Big praise for Norton IS 2008!

barnettgs

barnettgs

barnettgs

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Joined
22 Jan 2005
Posts
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Location
N Ireland
No, I'm not trying to be kidding! I used to hate Norton software with a passion for years.

A few nights ago, I helped a friend to transfer her files from her old PC to her new laptop which she had bought recently, it comes with Norton 360. While the files are being copied to external drive, I had a chance to play with Norton 360. Norton 360 is just Internet Security 2008 with Backup and Systemwork as extras.

Considering that her laptop has 1.5 Ghz Duo Core 2 with 1 or 2GB (can't remember) and Vista Home Premium, I was impressed that Norton feels light and nippy. Whatever I do on the laptop, there is no hint of any slowdown or whatsoever. It's so unlike the bloated, dinosaur software of Norton I once know! :p

To my curious, I checked the reviews and they're all impressive and even the advert on Symantec site saying they have responded to the customers feedback about their previous software being slow, bloated etc. They have done it and even better, no annoying pop ups or no complicated GUI. It happens to have one of the cleanest interface as well.

After trying out a 15 days trial of Norton Internet Security 2008, I have bought it off the ebay cheaply and installed it on my nearly 5 years old PC. You just don't notice it at all and it uses less system resources than freeware AVG 7.5! :eek: Shut-down or boot-up is more or less the same!

Don't **** it off just yet until you have tried one. ;)
 
AVAST is better, *jumps aboard the NOD32 boat and makes everyone walk the plank*

Mateys.
 
mrk said:
AVAST is better, *jumps aboard the NOD32 boat and makes everyone walk the plank*
Click to expand...
Tried that already and it gives out some false alarms. Especially on old scanner driver in .exe format!

Norton has the most complete package - Firewall, Virus/Spyware protection, IM, Phishing, Intrusion Prevention...just everything you could have asked for Internet Security. Even if you stick by any other AV brands, I think Norton is great for any family member who knows little about the internet security.
 
If you have Vista the only real thing you need is a decent Anti-Virus. I've tried Norton 360, and for me it feels just as bloated as everything else. The phishing protection is a joke...what's the need for that ugly resource-hungry toolbar that puts about 5 secs onto webpage load time? IE's default potection is adequate any day.

The firewall is all hidden away behind a big ON/OFF button. It really isn't easy to change the settings, and even when you do there are a number of annoying bugs in the software making it impossible to customise rules. And on top of all that it lacks simple features such as right-click scan (and don't tell me this is only a feature used by advanced users!!).
/Rant :D

Yes 360 is a lot more streamlined and easy to use than some of Symantec's previous releases . But once the bloat boat has left the shore...it aint goin back!

This is of course referring to Norton 360, not IS 2008 which is a more recent product. Things may have changed.
 
Norton 360 is awful. My step-dad uses it and had me install it on my Mum's new PC when she got it mid last year. Screwed the whole system up, wouldn't uninstall and had to subsequently use a removal tool which still left traces of it behind.

Pathetic.
 
tim80bwi said:
If you have Vista the only real thing you need is a decent Anti-Virus. I've tried Norton 360, and for me it feels just as bloated as everything else.
Click to expand...
Are you sure? I have tried AVG, Avast and Norton and AVG 7.5 is the biggest bloatware out of the three. Right now, in task manager, Norton's biggest application is running at just 13Kb!

The phishing protection is a joke...what's the need for that ugly resource-hungry toolbar that puts about 5 secs onto webpage load time? IE's default potection is adequate any day.
Click to expand...
Yeah, noticed that when it loads up, however browsing is about the same. Also you can right-click on it and ticked off 'show Norton toolbar'.

The firewall is all hidden away behind a big ON/OFF button. It really isn't easy to change the settings, and even when you do there are a number of annoying bugs in the software making it impossible to customise rules. And on top of all that it lacks simple features such as right-click scan (and don't tell me this is only a feature used by advanced users!!).
/Rant :D
Click to expand...
Exactly, it is aimed at family users who are clueless or nephews who would download some junks.

For right-click scan, surely any good AV would have taken care of that already when you downloaded it?
 
barnettgs said:
Are you sure? I have tried AVG, Avast and Norton and AVG 7.5 is the biggest bloatware out of the three. Right now, in task manager, Norton's biggest application is running at just 13Kb!
Click to expand...

As I said, I only have experience of Norton 360, not IS 2008. I agree the memory footprint is tiny. However, that doesn't stop it hogging your CPU without warning when it wants to update. And I'm probably a slightly biased opinion seeing as I only have a single core, but it's still damn annoying!

barnettgs said:
Yeah, noticed that when it loads up, however browsing is about the same. Also you can right-click on it and ticked off 'show Norton toolbar'.
Click to expand...
Of course once you do this it doesn't hesistate to tell you that there are items 'that need fixing' every time you boot up.

barnettgs said:
Exactly, it is aimed at family users who are clueless or nephews who would download some junks.

For right-click scan, surely any good AV would have taken care of that already when you downloaded it?
Click to expand...

IMHO right-click scan is something that should be in any decent virus scanner. Adding it is no big deal, but leaving it out will annoy a lot of people.
 
barnettgs said:
Tried that already and it gives out some false alarms. Especially on old scanner driver in .exe format!

Norton has the most complete package - Firewall, Virus/Spyware protection, IM, Phishing, Intrusion Prevention...just everything you could have asked for Internet Security. Even if you stick by any other AV brands, I think Norton is great for any family member who knows little about the internet security.
Click to expand...

Don't need all that nonsense! all you need is some common sense, router firewall and a resident shield if you're a regular net user who uses some peer2peer.

You'd want Norton or some such on a family machine but for the bulk of people types that browse here ? no way.

avast.png

For The Win!
 
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