Symantec are the creators of Norton Antivirus; you'll see both of these names used interchangeably across the net. They are one of the original computer security firms, from back in the days when the only people that knew what a modem was, also went to Star Trek conventions; they've been cleaning viruses off computers since the only way to spread them was via 5 ¼ inch floppy disks.
Using Symantec Antivirus gives you one of the highest levels of protection available, as well as solid tech support, a suite of additional features, ever-decreasing load and scan times and a small system footprint for the program's capabilities. Here's how Symantec Antivirus compares to it competitors.
However, Symantec Antivirus doesn’t currently offer protection from keyloggers, phishing attempts or spam. There is also no inbuilt protection for P2P or filesharing; though you can certainly choose to scan a specific file in your download location.
Additional Features
Norton also offers additional protections such as:
Browser and operating system hijack protection
In- and out-bound email and IM protection
Protection from hackers, backdoor attacks, dialers, adware and ActiveX controls
Identity theft protection
Threats detected
Viruses
Worms
Rootkits
Trojans
Malware
Spyware
What Real People Say
CNET user review by craigminah:
"Easy to use, unobtrusive, complete protection, light on system resource utilization, very effective"
CNET user review by jmatt55:
" I love the product so far. Doesn't slow down my surfing at all."
PCAuthority user review by Marc W:
"The interface although a little busy for my tastes has improved in this version and the detection rate and spam handling was much improved over previous versions."
PCAuthority user review by 911TS:
"Fast. Has never failed to detect and remove any threats on my PC. Identity safe is a bonus which most other suites don't have."
Should You Buy Norton Anti-virus?
What's fabulous about Symantec Antivirus?
Tests consistently give it a malware detection rate of 98%, putting it in first or equal-first place with all other products tested
Firewall makes your machine completely invisible to attacking PCs
New engines that mean software doesn’t depend on matching with known threats to protect your PC - you can be protected even if yours is the first PC ever to be infected with a particular threat
New Quorum behavioural analysis engine doesn't affect system speed as earlier versions did
Good pricing for multiple PC homes and businesses
What Symantec Antivirus features are middle-of-the-road?
Startup time of 14 seconds and a RAM footprint of 83MB mean mid-range performance
Where does Symantec Antivirus fail?
Pricing is suited more to multiple PC homes
Interface can be complex for new users - however do remember that tech support are friendly and easy to reach