Because the internet can
be a dangerous place for your
PC, Symantec's Norton Internet Security
2004 offers a
comprehensive online security and privacy suite for home
and small office PC users. The suite includes features such
as anti-virus software, firewall, intrusion detection, privacy
protection, spam filtering, and content filtering. It's a thorough
solution that works well-the finest that I've seen to date.
At its core, the suite
comes with Norton AntiVirus 2004.
The program scans both incoming and outgoing email and
automatically removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horse
infections as well as viruses hidden in email and instant
message attachments. In addition, worm- and script-blocking
technologies automatically defend against known and unknown
threats without the need for virus definitions.
On a mundane note, I was impressed with the way that the program scanned my outgoing e-mails in the background. Earlier versions of the program were obnoxious when they took over your PC's screen and its operations to tell you that it was scanning your e-mails.
The suite comes with the powerful Norton AntiSpam 2004 that detects and filters out unwanted commercial email, or spam. The software works with standard POP3 email programs and integrates with Microsoft Outlook, Outlook Express, and Eudora to filter and eliminate incoming spam directly from your email in-box.
In the past, I haven't recommended anti-spam programs or used them because they typically mis-identified the many press releases that I receive as spam. But I found the latest version of Norton AntiSpam to be good at finding spam and offering options for identifying other intrusive e-mail as spam, and it integrated well with Microsoft Outlook. I will definitely be using this feature and not disabling it off as I had in prior versions.
The third major package is Norton Personal Firewall 2004, which places a firewall, an always on-guard barrier between hackers and your hard drive, to block access to files, financial records and personal data. This new version offers technology to protect laptop users from online threats regardless of the network to which they connect. Privacy protection technology prevents confidential information from being sent to unsecured Web sites or through email, Microsoft Office attachments, and instant messaging services without your authorization.
From a family perspective, Norton Parental Control helps prevent children from seeing inappropriate online material by blocking access to questionable newsgroups and Web sites. I was impressed with the way that the program let me set up different Internet access privileges for each child using the PC. The solution isn't perfect, but it's a step in the right direction.
The suite relies on Symantec's LiveUpdate to update the products in the suite. The software automatically connects in the background when you're on the internet to download the latest virus signatures and other information. I wish that Symantec and the other security companies would offer more than a year of updates, but this is the industry standard. Once your year is up, you have to pay for another year.
It's unfortunate that we all need security programs to protect us from online threats. But for this, Norton Internet Security 2004 offers an effective solution that is available for US$ 69.95.
3/26/04 Wayne N. Kawamoto, Managing Editor
