How many of you are annoyed by pop-ups from your Internet security software? What about the time it takes to install? I think you know where I’m going with this. Inevitably you’re running virus protection from Symantec or McAfee. I know when I was using a PC it was Symantec and it would piss me off. The constant pop-ups asking me to upgrade or verify that it’s ok for it to run something in the background. Whatever the case was I hated it and wanted it to die. Bring on the malware, I didn’t care.
When Norton contacted me last week about their new security software for ’09, I merely scoffed and said, “whatever.” But I’m happy to report that I changed my mind and I’m glad I did. Norton has made vast improvements to their ’09 software and the statistics they gave were astounding. Now before you go and do what I did, hear me out.
Install time for both is under one minute. Tested on a Windows Vista machine with a Core 2 Duo 6300 processor and 1GB of RAM the software installed in 52.77 seconds. Memory usage is also pretty low at about 5MB. Boot time is tops in the industry at 33.74 seconds. Results may vary, but they’re not trying pull one over on you either.
Here’s what’s new with 2009:
Norton Insight helps cutdown on scanning time because systems with Norton installed sort of act like a P2P network, so that widely known files like Firefox don’t have to be scanned each go around. There’s a white list and a database of sorts that keeps tracks of commonly known or used files. This is a very generic description of what’s going on and certainly isn’t meant to be the end all of explanations.
There’s also “smart scheduling” and a “silent mode” that help alleviate the irritations you once felt with previous generations or other security software. The software detects when you’re in fullscreen mode such as games, movies, or presentations and subsequently does not notify you during these periods. Tasks are usually initiated when the computer is idle and stops when it becomes active again.
And last of all is the free support you get with 2009 products. That encompasses all platforms whether it be over the phone or live chat.
Now on to the good stuff. Last weekend Norton held a press conference in Las Vegas where they put a handful of journalists onto a Zero G flight including myself. It was hands down one of the most amazing experiences I’ve had. Being weightless and floating around was crazy. Just watch the video.
Watch this one too of me and Chris Pirillo, Ponzi Pirillo, and iJustine generally nerding out. They warned us that we’d be giddy as little kids before hand, but I don’t think any of us believed them.
So what’s the HUGE CONTEST? Well, one of you lucky son-of-a-guns is going to have a chance to win a seat on one of those flights come February 2009. Stick around for contest details.
Or use AVG, free anti virus that works?
I haven’t used anti virus in years. Typical OS X fan boy here. haHA!
@Eric: Or use Avast!, the free antivirus that works even better (heck, it even auto-scans your torrents).
Isn’t there any better way of representing the security of your computer? How many non-techies (sp?) will understand what a firewall is?
I’m not sure what the answer is, but there has to be a better way of handling the marketing side of things. Maybe just tell the user “Your computer is safe.” or something along those lines? It’s great that they have an antivirus, firewall, advanced protection, email scanning, etc. but all they really want is to keep their computer working.
It’s similar to a home security system. They can list all the features out for you every time you see the keypad, or they can just have a red light say alarmed and a green light saying disarmed. I’m sure some security nuts out there want more information, but most don’t care, and so security systems at home are pretty simple. Can this type of concept be applied to antivirus suites in any way?
Even if your home security system (when armed) detects an intrusion, it will generally have the intrusion point listed on the keypad. It also phones in to the security system operators and blares a sound that all your neighbors can hear.
Or you can switch to Ubuntu (needs NO anti-virus or spam protection), save cash in the three-figure territory, and get on with your life.
“Last weekend Norton held a press conference in Las Vegas where they put a handful of journalists onto a Zero G flight including myself.”
CrunchGear: Now with ZERO journalistic integrity for your reading pleasure!
I’ll stick with AVG free for now, though I’m not too found of their last program update.
I think Norton has done an excellent job of pissing off customers willing to pay for their services who run into more issues with their computers due to Norton than due to viruses. And when they get a virus even with the issues norton has…Norton only amplifies those problems.
Great job Norton! I personally think they can go screw themselves and even with this review I am highly skeptical that their products are worth my time.
well, regarding the contest… just do us and your blog a favor, and don’t make it into one of those ‘comment’ contests again, those things just scream ‘ABUSE ME’… And please don’t say that I should be one to talk… I know what I did…
oh my…
It took them a while to figure out that users (both average and advanced) don’t want to be bothered by all those pop ups, they kept making them look pretty which is only pretty within the first 2 days of installing it, after that, it becomes annoying!
Now, Norton seems to get it - run in the background and shut up! I don’t need you telling me every little thing you did, that’s the reason why I bought you.
I dl’ed today as it was free(I still have 121 days left on my year). And dang. My computer is running like Norton gave it a bug or sumthin’. It was running fine before the install. Immediately after, my ‘puter kept freezing up.
I think I’ll just uninstall it and reinstall my AVG.
terrific
Dear Sir,
I want a totqal security for my computer. Pl. give me a antivirus for intersecurity of my computer.
thanking you
wtf
I recently installed Norton Internet Explorer 2009,
then computer went down few days later. How do I reinstall the product? It was downloaded, I have no software disc
What’s so good about AVG, that’s not one I’ve heard of before?