I have been using computers and working in technical/computer related jobs for over 20 years. I have used many products along the way. Some good, some bad, some made no impression or difference one way or the other. One thing that has always been a big concern of mine is ease of use, accuracy, consistency and being able to understand and control what the software is doing.

A lot of people buy software based on name recognition only. I have seen this over and over and over. People will recommend a piece of software just because of the name on it (salesman do this all the time in stores - they have never used it but they say "Well, it is put out by So and So...") Users defend product loyalty without even knowing what their software is doing. They just know they use it and of course, everyone else has to as well. So, for some people a piece of software works well and for others it may not work so well. For me, Norton Internet Security did not work so well.

I had been searching ever since I got my cable modem for a reliable, consistent, easy to set-up and use solution to online security. I had a separate Virus Scan utility, that although I had been using for almost 5 years, I was willing to change for better if it was available. I had tried various firewall applications and not been too pleased with any of them (except one, reviewed elsewhere on this site by me) up to the point I had tried Norton Internet Security. So I decided to try the Norton Solution.

From the very start of installation I was worried. Being very in tune with the sounds my computer makes when performing various functions, I did not like the sound my hard drive was making now. What was it searching for? Should it be doing this? I stopped installation, read the FAQ I found online and some other information, and saw nothing about this. Does it go unnoticed by other users or was it my system? To find out I decided to try installation on a second system available to me - same problem.

I got past this figuring it would be part of installation only, but still wondered. After installation, I was immediately unhappy with the interface, the controls, the options available for customization and really how little actual control I had over some of the more critical choices to be made. Again, to give it a fair shot, I moved on.

Once installed, set-up, and 'running' I got my big surprise. No, not an added feature they did not tell you about. But all of a sudden, files that had been scanned previously and not found to be bad were being flagged as containing a virus. I made sure the dat files were up to date - no help. Worse yet, the response I got from Norton on this was "We are not aware of any problem with these files. You must have something configured incorrectly or are not using up to date virus information." After going through the process with one of their support persons, the problem was NOT resolved and was just dropped by them. I got no further response from them. The files are ok, no virus' by the way. So much for the virus scanning abilities. This application flagged over 120 files from various applications as having a virus and prevented me from running at least 4 applications all together. This problem went unresolved or addressed by Symantec.

The firewall, although it appeared to work as I configured it, in fact did not work that way at all. I was very disappointed in it's ability to decipher multiple port accesses at once. This allowed for certain types of scans to be performed while I thought they were being blocked. I was not happy with the user interface or controls. While everything was there, it was awkward to manipulate.

Overall I would not recommend Norton Internet Security to the general home user. There are a lot of other products that perform the same functions that are easier to use, set-up and configure as well as being less expensive (in one case free) and more reliable.



Recommended: No