Norton Internet Security 2009 Review

New design, new features

Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2009 is a completely re-engineered version of the well-known online security and antivirus package that is now lighter, faster and less resource-hungry while delivering comparable, or even higher level of protection against hackers and viruses for all home PC and small-office users.

NIS 2009 includes some new interesting features not present in the previous editions such as Norton Insight, that saves scan time by omitting trusted files or Pulse Updates that downloads fresh virus definitions every 15 minutes from Symantec's server.

Independent performance tests have proven a major increase in speed and stability of this new version of Norton Internet Security - this year's edition runs quicker, loads faster and requires far less RAM memory (less than 10MB!) than previous versions. Many independent testing companies and magazines have awarded Norton Internet Security 2009 very high notes in performance and false-positives tests.

Installation

Installation of Norton Internet Security 2009 is seamless and straightforward. Once you've downloaded the installation file from Symantec Online Store that is about 60MB in size, you're only required to click two times to proceed with the installation process that finishes in under 1 minute on a modern configuration (see screenshots).

Our installation finished in exactly 58 seconds and required no reboot to get your fresh Norton Internet Security up and running.

Starting from this edition, Norton Internet Security uses it's own installer system instead of Microsoft's installer that used .msi files often targeted by viruses, hackers and key generators.

However, if you decide to get rid of Norton Internet Security at some point, it gives you a handy uninstall tool that will completely delete Norton from your hard disk along with any files and settings leaving no mess in your file system. Orphaned files and mess in the Windows registry was a huge pain in the neck for the users of previous Norton editions, and if you wanted to get rid of it completely you had to download and run an external tool called Norton Removal Tool. Now, the uninstall option is available right from your control panel.

Once your NIS is installed, you will be required to either provide your Norton Account login and password or setup a new Norton Account at Symantec's. Norton Account is a database that stores information about your purchases, trial downloads and subscriptions allowing you to keep track of your licenses and remaining subscription period.

User Interface

Edition 2009 of Norton Internet Security comes with a completely redesigned user interface with clean, contrast colors and easy readable menus. Even beginners should have no problems operating basic options such as Scan, Live Update, or Internet Security settings.

The most important features are accessible from the main control panel window (see screenshots), so that there's no need to navigate deeply into the menus to perform basic, most frequently used tasks.

The interface is intuitive and all tools can be easily switched on and off, showing their current status at all times for better overview of your current protection state. Some more advanced features and buttons offer dialog pop-ups providing more information and detailed explanation of their purpose.

The main control panel window also includes bar graphs indicating current usage of computer resources and if you click on those bars, Norton will show you a detailed resource usage history for a given period of time (see screenshots).

To sum up, the new interface is clean, easy to read and to understand, with major some tasks available directly from the main window.

Key Features

Norton Internet Security 2009 edition includes some new, leading-edge features not present in previous versions such as Norton Insight. This feature collects information about your operating system installed files, "whitelists" them and deems as trusted and the next time you run virus scan, Norton will intelligently omit those files it "thinks" are safe to speed up the scanning process.

Our tests have shown that this facility vastly reduces time needed for smart full system scan, which performs in under 3 minutes on a standard configuration.

Norton Insight builds on a huge file database built by the Norton community that contains information about potentially dangerous and totally not harmful files.

Another addition to NIS 2009 is Norton Pulse Updates, which attempts to download fresh virus definition file from Symantec server every 15 minutes delivering zero-day protection from even the most recent viruses and spyware programs. Updates are downloaded in a fully automated fashion without user's intervention, and Norton shows you how old are your definitions in the main control window. During our tests the Definition Updates status was never older as a few minutes. Really.

Another cool feature is the Silent Mode of operation that can be enabled manually (just right-click on the taskbar window), to turn off pop-up windows and notifications for a given period of time. This can be very useful especially for gamers and movie fans.

Performance

According to CNET, Norton Internet Security 2009, performed better in speed tests than other anti-virus and anti-spyware suites on similar hardware configurations under Windows XP.

Other testing laboratories such as AV-Comparatives.org and CheckVir.com placed Norton Internet Security 2009 in the upper positions, although not always in the top rank.

However, performance gains are huge especially when compared to older versions of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security or even Norton 360 Version 1.0 that Symantec introduced in 2007.

Norton Support

Norton Internet Security 2009 comes with a large, built-in help system and knowledge base allowing self-diagnosis and quick resolution of a problem without contacting Symantec tech support. Jargon is few, and difficult terms are adequately explained, so that even novice users should be able to resolve their issue quickly.

If your issue isn't addressed in the help system provided, you may request technical support via email or connect to an agent via live chat directly from your Norton window. Once the live chat starts, the remote agent can assist you with your query or you may grant them rights to access your computer remotely to resolve the issue for you.

Our first encounter with Symantec live chat support ended in a full and complete resolution of the problem and the technician we contacted was was helpful and professional. We granted him permission to access our desktop PC, and watched them resolving our problem remotely operating the system.

The Verdict

Norton Internet Security 2009 stands up to the expectations and is a truly re-engineered and vastly improved edition of this renowned Internet security suite.

The speed is great, performance is way better than before and some exciting new features included can draw back even unhappy customers of previous Norton Internet Security versions.