Symantec has moved Norton 360 to the same release schedule as Norton Web Security and Norton AntiVirus, making them in to a three-tiered strategy for consumer security. Norton AntiVirus is the entry-level product, with Norton Web Security occupying the middle rung and Norton 360 aimed at individuals who need the most bang for the most buck.
Notoriously slow to reply to trends, the consumer security field is surprisingly not taking Windows 8 lying down. Norton and lots of of its competitors are optimizing their suites for Microsoft's new operating technique ahead of its release, and Norton is combining that strategy with efforts to protect you on social networks, protection against scams and other social engineering assaults, as well as a bolstered firewall.
One time you run the installer, the program is prepared to operate in about a minute -- impressively speedy, and doubly so thinking about past performance. The installation technique is also the first time that you will interact with Quorum, Norton's behavior-based detection engine. You'll be asked to participate by sending anonymous information to Symantec's cloud. Opting out of the information submission, according to Symantec, won't affect your security.
Jogging the trial of Norton also requires registering the program. Like lots of programs, Norton used to force your default browser to open and take you to the company's registration Web-site. However, version numbers have largely gone the way of the mobile app. That is, as mobile app version numbers are not readily exposed, neither are they readily apparent in Norton, either. The idea is that, like Chrome's and Firefox's rapid-release cycles, new features will be pushed to Norton more often than one time a year, and updates will be seamless.
Will it happen? That is hard to say, given the Windows security business' glacial pace of improvement. But it is definitely a step in the right direction that Norton competitors would do well to emulate.
Overall, Norton's installation experience was speedy and hassle-free, with a maximum of configuration options, which all appeared necessary.
Symantec positions Norton as of the best paid-license security suites available. The tighter integration of behavioral detection, Windows 8 support, the simple access to Web-based premium features, & the robust mobile & management offerings make its features comprehensive. The benchmarks bear out Symantec's claims of a lightweight method impact, keeping Norton as a highly recommended paid security option for Windows computers.