When late 2008 rolled around, and Symantec was launching yet another version of its venerable Norton Internet Security 2009 software, I was originally sceptical that Symantec would actually deliver on its promises that its new version would be faster and better than the last.
After all, in the earlier years of this decade, Symantec’s Norton software was not one for seductive speed, but ever slower speeds degrading into a cyber soup of silicon sludge.
Although many were quick to blame Microsoft, people soon realised that their Internet security software was slowing them down way too much, and over the years, despite Symantec still staying atop the security software sales spreadsheets, Symantec’s sweet sales success was starting to sour.
Seeing the potential of its software besmirching the Symantec name irreparably, Symantec’s CEO surged forward with a new plan: re-write its security software to make it the best in the industry, so as to super-strengthen its stranglehold on the summit of sales supremacy while swiftly swinging its way back into the good books of consumers.
That was NIS 2009’s mission, and it clearly succeeded. Competitors rushed to ensure their security suites were also speeded up, signifying the arrival of much better performance from most of the industry, even on low-specced netbooks.
Now, with the 2010 version, Symantec still leads the pack in consistently strong performance (while not always being the very top spot, as seen in this Passmark AV report- PDF link), strengthens its various features and introduces, as has some of its competitors, a cloud-based “reputation” engine that can immediately tell you whether the file you’ve just downloaded is seen as safe by Norton users, is seen as dangerous, or is too new to accurately give a rating on.
For consumers who blindly download things without any real knowledge of what they’re doing, aside from adding nice new programs to their computers, this simple reputation sensing tool won’t stop users from junking up their machines with shovelware freebie downloads, but it could well save them from malicious malware that specialises in menacing mostly non-cyber-savvy users – at that crucial moment right before they accidentally install said malware.
Although there are still yet other new features that you can read about in other reviews on or Symantec’s main website, another area that Symantec excels in, at least when it comes to its software, is graphical user interfaces.
I’ve seen what the competition has to offer, and for some reason, Symantec just has the superior user interface, something it has always had, even in the bad ol’ days of earlier Norton versions.
The competition all sport very functional interfaces too, some even looking as though they have been inspired a bit by Norton over the years, but just like the iPhone has a level of smooth that competitors have struggled to simply match, let alone improve on, so too does Norton Internet Security have a level of smooth that effectively leaves competitors choking on some very powdery silicon dust, facemasks at the ready.
Buy Norton Internet Security 2010 for only $53.99 (
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