Norton AntiVirus

The shiny new Norton Antivirus product is here and it’s a cracker. The new Norton offers great protection, and now works faster than ever before.

What we like best

The software protects you from viruses, spyware, Trojans, worms, bots and rootkits. The use of “Pulse Updates” means that the software updates every 5–15 minutes, which means you have up-to-date protection.

Through SONAR 2 Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response the software can identify typical malware behaviour and stop it.

Norton has also included the Bootable Recovery Tool. If things get really bad and your PC won’t boot then by inserting the disc you can restart your machine and hopefully remove the virus. You have to download a special file from the Norton website and then burn it onto a blank CD – instructions come with the packaging.

Download Insight clearly shows you why Norton does not trust a file you’re about to download, for example if the file has very few users or it’s a very new release, and then the software removes it.

The best part about Norton Antivirus 2010 is that Norton Insight Network allows it use fewer and faster scans, by identifying trusted files that don’t need scanning. Combined with a smaller memory footprint, Norton has finally beaten that main grumble that their software terminally slows down a system.

What we like least

Norton lacks some of the features of its competitors, for example Wi-Fi protection, anti-phishing or a firewall. Most of these are available on Norton 360, but for the money you get extensive protection.

Some of the annoyances have gone, for example it won’t interrupt you when you’re gaming or watching a DVD, but there is still the occasional pop-up and request to update.