Product Description: Norton 360 version 2.0 is an all-one-solution that provides automated, comprehensive protection for your PC, your online activities and your important information in a single, easy to use solution. With a single subscription up to three PCs are protected, safeguarding your family by verifying trusted Web sites, blocking fake ones, and securely managing user names and passwords so that they can safely shop, bank, or browse online.
Strengths and weaknesses Norton 360 has strengths and weaknesses, yet this version remains a vast improvement over the last. On the down side 360 lacks the "install and forget" pleasure which came with Norton's older software, now one has to manage their protection software. I am uncertain if one can fairly blame Norton for this, as some responsibility must be laid on Microsoft's penchant for creating vulnerable unstable products. Further, 360 is a memory hog, requiring considerable resources and will noticeably slow older machines. Again, Microsoft deserves their share of the blame for this problem as well.
On the up-side, 360 does offer an imprssive array of protections for your PC with an interface that can be understood once one has gone through the proper learning curve. This is not the see-all, end-all in PC security, but it is a step in the right direction.
Norton 360 working well I have this product on three computers, all running Windows XP with SP3. I've been using it for almost 10 months now and it has performed nicely. When one of my hard disks crashed and I had to replace it, the auto back-up feature was extremely convienient. I use an external hard drive for backing up and once it's set up you don't have to give it any thought - just tell it what you want it to save and it does it. Retreiving data from the backup is easy as well and you can pick and choose from the saved data that you want to recover. Some of the features are not as good as they could be. I still prefer to use XPs "Disk Cleanup" over the 360 version and I prefer "RegCure" for my registry clean up tool over 360. But at least 360 has put these feature into their program and I can only hope that they improve them to the point that I don't feel the need to subscribe to other developer's utility programs. Being able to run 360 on three computers is very economical as well. 360 has intercepted or prevented any spyware, trojans or viruses that I've encountered. If you use this product I would recommend giving it time, maybe 20-30 minutes, after you start up the computer to do its auto-update and any scans that are scheduled to avoid problems with other programs that may be running. Before buying the external hard drive I found the auto back-up feature annoying as I was using rewritable CDs. I plan on renewing the license when my current subscription is up, but to prevent any mix-ups I am going to purchase a hard copy and install it on the three computers I want to protect as they won't be all the same ones I am using it on now. I prefer this product to McAfee's as it has had fewer problems and the "Fix-Me" and "Support" features have always worked well. Not perfect but a good value if you need to protect three computers.
Quite Satisfactory I have installed this program on both Microsoft XP and Vista operating systems. I previously had Norton Internet Security installed on my computers, so Norton 360 V2 is just an upgrade for me.
I really like the added Backup function. One DVD backs up everything of importance and its easy to run.
I'm unsure of the Tune Up function which is also an upgrade over Norton Internet Security. It is supposed to keep computers running at full speed. Maybe it works but I can't tell. When I run it it reports that no changes were made. I guess it just didn't have anything to find. My computers are running as fast as new anyway.
I don't care much about the Norton Identity Safe function. Maybe in time I'll find it worthwhile.
Computer care is just one step away I'm careful about what I let get onto my computer. I try not to visit suspicious websites; I never download attachments in emails unless I know who sent it and what it is. That said, a lot of "safe" websites are full of adware, and even our best friends can pass along viruses without knowing it. Years ago, our family lost two computers simultaneously to the same (particularly vicious) virus. And yet I've never been too serious about virus protection. If it came with the computer, and I could get a year for free -- great. I'd try it. Then I'd start to get irritated by the seemingly-constant "update" popups. Virus software is serious about keeping you safe, to the point of almost being annoying. After the year is over, I'm typically not in the mood to pay for continuing virus protection. The result? You'd like me to say I got a virus, right? Nope, I've been without up-to-date virus protection for over a year, and I've been graced with nothing more than adware (which I remove manually using a free program I found online.)
Lately, however, both my desktop and laptop had been running slowly, and I got a bit paranoid. What if they were both saddled with byte-eating viruses and I didn't even know it? One thought leads to another, and suddenly I'm convinced I need Anti-Virus software. So I get Norton, because the last one I had was McAfee and those little red popup messages drove me crazy (at least with Norton, I'd get a different color of popups, right?) First, I installed Norton 360 on my 6-year-old laptop; the process was slow, and I'm thinking with the amount of hard drive space Norton takes up, it might not be worth it. My 2-year-old desktop, on the other hand, handled the installation just fine. The installation process was slower than I expected, but once Norton was up and running, I didn't have any problems. It asked if I wanted it to scan my computer for badness, I said yes, and it found a handful of semi-malicious cookies.
According to the box, Norton 360 does everything that Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus do... plus more, including a feature for restoring deleted or damaged files on your computer. They also give you 2 GBs of "secured online storage service," with the "option to purchase more." 2GB doesn't seem like much anymore, does it? Still, it's something, and if you don't already have your own webspace, you may want to consider backing up certain files online, in case of a house fire or something.
All in all, if you're already careful about what you put on your computer, you take care of your own cookies, you already have free adware protection, and you regularly back up your files your own way, you may be able to do without this. But it's nice to have this stuff all in one package, and -- dare I say it -- it's even kind of nice to get alerts when there IS something suspicious going on, assuming you really care. If you need an extra selling point, the box claims you'll receive "free, unlimited 24x7 email and chat support" from Symantec, as well as phone support. There's also a 60-day money-back guarantee. I haven't actually needed that support yet, but that's a nice promise.
User-friendly virus protection As an average computer user, this suite worked well with my Windows XP programs. I would not recommend it for the Vista user since Vista already come with half of the extra features that this suite has outside of the regular Norton Antivirus. One very obvious drawback is how this suite slows down computer performance, a lot. It is a big suite so it does use a lot of memory. The big selling point to this suite is that it is very user friendly, actually Norton as a company is more customer service oriented so it is not unusual that most of their products are user friendly and easy to install and navigate.
Anything Goes Trivia
Megaton Man
Tony's Online Tips
Trevor
