Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010

At a Glance:  Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 definitely lives up to its recent reputation. It's fast, transparent and free to Comcast high speed Internet customers for up to seven PCs!

The Triple "E" Keys

The following table summarizes the effectiveness of Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 based on certain tests by large independent testing labs. For more information on the scoring system, visit the Triple E Key Awards page.

Install/Uninstall:  Norton Internet Security 2010 (and 2009) has received a lot of press about how easy it is to install and for good reason. Symantec owns the Norton brand and starting in 2009, wrote a custom installer from scratch. Usually, a product will depend on Microsoft's Windows Installer to assist in installation. Norton's custom installer is very fast by comparison.

It took just 2 minutes to install on a virtual machine. That's about twice as long as it took me to install it on my laptop so the one minute claim is pretty accurate. Once installed, Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 is ready to go with a bunch of default settings designed to take the work out of setting things up on your own. In my view, they did a very good job.

There is no need to restart Windows after the install. Within a minute or so you'll have a big yellow circle with a green checkmark inside indicating that you're "Secure". This product is definitely the fastest and easiest install of the group.

Removing Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 is a snap as well--taking only one minute--though it does require a restart to complete the removal. I'm not sure why that is since installing it doesn't require it. Still, it's quick and painless.

Setup/Use:  Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 is chock full of settings and has a pretty nice user interface. My favorite gizmo is a set of meters on the left hand side comparing how many CPU cycles are being used for Norton versus the computer's other processes. In my case, it ran between 4% and 8% most of the time. That's supposed to make you feel good about how efficient it is on your computer.

You can leave all the settings as they are since Norton is very smart about setting its defaults. If you have performance problems, you can try turning off a couple of features like Safe Surfing and Email Protection to see if it helps. I'd recommend leaving them all on if possible.

I'm fairly happy with the user interface because it gives a simple view of what features are turned on (all of them by default) and if you're fully protected (according to Norton's definition).

Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 uses the new Insight technology. That's Symantec's way of scanning your computer for files that it knows are safe and whitelisting them so that the scanner doesn't have to look at them again. This saves a ton of time scanning and thus, freeing up resources to do real computing tasks.

Norton has done a great job on this version and I think they'll pick up an increase in market share. If you consider the Comcast customers (see "Efficient" below), they already have.

Help:  You'd expect a big company like Symantec to provide great options for help and they certainly do. From the program itself, there are shortcuts to a help file, tutorials, support, and your subscription status. Once at the web site, you'll find a nice set of tabs dedicated to various issues. I found them easy to navigate.

Symantec offers paid virus removal for $99.99, troubleshooting and optimization for $69.99, custom installing services for $39.99 if you can't or don't want to do it yourself. Then there's a free PC checkup scanner that will give you report on the security status of your computer.

Performance:  My custom scan took just six minutes and Norton found and disabled my double-zipped virus test file without even breaking a sweat. That's a fast scanner indeed.

Value:  Symantec Norton Internet Security 2010 will cost you $69.99 for a 3 PC license. My opinion is that it's worth every penny. But here's the best news: if you happen to be a Comcast high speed Internet customer, you get it for free! Actually, you get the Comcast branded version of Norton 360, called Norton Security Suite, which is the next level up and includes parental controls, password vault, etc.

You can download Comcast's Norton Security Suite for up to seven PCs at no charge whatsoever. In fact, I have it on three PCs in my home right now and that's a significant savings.

Bottom Line:  Norton Internet Security 2010 is the big boy on the block according to the numbers I see. Plus, it installs fast, scans fast, and is basically a hands-off background product--just the way I like it! If you're a Comcast high speed Internet customer, download it now and if you're not, consider buying it. I think you'll be pleased.