Review: Norton Internet Security 2010

Until last year, Norton Internet Security had been a bloated app that frequently slowed Windows down to a crawl. After some intense criticism, Norton's code-cutting gnomes donned their thinking caps and produced the totally re-engineered 2009 security suite which, unlike its older siblings, was significantly more system performance friendly.

A year later and Symantec has launched Norton Internet Security 2010, which not only runs on the PC resources equivalent of an oily rag, but also raises the bar for internet security and usability. Having had it installed on my PC for over a week, I'm definitely impressed.

Falling off a log is markedly more difficult than installing Norton Internet Security 2010. Symantec's brainiacs have refined the concept of a one-click install to the point where the applications simply self updated and all was up and running in just under four minutes.

With no install problems to test, I invented a technical support issue and used Norton's new fangled live chat technical help. Within minutes a nice chap from somewhere in Southeast Asia had remotely accessed my PC and things were fixed in 15 minutes.

Short of a totally catastrophic event (e.g. nuclear war, a mutant swine flu strain etc.), I'd be confident that installation and support of Norton Internet Security 2010 simply isn't going to be an issue for most people.

Perhaps the single biggest feature setting Norton Internet Security 2010 apart from the pack is its file reputation rating technology.

By taking advantage of the vast amount of information sent in on the millions of files scanned by Norton Internet Security users globally, Symantec has developed a reputation rating system to check every file accessed or downloaded.

Used alongside traditional virus scanning technologies, Norton's file reputation rating system can even alert and deal with modern cybernasties that use stealthy techniques such as mutating to avoid detection by traditional anti-virus signature/heuristics detection methods.

Norton now constantly displays overall system horse power being consumed by the software (on my system, usage typically stayed at around three per cent).

Clicking the flip link in the app's main window makes the main Norton Security window execute a cool 3D flip effect to display even more details including a clickable time series of security events as well as a detailed performance display showing the resources used by all applications over time.

Symantec has also given its anti-spam detection a dose of digital steroids, injecting code from its Enterprise grade spam protection technology. Norton integrated with my Outlook and Outlook Express and so far hasn't accidentally blocked any personal email or legit emailed newsletters.

Some spam did manage to sneak past it, but this was only a fraction of the shady email that Norton caught and plunked into my spam folder.

Add Parental Controls into the mix and monitoring or blocking your children's online activities becomes both intuitive and a relatively pain-free process with Norton's Onlinefamily app. Being web-based, it'll work on all the PCs in your home and can be managed remotely from any PC with internet access.

Dropping into the usual bevy of firewall test sites such as www.grc.com, Norton's firewall barely broke a sweat as it was probed attacked and otherwise harassed, passing all tests with flying colours.

Unlike other firewall products, I was rarely pestered with confusing security questions that made me feel like an extra out of the movie War Games.

Last but by no means least, there's also privacy protection which see's Norton integrating with most common browsers to fend off fraudulent phishing websites and other nefarious net nasties.

Nicer still, in Norton will also highlight search results to show whether a site listed is safe, dodgy, or just plain dangerous. The Identity Safe feature securely stores and manages passwords, including the data typically to fill in web forms. Identity Safe profiles can be saved onto a USB thumb drive, letting you can take it with you for use on other PCs.

Fancy-pants bells and whistles aside, what impresses the most is that despite all the new technologies bubbling away under the hood, the software consumes barely any system resources, managing to run like a cut cat. With robust support, a seamless install and a near idiot proof interface, there's plenty of reasons to give Norton Internet Security 2010 some serious consideration.