Is Norton Internet Security 2009 just lipstick on a pig?

Davey Winder
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 22:58

Your IT - Home IT

So by flagging installed applications on the basis of being known and trusted by Norton, being known and trusted by the community of users (a wisdom of crowds approach to security) and those which are unknown, Symantec can save time by only scanning the unknowns.

On the test system I saw this represented just 7 percent of the installed applications. No wonder Norton 2009 is so fast.

Performance and speed are also catered for by the fact that Symantec has made Norton 2009 'content aware.' By which it means that if you are watching a movie on a plane it won't rob you of battery life by scanning or updating.

Perhaps one of the smartest moves, given the reputation Norton products have for being a bitch to uninstall cleanly, is the introduction of totally free telephone support to go alongside the online chat and email support options.

Of course, that is the big question that hangs over Norton 2009 still: does it uninstall cleanly, completely, and every single time without the need for downloading a separate 'get this bloody thing off my computer' utility?

Symantec were not keen for me to remove it from one of the handful of test machines, and my Acer Aspire One upon which I am writing this coverage from Madrid, has no optical drive. I feel sure the Web will reveal the answer soon enough though.

Rowan Trollope insists that "This is the highest quality consumer product we've ever shipped. Today's  Norton is now proven to be faster and stronger than ever before."

It is also most certainly not a lipstick wearing pig, and I was not expecting to come to that conclusion tonight it has to be said. Well, I've never seen a pig running this fast, anyway!