Norton's sweet Internet Security 2009 leaves no bitter aftertaste
by - Written: Oct 10 '08
Product Rating:
Pros: Clean interface. Not too heavy a burden on system resources. Effective performance (I hope).
Cons: A few apparent conflicts with some programs.
The Bottom Line: Compared to the previous internet security and antivirus software I've used, Norton Internet Security 2009 leaves no bad aftertaste (so far).
inspectortb's Full Review: Symantec Norton Internet Security 2009 (14125628)
The on-screen prompt from my Norton Internet Security 2005 kept nagging me to renew my subscription. And I procrastinated. Why? Because with each update to my now-three-year-old Dell’s security software, it seemed that the performance of the machine would take yet another hit. Web pages crept along and MS Word documents loaded slowly, too. Perhaps there was some alternative?
After my usual compulsive comparison shopping, I returned to the Norton/Symantec fold. With a previous computer I tried switching from McAfee to Norton midway through that machine’s life, only to find that bits and pieces of the previous McAfee didn’t completely uninstall and therefore caused conflicts with the new program. This time around, I decided that the devil I did know was better than one I didn’t know.
What I’m running
Dell Dimension 4700 Pentium 4, 2.8 GHz 512 MB RAM (I know, I should upgrade this) Windows XP Service Pack 3 Firefox 3.0.3 and IE 7 Mozilla Thunderbird 1.0.6
A pleasant surprise at the Symantec online store
When I finally decided to go with Symantec I discovered that they were offering an upgrade to Norton Internet Security 2009 for no additional charge over the price of a renewal of my 2005 version. Particularly intriguing was the claim that the 㤑 version uses fewer system resources, thus eliminating (at least in theory) my main complaint about the previous renewals of NIS 2005.
Downloading & installing (and praying)
After some of the previous hassles I’ve had with software installations, I’ve learned to pray quietly while new software loads and installs itself. The last time I updated Norton, it trashed all the passwords for my e-mail and Verizon internet service. It took many frustrating phone calls with the not-very-articulate tech support personnel at both Verizon and Symantec to get back on line.
This time, thankfully, St. Jude and whoever else might be the patron Saint of computer-related activities answered my prayers. NIS 2009 was a cinch to set up. Still, I recommend setting a restore point in XP before installing, and taking careful note of your e-mail and internet passwords and settings, just in case.
User interface
Pretty neat, compared to that of the previous version. You can customize it with an assortment of different colors, if that’s important to you. More significant is the simpler interface: The screen is divided into Computer, Internet and Identity settings, each of which unravels myriad menus too numerous to describe here. For the most part, the various settings are easy to locate.
A cool feature: A CPU gauge on the left side of the NIS Control Panel shows just how much CPU and memory usage exists at any given time – both on the part of NIS itself and other programs generally. Nearby resides a link to another cool feature: Norton Insight, which allows you to identify files that don’t require repeated scanning, thereby conserving system resources.
One minor annoyance is that it’s not easy to shut down the entire suite. Right-clicking the icon in the system tray does allow you to quickly disable the antivirus when you need to, but shutting down the anti-spyware, anti-spam, intrusion detection and firewall requires intervention from the control panel itself.
Alerts and performance
In a month of daily computer usage I’ve received a couple of high-level alerts of virus activity, along with one mysterious intrusion detection alert. In all cases the built-in resolution feature has (presumably) taken care of the threats.
Browsing through the easily accessed history logs reveals tons of low level threats that NIS has resolved. As far as I can tell, the system does its job pretty well.
Norton claims that NIS 2009 makes less of a burden on system resources by performing many tasks when the system is idle. Generally, I’d say that’s true, although I notice only a slight improvement in the load time of MS Office documents. One thing I do notice it that when I step away from my computer for more than ten minutes, hard drive activity picks up significantly – presumably from the updates and other tasks that would otherwise detract from other tasks. And it updates itself frequently; virus definition updates occur several times daily, quite a bit more than NIS 2005.
Ah yes, the glitches…
A few weird things have occurred since I installed NIS 2009. Granted, some of these could be pure coincidence. Still, I’ve made few changes to my system since installing NIS 2009, so it seems likely that the new security suite could be the culprit.
At first, I had a few “Blue Screens of Death” show up on startup. This has since abated. Several weeks later a mysterious alert advised me that NIS has shut down and needed reset action on my part. When I clicked the appropriate button to reset it, another message admonished me that the NIS was already running. Huh? After several go arounds between alternating messages (“NIS is shutdown” vs. “NIS is already running”), I clicked a button that allowed a manual software update that had materialized from somewhere. Problem solved – for now, anyway.
An additional annoyance: For some strange reason, the firewall in NIS takes its sweet time checking out Musicmatch Jukebox. The actual start time probably amounts to no more than 30 to 45 seconds, yet I find it annoying.
Final judgment: A sweet internet security suite
Take this review for what it is: The experience of a self-taught, low-intensity computer-geek who finds this computer security stuff a bit intimidating. After some headaches with earlier internet security products, I’ll give a cautious vote of confidence to my latest Norton purchase. It appears to do an adequate job of protecting my computer, at least if the mind-blowing volume of information stored in its history logs is any indication. And it does seem to fulfill its promise of tying up memory and CPU less than its predecessor. All this comes with a somewhat more attractive and easier to use interface. For now, a cautious thumbs up!
PRODUCT FEATURES: Proven fastest, lightest security suite available Intelligence-driven Norton Insight technology targets only those files at risk f...More at Dell
PRODUCT FEATURES: Proven fastest, lightest security suite available Intelligence-driven Norton Insight technology targets only those files at risk f...More at Dell SMB
Norton Internet Security 2009, the fastest, lightest, and most up-to-the-minute security suite available, protects against all types of online threats...More at Buy.com
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