NAV - Norton Antivirus 2003
NAV Pro – Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional Edition

In this review I will be covering the two versions of Norton Antivirus programs for 2003 and at the bottom of this review some test results on Norton Personal Firewall 2003, and both versions of Norton Internet Security for 2003 in conjunction with Norton Antivirus.

NAV - Norton Antivirus 2003 Standard Edition:

Features:

New Smart User Interface: Scans the system and warns you in "RED" what needs your attention right now!

Security Scanning Features:

Auto Protect - very good!
Email Scanning - excellent!
Script Blocking - very good!

Virus Definition Service
Virus Definition: Displays current file status
Subscription Service: Starts when you install the product good for 1 year
Automatic Live Updates: On

Report Area:

Keeps Logs of what he finds on your system and what does the Trojan or Virus does to your system

Virus Removal Automation
Instant Messaging Protection (AIM, MSN, Yahoo)

MS Outlook Protection Virus Scans Incoming and Out going Emails
MS Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) Virus Scans Open Files
Script Blocking (Hackers, Trojans)

NAV – Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional Edition:

Pro Extra Features:

File Data recovery protection (accidental deletion, virus damage)
File Data Remover: Destroys all traces of files
2 Licenses

All the Features of NAV Standard Edition listed above

What to expect when you install NAV or NAV Pro?

Note: Installation under either Windows XP or Windows 2000 is a snap, but can be a very long progress.

1. Once you begin NAV will install to the default directory.

2. System will ask you to reboot

3. When you re-enter Windows XP or 2000 Live Updates will load up and you will be prompted many times until the NAV software and your system is up-to-date with the newest NAV software updates and patches.

4. System will ask you to reboot

5. The final stage is to do a full file scan of your system and this process again can take several hours depending on how many files, hard drives or partitions you have. Best to do this when you’re sleeping if you have a lot of stuff on your system.

How do both versions of NAV perform?

The only thing I don't like about these versions is the fact that is very, very slow to scan, but that might be good in a way.

Most of the other (like McAfee Virus Scan Standard / Pro and other Virus scanners speed along and might miss finding virus on your computer, and now with Trojans lurking around. So better be careful in choosing the right one.

Other than the slowness the program functions very well protecting your system.

Using this NAV daily:

When you or your family are downloading files from off the internet or using P2P programs like (ex: KaZaA) before opening the downloaded files you should:

On any file, folder when using your mouse over an item you can:

"Right Click Menu Item"
Click on Scan with Norton Antivirus

Use this with any file you download to your hard drive, ZIP, LHZ, SFX, RAR an etc.

Tip: Good idea to create a folder called "My Downloads"

And send everything there unless you use KaZaA then make sure the My Shared Folder is on your Desktop for using this feature as well.

I must say I have been using Norton Antivirus from day one when it was first release for DOS and then soon after for Windows 3.1 where you only had to deal with just the simple virus. Today there is so much going on you have to have some sort of protection and don't think you can avoid it? Virus, Trojans, Scripts can be sent by downloads, emails, your friends Floppy disk are the worst ones to have some sort hidden lurker on your system somewhere.

Extra Informational Tip:

Thinking about getting Norton Internet Security for 2003 and you have Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional installed, think again?

Here’s why?

Example: If you had Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional Edition on your system and you installed Norton Internet Security 2003 and didn’t up for the NAV installation, you won’t be able to use NPF part of Norton Internet Security . Why? There seems to be a bug in the software giving you a subscription error.

What will happen is that the Firewall won't allow you to connect to the internet for web browsing you have to disable NPF to fix the problem. And you don't want to do that with hackers around.


Now lets say you had Norton Internet Security 2003 and wanted to remove the standard version of NAV for NAV Pro instead? Guess what? That won’t work either?

So what to do?

Norton Antivirus 2003 Professional Edition will work with Norton Personal Firewall 2003. And for some strange reason they work faster than going with the bundle package (integration)

Norton Personal Firewall 2003 includes

NPF – Norton Personal Firewall 2003
NIS – Norton Internet Security 2003
Recommended for speed when you have already NAV Pro 2003

Norton Internet Security 2003 includes:

NPF – Norton Personal Firewall 2003
NIS – Norton Internet Security 2003
NAV – Norton Antivirus 2003
Recommended for protection on a budget

Norton Internet Security 2003 Professional Edition includes:

NPF – Norton Personal Firewall 2003
NIS – Norton Internet Security 2003
NAV – Norton Antivirus Professional Edition 2003
Recommended for the best protection

If you already are using a Router, DSL, Cable you should have some sort of extra protection and Dial-up Modem users can also use Personal Firewall along with Antivirus program for the best protection out there.



Recommended: Yes