What really stands out, however, is the interface, taking the silent firewall concept that first appeared with NIS2007 and applying it to the back-to-basics GUI. An at-a-glance display reveals the state of play with regards to PC security, transactional security, data backup and system performance. Big green ticks mean everything is okay, red crosses not okay with, in the latter case, the solution only a click or two away within the relevant module. The integration of each component is very good, but also clearly aimed at the novice user. This isn't a bad thing, as it keeps sensible defaults in play and prevents accidental weakening of the security model. However, if you want to dig deeper and configure firewall settings, the Advanced Options dialog is buried only a couple of layers beneath. This simplicity for the masses, configurability for the experts approach is well implemented." PC Pro, June 2007

Watch video on Norton 360 All-In-One Security. Learn more about some of its great features.

Buy TV Product Feature: Norton 360 All-In-One Security

(2 min, 52 sec)

CNET, February 2007

Editors' Choice

Excellent: 8.0 out of 10.0

Two years ago, when Symantec first presented us with their idea to create a complete security and performance solution, the company said it wanted to start from scratch, to build the thing right; we're happy to say that Symantec Norton 360 delivers on that early promise. That's not to say Norton 360 is perfect, nor is it designed for everyone. There are features in the all-in-one suite that we wish had been added (such as wireless security tools), but overall Norton 360 provides a much better user experience and security protection than either Windows Live OneCare or McAfee Total Protection. In fact, Norton 360 is better than Norton Internet Security 2007 in some respects, namely that it's lighter on system resources, the tools are better integrated, and it presents a much better design model than the current Norton product line. But more advanced users should stay with the Internet security suites for now.

Setup
Our setup of the final shipping version was surprisingly fast and easy. Norton 360 requires 300MB of hard drive space, considerably less than Windows Live OneCare, but about double that of McAfee Total Protection. Like the others, Norton 360 requires 256MB of RAM. Like Windows Live OneCare, Norton 360 works on Windows XP and Windows Vista. Only McAfee works on Windows 2000 through Vista. Like the other super suites, the price includes installation on up to three different PCs (for example, two desktops and a laptop).

We really like the Norton 360 interface; it's unlike the interface used on the rest of the Norton 2007 product line. The UI for Norton 360 is clean, intuitive, and no-nonsense. A toolbar across the top allows quick access to scans, configuration for tasks, access to your Norton online account, in-program Help, and technical support. Below that, there's a line that displays any current system alerts, such as configuring your backup and recovery options. The main section includes modules for PC Security, Transaction Security, Backup and Recovery, and PC Tuneup. Each of these modules displays a color-coded status and a brief explanation, with an option for more details.

Within each module is a clean list of various diagnostics and tools and their status. You can't, however, tweak your firewall settings here, or exclude a second drive from your virus and spyware scan; for that you need to use the main screen's toolbar for Tasks and Settings. It's a minor inconvenience; casual users will appreciate the clean reporting style, but advanced users (for whom the product was not intended) will want to tweak right away and become frustrated at the extra step. Also within each module are access to Help and technical support, along with selected extra steps that include access to glossaries and tutorials on the Symantec Web site. Gone are the blatant links to Symantec shopping that encourage you to purchase additional products, which we've seen in the past. We also like the fact that Norton 360 appears on the taskbar as an indiscrete icon, not the loud and flamboyant, yellow pill design used in Norton Internet Security 2007.

Should you want to remove Norton 360, we didn't find an uninstall icon and had to use the Add or Remove Programs tool within the Windows Control Panel. Although there is a separate listing for Symantec's LiveUpdate program, we were able to remove both programs by uninstalling Norton 360 alone. Upon reboot we found no registry entries and no system folders for Symantec or Norton 360.

Features
Rather than simply bundle all of the features from Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security, Norton SystemWorks, and Norton Confidential, Symantec went back to the drawing board and designed Norton 360 from the ground up. The result is a much more fluid experience. Even Symantec LiveUpdate, which sometimes feels like a clunky add-on to the other Norton products, is better integrated within Norton 360. Our initial update of the product was quick, with both LiveUpdate and Norton 360 downloading and installing within seconds.

