PC World - Norton Internet Security 2008 Test Report

Browse by Topic

Home News Hardware Reviews Software Reviews How-To Videos Downloads Shop & Compare Community

Business Center

Magazine

Subscribe & Get
a Bonus CD

Customer Service

Find a Review

Dads & Grads Gift Guide Audio & Video Business Center Cameras Cell Phones & PDAs Communications Components & Upgrading Desktop PCs DVD & Hard Drives Gaming Hardware & Software HDTV Laptops Macs & iPods Monitors Printers Spyware & Security The PCW Test Center Windows Vista & XP

Resource Centers

Asus Notebook Center

CDW Solution Center

HP Ink Center

Intel Technology Center

Lenovo Laptop Showcase

White Paper Library

Webcast Library

Latest News

Today @ PC World

See All RSS Feeds

Become a PCW Member

Join the community and start enjoying the benefits:

Get tech advice from thousands of PC World Members
Rate and recommend the latest tech products
Share your thoughts in blog and article comments
Get free excerpts and exclusive discounts on Super Guides

Signing up is free and easy.

Reviews

Norton Internet Security 2008

Last updated
November 29, 2007

Reviewed by
Erik Larkin

Pros

Solid performer

Cons

Doesn't completely uninstall itself

Pricing:

Royaldiscount.com	$39.98
SoftwareMedia.com	$60.67
VioSoftware.com	$52.79
See all

Review

Test Report

Pricing

User Reviews

Add Your Review

Full Specifications
Street price as of 11/7/07 - Average: $70 for use on up to three PCs
Solid as download, retail box, or both - Both
Performance - Very Good Detection of WildList threats during user scan - 100% Real-time detection of WildList threats - 100% Detection of back doors - 83% Detection of bots/zombies - 90% Detection of Trojan horses - 92% Detection of worms - 94% Detection of adware - 77% Detection of spyware (banking-related) - 92% Detection of spyware (password-stealing) - 90% Heuristic detection (one-month-old signatures) - 9.5% Heuristic detection (two-month-old signatures) - 7% Detection of false positives - 0.00% Outbreak response time - About 6 to 8 hours Scan speed of on-demand scanner - 16.07 megabytes per second Copy speed of 723MB file with real-time detection enabled - 7.09 megabytes per second Disinfection of malware files and Registry entries - 80% Detection of inactive rootkits - 100% Detection of active rootkits - 100% Removal of active rootkits - 100% <B>Behavior-based detection</b> Behavioral and other kinds of detection (like heuristics) - 80% Pure behavior-based detection and blocking - 14% Prevention and detection of malware files - 40% Prevention and detection of malware files with removal of Registry values - 20% Incorrectly flagged changes made by Adobe Reader 8.01 - No Incorrectly flagged changes made by DaemonTools 4 - No Incorrectly flagged changes made by Google Desktop - No Incorrectly flagged changes made by Microsoft Office 2007 - No Incorrectly flagged changes made by Windows Update - No
Firewall All ports closed - Yes All ports stealth - Yes
Specifications Download/package or both - Both Size of virus-definition files (including the scan engine) - 42.10 MB Incremental update size (update was performed after seven days) - 1.20 MB Antivirus - Yes Antispyware - Yes Firewall - Yes Firewall avoided unnecessary pop-up alerts - Yes Antispam - Yes Antispam: Outlook plug-in - Yes Antispam: Outlook Express plug-in - Yes Antispam: Windows Mail plug-in - No Antispam: Thunderbird plug-in - No Web-based Antiphishing - Yes IM traffic support - Yes Parental controls - Yes Data privacy features - Yes File backup - No Wi-Fi network protection - Yes E-mail scans:pop3 - Yes E-mail scans:smtp - Yes E-mail scans:imap - No Log report (Basic, Comprehensive, or Poor) - Comprehensive Auto-scan of USB drives - Yes Default system scan scheduled - Yes
Support policies U.S. phone support - Yes Toll-free phone number - Yes Paid phone support - Yes Cost of paid phone support - $10 per incident Weekday support hours - 24 Saturday support hours - 24 Sunday support hours - 24 E-mail support - Yes Live chat - Yes