Norton Internet Security 2012 review

Hunting down malware is a never ending process for anti-virus and security solution companies. Every year brings new updates with promises of improved performance and more features. Symantec has been in the security solution business for a long time and they’ve released their latest iteration of their all-in-one solution - Norton Internet Security 2012. 

User interface

Installation of the suite is simple and it requires the user to enter the license key, which is about the most complicated part of the installation. Symantec has worked on improving the interface on their products and since their major user interface overall a few years back, the interface on NIS 2012 has been tweaked a little more. The experience of using a security suite with a ton of features has gotten simpler over the years. The choice of colours, styling and icons through the interface makes it less intimidating than some of the products in the market today. For example, a bright green status indicator tells you that an update is complete or if the system is secure.

The Advanced view

It also maintains its sophisticated look when you switch the Advanced view mode, of course. In this mode, there are all the familiar terms and features that you’re used to seeing. In the simple interface, there are no more controls other than the scanning and updating features. Settings and other performance related menus are still accessible though. There’s now a Windows 7 widget on the desktop, which lets you access some of the important features of the suite. The fact that help is provided when you hover the mouse pointer over a feature, also helps new users get accustomed to the features.

Features

Once installed and registered, Norton Internet Security takes over the task of updating the engine and the malware definition updates. This process is seamless and takes under 10 minutes, depending on the speed of your internet connection. When we first installed the suite, it downloaded a 90MB update. 

Lots of customisation options

Unlike Norton 360 which is an all-in-one solution that takes care of parental controls, backup and a host of other features, Norton Internet Security has always been a core malware removal and prevention tool. Presence of the features you would miss are present at the bottom of the user interface. 

The Scan feature allows you to do a standard scan, which is done in the traditional way. There’s also the newly added, Reputation Scan which scans files and programs and compares them with other users who have files with the same signature as others using the service. The last and the unexpected feature is a scan for your Facebook wall. The feature scans your profile and items on your Wall for any insecure content.