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More…Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2008 security suite ($70 for up to three PCs) is easy to use and comes with a host of extra security features, such as a separate Security Inspector scan that warns about unsafe browser settings and other potential security holes. It was the only suite in our testing for "All-in-One Security Suites: Tried and Tested" that didn't cry wolf by reporting at least one false positive.
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008
PCWorld Rating, November 15, 2007
23 User Reviews Add your own »
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Pros
Solid performer
Cons
Doesn't completely uninstall itself
Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008
Norton Internet Security 2008 Review, by Erik Larkin November 29, 2007
It detected an above-average 91 percent of AV-Test.org's 674,589 malware samples. This results put the Norton suite close behind the Avira Premium Security Suite, BitDefender Internet Security 2008, Checkpoint ZoneAlarm Internet SecuritySuite 7.1, and Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 packages, each of which detected 95 percent or more of the malware samples. Nevertheless. a 4 percent difference in detection rates represents a difference of 26,983 undetected samples. Symantec's suite produced the second-worst showing on AV-Test's heuristic tests, catching only 10 percent of samples when required to use one-month-old signature files to detect unknown malware based on similarities to existing code.
The Symantec suite did outperform the other programs at getting rid of infections. It cleaned up 80 percent of all files and Registry entries added by malware. In particular, Norton was a champ at fighting rootkits--malware designed to hide other malware. It detected every active and inactive rootkit sample, and successfully neutralized those infections. Symantec's suite was one of only two programs (Checkpoint was the other) to detect and block unidentified malware based solely on the way it behaved, but even so it caught just one sample out of five.
In our tests, on-demand (user-initiated) scans were more than 50 percent faster with Norton than with the next-fastest suite (Avira Premium), yielding an impressive data-analysis rate of 16.07 megabytes per second. And those on-demand scans look inside file archives, where crooks frequently hide malicious payloads. (On the other hand, Norton's automatic scans, which check files as your system saves them to the hard drive, won't check file archives unless you change the default settings).
Symantec's firewall is polished. It successfully blocked attempts from outside to scan a protected PC for information, and it did better than most competing suites at refraining from issuing unnecessary warnings about benign apps such as Firefox and Internet Explorer.
In addition, Norton Internet Security displayed an apt warning when it detected an unencrypted wireless connection, and it incorporates various safe-browsing features. For example, its Norton Confidential toolbar, designed for Firefox and Internet Explorer, blocks phishing sites; and its Browser Defender checks for known vulnerabilities in Internet Explorer 6 and 7. Though the suite's Identity Safe feature protects sensitive data, such as credit card numbers, from inadvertently leaving your PC, you'll must manually tell it what information to protect--a standard but laborious process. It has no antispam or parental controls, but those features are freely downloadable from Symantec's site.
The interface is well laid-out, and the software's pop-up detection alerts are generally understandable, though they provide little information, such as where a threat was found. Its impressive log entries simplify the task of finding out what the program has been up to--but again they lack information about where a given threat was discovered.
Our one major criticism of the suite is that when we uninstalled it, it left behind the separate LiveUpdate component. You have to know to go back and remove LiveUpdate as well.
Norton Internet Security 2008 has a good design and an appealing feature set. It could be better at blocking malware, but it's the best choice of the eight we looked at.
Erik Larkin
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User Reviews
Average User Reviews for Symantec Norton Internet Security 2008
18 Reviews Add your own »
- Latest User Reviews 18 reviews
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Reviewed by: cyoumans
Duration of ownership: 3 Years
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Very slow and resource hungry. Did not find any "spyware" or "malware" programs (not one). Other programs such as PcTools Sypware Doctor found over 100 (I have heard the same NIS inefficiencies reported by other people). Tech help is appalling and very frustrating. Ofter very hard to understand the english spoken with heavy accents. Questions asked are not answered. It is as though no one reads my questions in my email correspondence. Impossible website. NIS Leaves over 250 registry entries after uninstall.
Overall: Waste of time and money. I have stopped using NIS.
