Overview

Norton 360 is an all-in-one PC security and protection utility.  It includes tools for keeping your PC tuned up through disk clean up and diagnostics.  Norton 360 also includes data backup with 2GB of online storage with the ability to purchase more room if necessary.  It keeps your identity and personal data secure through Anti-phishing and secure online transaction technology.

Walk Through Review

Installation – 7

Installing Norton 360 through Live Install is surprisingly easy.  After downloading Norton takes a few minutes to extract the needed files for installation.

There is an option to download the most current updates before completing the install.

You will be presented with the options such as joining Norton Community Watch and scanning the PC get rid of threats before installation continues.  This is a recommended option if installing on a known infected machine.

Scanning first takes up a bit more time but can save hassles if there are infections on the hard drive.

Features – 7

Norton 360 offers the most important features for keeping your PC safe and secure.  There are several features that go beyond just virus protection which include data backup, network security protections, identity protection, and PC tune up capabilities.

Norton will take over all security on your Windows system and disable the native protection which will avoid conflicts.

The backup utility included with Norton 360 allows you to do a quick backup of drives, files, and folders Norton predetermines or you can customize what files and folder are backed up.

The Norton 2-way Firewall will take over the Windows firewall duties and you can customize what data is allowed in and out of your PC.  This comes in very handy for PC gamers.

PC Security Details will determine what protections are activated and others that are not which you might consider activating. 

The Network Security Overview allows you to check the security status on your Wireless network, Remote Monitoring of PC’s, and a Network Map.

Through PC Tune Up you can get a detailed diagnostic report on your entire computer system.

Norton 360 settings (accessed from a desktop short cut) allows you to easily access and change settings on different features.

Phishing protection is available on both Internet Explorer and Firefox.  Included on the Norton bar is your Identity Safe cards and secure logins.

Ease of Use – 7

You might think with all of the security features included in Norton that it may be difficult to use.  However, they make changing and configuring all of the features quite easy through the menu system.  As an example let’s take a look at the process of running a quick scan.

From the main menu under PC Security click on Run Scans.

This brings up three scan options which are Quick, Comprehensive, and a customizable option.  In this example just click on Quick Scan.

There will be a progress screen while the scan takes place.

Then you are showed the results of the scan where you can get a more detailed report on what was found.

if a potential threat is found you decide what Norton does with it which is good for false positives.  Sometimes a virus found cannot be quarantined or removed so you will need to manually delete the file.

Performance – 7

Norton 360 takes up few system resources.  The only time we noticed a slowdown was during a full scan.  Also, when making changes within Norton it seems to dominate any other applications you may be running at the time.  Live Update automatically downloads program and database updates but often times requires a reboot which can be scheduled for a later time.

Product Support – 7

Support can be accessed directly within Norton 360.  There is web based support where you click through troubleshooting questions to find a solution, a knowledgebase, FAQ, and Club Symantec that offers tools and user forums for support.  They also have a feature to search though and download user manuals.

Conclusion

Norton has gotten better over the years with being more user friendly and lighter on system resources.  Keep in mind 360 is complete PC and Internet protection that goes beyond just AntiVirus and Malware protection.  Norton still hooks its claws deep into your operating system so if you like to customize a lot of features in the OS Norton may not be the best choice.  If you are using other applications for backups, identity protection, and other security then Norton 360 is simply over kill.  When uninstalling it is recommended to use a utility like Revo Uninstaller to make sure all traces of the program are removed.  If you want to lock down your computer to really protect against all threats then Norton 360 is a solid choice.

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Rating

• Installation: 7
• Ease of Use: 7
• Features: 7
• Performance: 7
• Product Support: 7