Whew! Just as we finished reviewing all of the Antivirus and Internet Security software for 2011, antivirus manufacturers began releasing beta editions of their 2012 software. It’s no surprise that one of the first vendors out of the gate with a 2012 beta is Symantec Corporation, whose Norton AntiVirus 2011 can reasonably lay claim to the best antivirus platform of the year. What tricks does Norton have up its sleeve for the new year?
- NOTE: This review was based on Norton AntiVirus Beta Version 19.0.1.16. This review is informational only, and is based on software designated as Beta. Features are subject to change between this version and the final 2012 release. Since this is a Beta release, we ran none of our usual performance or virus scanning metrics.
- Because this is Beta software, users install it at their own risk. Consult the Norton AntiVirus 2012 Public Beta Forum before installing to gauge what problems you may encounter.
Norton continues to possess one of the fastest and smoothest installation routines of any software package on the planet. As shown here, Symantec isn't shy about bragging, either.
Dashboard Re-Design
The Dashboard is the critical UI element of any antivirus platform. A good Dashboard updates a user on the current security state of their computer, and provides easy access to virus scanning and other protection utilities, such as anti-spam, identity protection, and parental controls.
Like its predecessor, the Norton 2012 Beta Dashboard leaves you feeling like you’re heading North American air space defense operations. But Symantec has done a great job reducing clutter and improving the organization of key features. The Dashboard’s content area has been reduced to three commands: Scan Now, LiveUpdate, and Advanced. Scan Now enables launching a complete virus scan, a Reputation Scan, or a Facebook Wall Scan. LiveUpdate ensures you’re running with the latest version of Norton, and the latest virus definitions. And if you miss those configuration options? Not to worry – click Advanced, and you can configure Norton AntiVirus to your heart’s content.
The Norton Dashboard gets a housecleaning in the 2012 Beta: the Dashboard's main content area is reduced to three major commands.
While we like the improved interface, we found some of the UI icons inconsistent in this Beta release. For instance, whenever you enter a sub-window, such as Scan Now or Advanced, Norton displays a Close button that will return you to the main Dashboard display. On Scan Now, the Close button is an x; on Advanced, it’s an arrow. On the Norton Tasks screen (accessible via the Performance window), it’s a big button labeled “Close”! We hope Norton performs a UI review before releasing this latest version upon their customers.
Remote Management
Along the bottom of the Dashboard are three buttons for accessing more of Norton’s capabilities. The Activity Map button displays the worldwide infection map we’ve all come to know and love. The Manage button displays a dialog for the new Management feature in Norton AntiVirus, which enables managing security on all of the PCs running on your network. A few other anti-virus packages offer remote management, and we were happy to see Norton take it up.
Norton 2012 Beta provides a Web-based interface for managing multiple computers and devices over the Internet.
Unfortunately, the experience was not ideal. Management was not installed by default, and took several minutes to set up. Then we were forced to create an account on Norton.com to access the Web-based Management interface. We assume Norton implemented this as a Web application so that users could manage PCs and devices outside of their local network. Even taking that into consideration, we found the process cumbersome.
Mobile Device Security
If you own an Android-based smart phone, you can take advantage of Norton’s third bottom-bar button, which directs users to download the Norton Mobile Security app from the Android Market. Since we’re iPhone devotees, we were unable to assess Norton’s mobile experience. But the company deserves kudos for its foray into the mobile security marketplace – especially given the stagnation of PC sales, and the rapid growth of smart phones and tablets.
Under The Hood
On their Web site, Symantec claims that the latest Norton offers “our fastest performance ever.” We’ll leave that up to our performance tests to decide once the application goes live in September.
Chrome Extension?
One of our biggest complaints with the 2011 crop of antivirus software is that few vendors offered Web surfing protection for users of Google’s Chrome browser. The news from Symantec appears mixed on this front. It appears that earlier versions of the Norton Beta included a Chrome extension. As of the latest build, the extension appears to have been yanked. We have high hopes that this extension will return in subsequent builds.
Conclusion
While there was nothing here that blew us away, Norton appears at least to be treading water against its competitors. Whether they’ve provided enough incentive for existing users to upgrade remains to be seen; features like Management and Mobile Security will only be of interest to select users.