparatives (www.av-comparatives.org), has passed numerous VB100 tests (www.virusbtn.com), and is certified by ICSA Labs. Without doubt, Norton AntiVirus will provide a PC with excellent protection from both viruses and other forms of malware.

Norton is not the speediest scanner around, but it's also not the slowest. Running a complete scan of my 160 GB drive took 63 minutes. By way of comparison, NOD32 scanned the same drive in about 20 minutes, Kaspersky in about 80 minutes, and McAfee in about 110 minutes.

What's Not: 

Scanning with an antivirus program can impact performance and reduce a PC's speed. Some products manage to work around this rather successfully by running scans with a reduced priority when the computer is in use. Norton, however, doesn't, and you may well find that your PC will run extremely slowly for the duration of the scan. This isn't too much of a problem, as it's always best to schedule scans for a time when you will not be using the PC--no matter which product you are using.

As mentioned earlier, Browser Defender either isn't supposed to check for malicious code, or is supposed to check but didn't find what it should have found. In either case, it's an omission.

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Norton AntiVirus is well supported. It ships with an extensive Help section, there's an extensive online knowledge base, and free technical support is offered via either chat or email. For a fee, support is also offered via telephone. Support is also offered through AutoFix (a diagnostic tool that's similar to McAfee's Virtual Technicial), which attempts to both identify the problem and provide a solution.

What's Not: 

The information in the Help section is sometimes rather scant. Norton generally does a good job of explaining how to do things, but not such a good job of explaining what things do (see my  comments in relation to Browser Defender).

The Help screen advertises Norton's Premium Services. At $69.95 for a "PC Tune-Up," the prices seem somewhat steep. That aside, I always find it to be somewhat objectionable when companies use their product's interface as a marketing portal.

What's Hot: 
Norton is reasonably priced. A 12-month subscription for a one-computer license costs $39.99. By way of comparison, McAfee VirusScan costs the same amount, NOD32 costs $39, and Kaspersky Anti-Virus costs $59.95.

What's Not: 
Norton's pricing is not so competitive if you will need to run it on more than one computer. Most companies either permit you to run the program on up to three PCs at no additional cost or to purchase additional licenses at a discounted price. Norton does not. You'll need to pay the standard price for each license.

Norton products are usually predictable: they are chunky but perform in a dependable manner. Norton AntiVirus 2008 is no different. Taking up about 300 MB of disk space, it's considerably bulkier than most of the competition, but it does provide excellent protection.

Would I recommend Norton? Yes. Despite some shortcomings, Norton AntiVirus 2008 is reasonably priced, reliable, and well supported, and has excellent detection capabilities. Would I use Norton on my own computer? No. The program is extremely big and it's neither as speedy nor as customizable as some of its competition. Oh, and the interface reminds me of Halloween.

NOD32, McAfee VirusScan, F-Secure AntiVirus, Kaspersky AntiVirus