The return of Norton

Like many others in the industry, I've given Norton Antivirus and Internet Security products a hard time over the last few years. The market leader had definitely 'lost the plot' becoming bloatware, slow, riddled with bugs and difficult to understand and use. I've removed countless copies from my customer's computers. Replacing Norton with AVG Free in most cases and Kaspersky Internet Security for businesses and individuals who wanted enhanced security and features such as AntiSPAM.

I read a review in this month's PCpro magazine which claimed that the latest version Norton Internet Security 2009 was a different beast, faster using less memory and easier to install. Review is here. Intrigued I downloaded the 15-day trial copy on a test PC and tried it out. It works, is quicker and makes the computer respond as if it wasn't there. Boot time is good, unlike the previous versions that took a few minutes to return control back to the user. I've yet to install it on a system that is badly infected by viruses, but going on what the review says it does the clean up job well too.

Previously, I used to be frequently called to attend to PCs that had had Norton loaded on them because the owner had gone to the local PCworld shop and been sold the package as a cure for all their problems. Even though their system specification was below the system requirements for the software. So I got to remove Norton and upgrade the memory as well. We shall see.