SF-SNiS133

Overview:

Pros
Top malware removal score in PCMag's test; high ratings from independent labs. Intelligent firewall. Excellent exploit blocking. Accurate antispam and antiphishing. Scam insight flags potentially dangerous websites. Updated behavioral detection. Links with other Norton products/services.

Cons
Good-not-great score in PCMag's malware blocking test. Minor effect on system performance.

Features:

Bottom Line

• Norton Internet Security is a consistent winner, and the 2013 edition is no exception. With its collection of top-notch components Norton remains an Editors' Choice
• Every vendor's will have to function correctly under windows 8 starting next month. Some, like symantec, go beyond mere compatibility, fully embracing windows 8. The user interface for norton internet security (2013) features big, touch-friendly buttons. When you mouse-click those buttons, they slide fluidly across the screen as if skimmed by a touch gesture. This suite is more than just a pretty face, though. Its security components are consistently top-notch.
• Compare similar products with this current set of security releases, symantec has dropped the inclusion of any version number or year in the product name. We're adding "(2013)" so you can distinguish this version from previous editions. Note that going forward you'll get updates without doing a thing, and without having to reboot.
• At first glance, you might easily confuse norton internet security with . The two share quite a bit of code, and the default main window hides most of the differences until you click the "advanced" button. Clicking that button brings up an overview that lets you turn security components on and off or dig in for detailed configuration settings.

Multi-level antivirus

• Protection against viruses and other malware in the norton suite is exactly the same as what you get in the standalone antivirus. I'll summarize my evaluation here; for full details, please read my review of norton antivirus (2013).
• Getting an antivirus tool installed on my malware-infested test systems sometimes takes days of back-and-forth with tech support. I did hit a few glitches getting norton installed, but a combination of the built-in autofix, norton power eraser, and the norton bootable recovery tool quickly solved those minor problems.
• Like, norton detected 89 percent of all threats in my hands-on malware removal test. Norton removed what it found more thoroughly, earning the top score of 6.6 points. Kaspersky scored 6.5 points, as did .
• Along with several others, norton detected 100 percent of the rootkit-based samples and scored 8.4 points for rootkit cleanup. Only one product scored better, but it scored a lot better; kaspersky earned 9.4 points in this test. For details on my test methodology, see .
• For my main malware-blocking test i open a folder of malware samples, note which ones are immediately wiped out by real-time protection, and launch the rest. Norton didn't score as well in this test, but my norton contacts have an explanation. In the real world, several other layers of protection would have come into play. The website of origin is significant, for example. Indeed, when i tried to download all of those samples again norton blocked every single one of those where the url was still valid.