Norton 360 Version 6.0 Review

The war against viruses, trojans and malware has been one without an end. We’ve seen a crazy escalation in these unwanted elements in the recent past, but there have been a slew of antivirus products in the market, so you're convinced that if your PC has the right protection, then it’s safe from these problems. Norton recently released their new version, the V6 of their Norton 360 and 360 means all-round protection. Does this one prove so efficient? Lets find out. 

Interface

The first roadblock that distinguishes a good antivirus from a great one is the interface. Imagine you having to pull your hair out just to find out where the infection is and how exactly to remove it. Yes, it should be as simple as a few clicks. With Norton 360 v6, Symantec have upped the ante on how simple a security suite should look like. It’s got a similar look and feel to their Norton Internet Security 2012, which we reviewed earlier and the installation of the software is quite a breeze. Pop in the CD, enter the key and within minutes you’re into the matrix. 

The control panel

As for the software itself, there’s a nice choice of colours, which give the software a pretty sophisticated look. The main panel gives you an overview of what’s protected and what’s not and all basic scanning and backup functions can be accessed from there, itself. The Windows 7 widget allows you to access the most important features required on the go. 

For newbies, there’s a dedicated help section on the top right corner, so if the settings and the detailed features intimidate you a bit, you know where to go. Overall, navigation through the interface is a breeze and there’s adequate detailing and explanation given throughout the various sections to keep you well informed of what you are doing. 

Features

Norton 360 is your one stop shop for all your PC safety related requirements. It covers everything from online identity theft, phishing, spyware, spam, viruses to even loss of photos, music and other stuff. The PC Tuneup function allows you to monitor your PC’s speed and take effective measure to get it working at an optimum level. The software we got for review allows protection for three PCs for upto one year. 

Advanced settings

The four main tabs, include PC Security, Identity, Backup and PC Tuneup. Let’s see what each of them have in store. PC Security, as the name suggests, helps you run your scans and updates and manage firewall settings. It also lets you run Norton Insight, which basically monitors any application you install and informs you if it’s harmful or unstable for your PC. Another feature that they’ve included in the scan bit is the addition to scan your Facebook Wall. We’ve seen a lot of malicious links existing on Facebook walls in the recent past, so this one’s a welcome addition. 

The Identity Safe tab lets you securely store addresses, login details, passwords and credit card numbers and it works in tandem with their ‘Norton Safe Web’ feature that warns you if you happen to cross the line to browse and also against fake websites. It has a Check Site option as well, so if you want to double check, you don’t need to load up the malicious content on your browser. 

Help.. when you don't know where you going

The Backup tab allows you to create sets of data you want to create a back up for. These clusters can be stored online, in their Secure Online Storage or anywhere on your hard disk. You get 2GB free of online storage at the moment for storing your private data. Schedule options are available as well, in case you don’t want the software to automatically back up all content.