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Symantec Norton 360 Version 2.0
Price: £60 per year

Features
Performance
Ease of use
Value for money
Overall

Reviewed By: JJ O’Donoghue

This review updated: 10/04/2008
Featured in magazine:
Issue 185
Manufacturer Contacts:
Supplier: Symantec
Web Address: www.symantec-unitedkingdom.co.uk


Norton Internet Security has a reputation as one of the most trusted security suites, providing PCs with the protection they need to ward off viruses, malware, phishing and identity theft. A year after releasing Norton 360, Symantec has added some useful, new features in Version 2.0, to make your computer even more resilient to attack.

Features
This version comes packed with some awesome new features. One of the most important is Norton's Browser Protection technology, which keeps your PC safe from 'drive-by downloads' – all those disguised threats, such as Trojans, that infiltrate your computer without you realising. Another new tool, Norton Identity Safe, boosts the security of online shopping and banking by safely storing passwords and personal information and rating the strength of your password. There are more back-up options, too. You can now save content to Blu-ray and HD DVD discs, iPods and shared drives. Norton 360 now also contains Registry File Cleanup, which maximises your PC's performance by removing unnecessary files.

Performance
What's wonderful about Norton 360 is that, once the software is installed, all you have to do is configure the back-up operations. Then you can walk away, do something more interesting and never again have to manually operate security scans. In your absence, your PC will perform heavy-duty jobs like scheduling back-ups, scanning for viruses and taking care of temporary files during the computer's idle time.

Ease of use
Because Norton works in the background, it will appeal to people who want to have security up and running from the word go. In Version 2.0, the main window displays four panels reflecting the status of the four major protection areas: PC Security, Identity Protection, Backup and PC Tuneup. It's also easier now to view Norton 360 in Windows Explorer because you can see the back-up status of each document, music file or photo. The Norton toolbar has been impressively tweaked, too, so it's easy to hide or resize it. However, like its predecessor, Version 2.0 lacks default anti-spam protection and parental controls. Downloading them from Symantec's website is simple, though.

Value for money
This revamped version costs the same as last year's – just under £60 – which is a little steep considering the cheaper (and free) alternatives available. But Version 2.0 does boast some excellent new features and the all-encompassing nature of the security suite remains extremely impressive. There's also a Premier Edition available, priced £69.99, which includes 10GB online storage.

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