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Tuesday 4 April 2017

Norton Security Review: This Is What A Personal Fort Knox Looks Like

Norton is a household name when it comes to anti-virus software, it is synonymous with it. But “In this day and age do we really need an anti-virus/ firewall security? Isn’t this like age-old thinking?” commented a friend of mine. While he doesn’t really need it as he is well versed with tech, most regular folks certainly do.

Most of us treat our computers as just something to use when we want and don’t understand what is happening inside the machine such as, which software is causing a slowdown, which pen drive caused a spyware to auto-install itself? If you don’t have this awareness, at least let the professionals do it for you; and this is exactly where Norton comes in.

Discreet Intelligence
Norton has a multi-pronged approach, anti-virus, firewall, parental controls (in premium version), 25 GB cloud storage (in premium version). Windows does come with basic anti-virus and firewall, Norton does certainly take it much further and more intelligently e.g. ever file that is downloaded , Norton lets the user know about it, whether it is a known file, how many users have used it, is it safe, etc. This is what a good advisor does, let’s you know discreetly with intelligence.


Advisor: Norton file insight hard at work

Top Notch Protection
Tests have repeatedly shown Norton engine coming at the time top, in scanning, identifying the threats, prevention and also removal. Removing a threat is a lot more difficult and Norton does that admirably well. 


At-a-glance: All green means everything is okay

I had an issue with Norton that it kept popping up security messages on one of my PC’s, this was odd. It had to do with an unknown file that was found. Norton rightly kept alerting me as it was not a virus but an unknown file, perhaps from one of the freeware installed on the PC. A quick search on Google helped me understand what it was and from where it could have come. Had it not been for Norton, I wouldn’t have known about it.

(Almost) No Impact
Norton has come a long way from its bloated days of yesteryears, the Security Suite now has very little impact on the system. Testing showed that boot time, copying files, etc had the least amount of impact, so much so that it would go unnoticed. I personally regularly game the latest titles and there too, no FPS difference nor game loading difference with or without Norton was experienced. And no, there weren’t any embarrassing automated scans that ran in the background during running a game. In fact, Norton had updated itself and was waiting for me to finish gaming, only after that did it inform me that it needs to reboot to apply the update.

And For Geeks
Those of us who love looking at the innards of stuff and alter things as per our own taste, Norton has that to offer too. You get performance graphs, downloaded timeline, alerts, installed information so you know exactly what is going on in your PC. You can easily alter Start-up programs, dig through which programs can connect to the internet and what sections the Anti-virus ought not to scan for all those *wink*wink* downloaded programs/games from the dark corners of the internet.


Nothing can remain hidden

Three Editions
Norton comes with three editions, Norton Standard for 1 device, Deluxe for 5 devices and Premium for 10 devices. These devices can be PC, Mac, smartphone or tablet, these are distinct licences for several devices in one product. The Deluxe version additional family safety features, and auto backup with 25GB cloud storage integration.

While the Standard costs Rs.849, the Deluxe for 5 devices costs just Rs.1399 for one year, that's just Rs.280 for one year for one device which is quite a steal. You can easily install it on your PC/laptop, use one for your smartphone if required and/or share the price among several family/friends if required.

Buy from Norton
It is best to buy from Norton website itself as they indeed offer the best price. Online stores like Amazon and Flipkart have retail boxes that are often more expensive. Please note that when buying from Norton, you’ll get only a licence key and not a CD/DVD.



By: Nikhil Rastogi

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