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Reviewed by: PCShawn
Duration of ownership: 12 Months
Strengths: Very fast virus scan.
Weaknesses: Doesn't detect all viruses. Privacy Control generates too many pop-ups. Technical support is virtually non-existent.
Overall: Privacy Control continuously generates pop-ups alerting the user to the fact the computer is attempting to send private information out. NIS 2006 had the option to block it WITHOUT alerting the user. It's a real headache when you're trying to pay bills and constantly have to click "OK" for a dozen pop-ups! Also, I've scanned my one of my computers and thumb drives for months with NIS 2008, but it never found a generic Trojan that was found by BiDefender! And Tech. support and near incompetent. You ask a specific question and they give you the answer to a different question. No offensive, but this is what happens when you ship jobs overseas.
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Reviewed by: lost1wing
Duration of ownership: 5 Years
Strengths: You are able to tweak the program to work for you.
Weaknesses: Resorce hog and did not prevent malware or viruses from computer. Tech support only wanted to charge $99.00 to fix a problem that the program should have prevented.
Overall: A free virus program removed the malware and the virus that Norton didn't and what the $99.00 tech support would have done. Don't waste your time or money.
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Reviewed by: JeffG112
Duration of ownership: 24 Months
Strengths: None, it is a resource hog
Weaknesses: It is incomplete and does not prevent nor remove many viruses and spywares. Support is expensive (fee based, not free), India based, incomplete and inadequate. Custoner service is non existant.
Overall: This is an inadequate product with lousy customer service and technical support. Apparently Symantec does not care much for their non corporate customers. Several viruse anbd instances of varying spywares pass by it and then ae not removed by it. In fact, several were not even detected and were only detected by other software. Further the product is a resource hog, even in XP and noticably slow down booting, email and several other processes. It does not uninstall completely using the windows uninstaller. Tech support is poor, India based with bad English language skills and very expensive. n the 2 instances where Norton failed to prevent infections, neither was removed by the product. One required costly paid tech support and remote access to my from India computer to remove a trojan and then though it was finally removed, Norton had to be unis=nstalled and reinstaqlled also by tech support as the sofrware would not work as it iwas intended. Additinally there was resulting damage to my registry that was not apparent until later when several other software packages did not operate as they had prior to the tech support and infection. Lastly,m hte second instance where spyware passed by norton was not able to be removed by the software nor tach support and required PC Doctor to detect and remove the infection. Do yourself a favor and use PC CIllen or almost anything other than Norton Internet Security!
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Reviewed by: raewill
Duration of ownership: 5 Months
Strengths: NONE
Weaknesses: The product
Overall: DO NOT BUY THIS PRODUCT! I paid $70 for this product and it does not do what it says on the box! My machine was infected with TWO viruses. NIS 2008 was unable to prevent the viruses yet there was a help page to remove them manually. I tried this and it did not work. Even running live update and downloading 'Intelligent updater' failed and after countless full scans I used the online chat support. Straight away the tech said it would cost me $100 to rectify the fault without even trying any remedial action. I asked for somebody else to help me and after speaking to FIVE techs (all INDIAN) I had the same response $100 or no help. I asked for a telephone number for customer relations and dialled a 1-800 number. Guess what? Another Indian. Customer services did not give a **** and were totally unhelpful. I may as well have talked to the wall as I ended up banging my head against it anyway. I want to warn any prospective buyer that this product does not work and if you get infected you have to pay $100 to repair damage that the software failed to prevent. It is nothing but a scam and I feel so strongly about this that I am going to post this review on every website that reviews Norton software.
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Reviewed by: cacique6
Duration of ownership: 1 Month
Strengths: Antivirus detection
Weaknesses: Installation process from download from Norton store
Overall: Bought Norton Internet Security 2008 and its installation for both PC has been a nightmare. Chat installation did not work on second PC after several hours. Keeps installing the old software. Will consider another product since the 2008 is a nightmare. Unable to get solution form Norton and live support unavailable and charges are costly. Will not recommend purchase product or downloading from store.
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Reviewed by: BarryBoyer
Duration of ownership: 2 Weeks
Strengths: I do not know what they are but I assume the tests which give great marks to this product are correct.
Weaknesses: Problems with software installation.
Overall: I was not happy to have this product come with my new HP. I decided, however, to give it a try as the length of the 'free' subscription was generous. Very often software programs refused to install or allow upgrading to be Vista compatible. How do you easily close this product? I could not figure it out. After a lengthy frustrating experience, I removed Norton and installed ZoneAlarm which almost never creates a problem with other product installations. Closing ZoneAlarm when necessary is simple. Perhaps the solution to the problems I faced was and is clear, but I could not find that solution.
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Reviewed by: itronman
Duration of ownership: 10 Months
Strengths: Completely Invisible to user. Doesn't bog my system down. No persistant questioning of what I want to do, it takes care of it.
Weaknesses: None that I have found.
Overall: I switched from ZoneAlarm Suite, because it was dragging my pc down so that it was unusable. Also Zone Alarm would bombard me with questions, that I expect the Security Suite to know. I am not the expert, that is why I pay money for the Security software to do it's job. Norton's Security software seems to handle my system's security issues effortlessly. I have intentionally tested my systems security with several Network Security programs and so far I haven't found any major holes in Norton's protection. Many years ago, I had also moved away from Norton, due to it's hunger for system resources. But I have not experienced this problem with the new Norton software. I am running a P4 3.2Mhz, 2 gig ram, dell system, nothing fancy. Bill
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Reviewed by: Keresh
Duration of ownership: 2 Years
Weaknesses: Expensive renewal fee. Performance. Despicable lack of customer support.
Overall: The original program was a dog. Trying to renew the antivirus subscription I found no option cheaper than %59.88. I accepted it, but my computer froze during download, requiring a hardware restart. The support phone number on their website is well guarded (requiring payment, and unpublished until you fill a form. Having submitted an online support request on their website I got an automatic e-mail message promising response within 96 hours. Despite my repeated e-mail messages, more than 3 weeks(!) later I have received nothing but an automatic response apologizing for not responding (high messge volume etc.). This is true contempt for customers.
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Reviewed by: dlandman
Duration of ownership: 1 Month
Strengths: user friendly
Weaknesses: does not remove virus completly
Overall: just got infected with trojan vundo which norton internet security 2008 tells me is detected and fixed at every startup. yes, its there every time. says on the box it is supposed to remove pc virus so i chat with their "free" tech support who tells me that for another $99.95 they will go ahead and remove the virus. isnt that what i paid for in the first place? buy something else. they should have a rip-off box under the poor performance box.
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Reviewed by: emperordarius
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: User Friendly Interface Fair Price
Weaknesses: Poor Detection Late Updates Uses too much resources
Overall: The famous Symantec Company presents it's newest product, Norton Internet Security 2008. I tried that only for 2 months, but it was enough for me to hate that. Presented by the most advertised and famous Anti virus company, I thought I should try that product. The interface was easy to use, and very good for Beginners. I saw the prices, but I used the 90 days trial. My first impression was good, because I didn't notice any malware symptom and Scanning didn't show any infection. However, It seemed like Norton was hungry of my system resources, slowing my computer by nearly 70% at startup. I hate slow startups... However, after a while, Since no threat was found normally (only tracking cookies), I download some programs bundled with spyware and malware to try it. Needless to say, by approximately 300 malware samples and 600 spyware samples, Norton detected less than 100 malware and none of the spyware. Every time malware was found, Norton pretended to "Disinfect" them, while it actually deleted it. After uninstalling Norton (Using Symantec uninstaller), I ran a full scan with Kaspersky Internet Security 6.0, and found more than 1000 threats. I was very dissapointed by Symantec, which is getting less and less efective every year. NO Symantec, 90's belong to history now!!
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Reviewed by: rickk1
Duration of ownership: 6 Months
Strengths: None known at this time
Weaknesses: Hogs large amounts of resources, takes several minutes to enable upon boot, extremely difficult to remove, does not find all viruses, spyware, malware, etc.. Wayyyy overpriced. Has to be manually updated too.
Overall: What a joke! Never in my wildest dreams would I ever install let alone recommend Norton/Symantec anything. It completely engulfs a system to the point that it is extremely difficult to upgrade and even more difficult to remove.
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Reviewed by: Kromaethius
Duration of ownership: 3 Months
Strengths: Simple installation and setting or configuring the software suite.
Weaknesses: Not intended for the coperate world. Never really cared for the annual subscription.
Overall: I own a small IT business in South Dakota and have purchased and installed this software to licensed clients. Yes, I sell software too. The whole purchasing schema through Norton/Symantec is painless and indeed a pleasant experience through the downloading proceedure. I usually purchase said software through a vendor and then to my clients. In the newer machines, those running XP Pro and or Vista, this software has made drastic improvements in performance verses its earlier versions and in my opinion fairs better than Norton's 360 suite. In older machines, I noticed that this software puts less of a load than its former version, but there is overhead just the same and everyone must realize that no matter what flavor they use, any anti-virus/anti-spyware application will use resources, some much better than others. I personally use for my business, the corperate versions of Symantec and I must tell you all that EndPoint Security 11.0 is supreme. No annual memberships, corperate and enterprise level licensing and I love the enterprise level of security this application offers. I wish that someone would do a reveiw on EndPoint Security for the corperate world.
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Reviewed by: kollman
Duration of ownership: 1 Month
Strengths: Small Footprint and does appear to keep a PC safe.
Weaknesses: Live Update error 1812 persists and tech support is really weak. The email support is canned and response time is terrible. After 2 complete uninstalls and some bad advice, I wish I had of waited to purchase.
Overall: The Software ruuns fine and all updates take place except for the 1812 error. The web site support says to check back in 2 weeks for a hotfix. If that does not occur, the clean up utility is recommended. I am looking into the 1812 error. It may be a subscription error. So uninstall all you want, the issue is probably on the Symantec servers. It is a shame, this software is far better than previous Norton Security Suites. But small errors keep the user concerned of what big issues may come.
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Reviewed by: jjsm
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: don't know as product doesn't install
Weaknesses: installation simply doesn't work, technical and customer support awful, probably bug in their installer and who knows in their security software?
Overall: One of the worst customer/technical support experiences I've had. Product did not install, and technical support could not solve the problem despite hours of chat sessions. In the end, there is probably a bug in their installer. What that means for how secure the product is, I don't know. Buyer Beware! Worst of all technical support said I couldn't get a refund because I bought it at a retail store. Symantec contracts out support to people who are superfically polite, but are not really interested in helping. They are evasive, given to platitude and inappropriate formulas. how they think they can take my money for a product that doesn't work is beyond me.
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Reviewed by: lorremontana
Duration of ownership: 2 Months
Strengths: Better performance. No Popups and nononsense questions asked. Very easy to user (install and forget)
Weaknesses: price antispam
Overall: I stopped using Norton since 2006 version because it slow down my computer and it was impossible to check my mail (to slow). I tried the new 2008 version on the same computer. Miracle i didn't even feel the norton was installed on my machine. Very easy to protect my wireless network. Used kaspersky earlier and was contacted by my son daily to ask what to do with the questions asked by the program. No questions asked by Norton very clever program.
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Reviewed by: Security718
Duration of ownership: 1 Month
Strengths: None
Weaknesses: Almost everything. Blocks usage of every day websites, such as: local news and many others. Support requests are pointless as Symantec wants to blame Microsoft for the inability to access websites even though the websites worked before going to NIS 2008.
Overall: Wouldn't waste my time with this one and that's pretty bad since I've been a Symantec/Norton user for over 8 years.
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Reviewed by: fishingman1
Duration of ownership: 2 Weeks
Strengths: Excellent Firewall and Antivirus. System slow-down is minimal
Weaknesses: Antispam and parental control
Overall: I have just purchased NIS 2008 and so far I am very impressed. The new 2008 version doesn't slow down my laptop as much as 2004-2006. After using 2004 and several other security suites I switched to AVG. After that license expired i bought Norton 2008. The antivirus removed 2 Trojans that AVG apparently missed. The firewall is amazing and blocked several attacks that limewire threw at it. It removed several pieces of spyware from my computer. The only bad things about it is that it still slows the computer a little and the live update takes a while. All in all NIS 2008 is a good buy and I would recommend it to everyone.
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User Reviews From Around the Web
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Reviewed by: tisabird
Strengths: Easy installation, easy updates, and seamless workflow.
Weaknesses: none. Just the cost. But we got ours free with rebate!
Overall: There's a cool new feature called "Identity Safe". When you visit a password protected site and login, "Identity Safe" can store your credentials. With future logins, it will log you in by filling the user name and password on your behalf. This feature will save a little time and the hassle of remembering passwords. Trustworthy product. Would recommend!
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Reviewed by: Jangid
Strengths: All-in-one features
Weaknesses: Too much time for installation
Overall: Unlike the previous version, Norton has really worked on the personal firewall and scanning your computer. Although, its an all-in-one package, it takes a long time to install and slows down the system booting to a great extent. Run some registry cleaner after its installed and then reboot your system. The booting after this step is back to normal. Overall, a very great work by Symentac.
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Reviewed by: Adaminchicago
Strengths: reliable; does not slow down my system
Weaknesses: you have to download the Ad-On Pack for added features
Overall: This is the best release yet. 2007 slowed my system and this version does not. The interface is simple and easy to use. I don't know why they make you download the Ad-On Pack. Why not just include it in the CD? Otherwise I don't have any complaints.
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Reviewed by: riverseow
Strengths: Has anti spyware in it.
Weaknesses: Cannot co-exist with other software and do not have a customized installation, intallation is not pain free for some machine
Overall: I have been a user of Norton software for a long time. I loved early days Norton Antivirus in 90s. The previous software I used were the system work 2003 and NIS 2003. However, the NIS 2004 was really a disaster software and forced me give up on NIS and only use McAfee antivirus software which is free from our university. At the end of last year (2007), I have some good deals to get a NIS 2008 bundled with other two software I used a lot (Ghost and Partition magic). Therefore, I think why not try NIS again. I installed it carefully because the NIS2004 really messed up one of my machines. The installation went very smooth. However, it detect McAfee antivirus software on my machine and want me to remove it. The McAfee is required for our university machines. At beginning, I thought it should have some customized installation options to let me choose which software to install. I only want the firewall and the anti spyware part. However, there is no option. It just installs everything. So far, the software runs OK. I scanned the whole system and only caught one warning tracking cookie. It might take some of my system resources but I did not feel my machine slowing down (either my machine is too fast or I have already too many things running). However, when I try to install to another tablet PC at home ( I have three user license), I spent several days to finally get the LiveUpdate work. At least, I reboot 10 times to make it work. If you have a slow machine, you need to be very very patient. After installtion, the LiveUpdate kept failing, I tried all Norton website method to fix it. None of them work. From many on-line forum, quite a few user has similar problem. At the end, I need to uninstall all my free anti-spy software. Turn off the "protect norton product" option in the NIS2008 and manully download the virus definition and later the latest LiveUpdate to fix all the problems. And many times, you need to wait 10 to 30 mins to see results. Many times, those windows became "Not response" and you still need to have patient to wait. I guess this machine is too slow to handle NIS2008. After all these trouble, now the LiveUpdate in the NIS2008 seems work OK.
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Reviewed by: treeroot
Strengths: Improved performance and a all in one solution.
Weaknesses: Slightly expensive.
Overall: This product has improved compared to its 07 predecessor. The boot time is significantly faster than with the 07 version. This has a password manager tool. Most people do not use it but is a good tool to have at your finger tips. This still loads up the machine a little bit. The price to performance is not great. Compared to Kaspersky ,NIS falls short. All in all a decent product.
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