Symantec pulled only the tools deemed most beneficial to the general user from all its product lines. Norton 360 includes antivirus, antispyware, antiphishing, antirootkit protection, a firewall, Symantec's new SONAR (Symantec Online Network for Advance Response) behavioral monitoring software, and a vulnerability assessment tool to see what Windows updates your computer might be missing. An add-on pack of online tools includes Parental Control, Antispam, and other optional features such as blocking private data from leaking onto the Internet.

Norton 360 also includes tools to defragment your hard drive and clean up temporary files and other clutter than could slow your PC down. These tools are fine, but are nowhere near as complete as Symantec's own Norton SystemWorks. Norton 360 does include a backup and recovery tool, and provides up to 2GB of free online storage. Online storage is great if your home or office was somehow destroyed and you need access to your backup files from a remote location (think of Hurricane Katrina). For additional fees, you can increase your online storage volumes, up to 25GB at $69.99 per year. Microsoft Windows Live OneCare and McAfee do not offer online storage. All three products allow you to back up onto your hard drive, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

What's missing within Norton 360 are a few surprises. There are no tools specifically targeted for wireless home networks, a rapidly emerging area. Aside from help setting up such networks, we'd also like to see tools that help encrypt the signals with WEP, WPA, or WPA2, or at least monitor whether someone uninvited joins your home wireless network. Of the three super suites, only McAfee Total Protection includes wireless security.

For Internet privacy, though Norton 360 will authenticate a site via Symantec's own servers, it won't store your passwords or credit cards in an encrypted vault unless you download the optional add-on pack. Of the three super suites, only McAfee Total Protection provides an ID vault with the program itself. Total Protection also provides a data file shredder, a must if you have personal files that you don't want hanging around your hard drive after the fact.

We also found that Norton 360 is optimized for Internet Explorer only, and not Firefox and Opera browsers. It could be said that Symantec realizes that Internet Explorer users need more protection, but it would be nice to use the antiphishing feature in Norton 360 on Firefox or Opera. Of the three super suites, only McAfee supports Firefox; none support Opera.

Performance
If you've ever used a Symantec Norton product and then removed it because it was too heavy on your system resources, you'll be delighted to learn that Norton 360 feels light compared to the legacy of the past. We counted only three processes running on our task manager, compared with several from McAfee and Microsoft. This is a huge improvement over previous editions of Norton Internet Security, which tended to be very large.

Norton 360 uses the Norton Antivirus 2007 engine, an application that improves on last year's CNET Labs' performance test scores, although Norton turns in a mixed bag of results overall. On our iTunes test, Norton lost ground compared with last year, taking 208 seconds as opposed to 184 seconds last year. On our Sorensen Squeeze test, Norton improved, taking 317 seconds compared to 326 seconds last year. Overall, Norton showed the most improvement with individual file scans; it took only 117 seconds versus 320 seconds last year. But in terms of boot speed, Norton lost ground by taking 4 seconds longer, 66 seconds as opposed to last year's 62 seconds. Visit CNET Labs to find out how we test antivirus software.

To determine how well a product will protect your PC, we refer to test results from two leading independent antivirus testing organizations. In the latest test results from AV-Comparatives.org, Norton AntiVirus 2006 earned an Advanced + rating (the highest), catching 98 percent of all malware tested, and from Checkvir.com, Norton AntiVirus 2006 was one of eight products to earn its Standard rating (also the highest).

For firewall tests, we used Nmap on a closed system with a router connection; however, we were unable to scan the Norton Internet Security 2007 PC. All other vendors tested produced at least some results in the various tests performed. Norton hides or "stealths" a PC from criminal hackers, which is good, though we're suspicious of what we can't see.

Support
Within Norton 360 there's in-program Help and then there's Support. Help consists of in-program FAQs, which are very detailed for Symantec. Either search a term or scroll through the index to find the topics you need. Support is Symantec's technical support for Norton 360. In the final release version, we were surprised at how little is offered. The knowledge base is cool, first diagnosing your version of Norton 360 for any known problems. If you still want help, the program asks you what help you need and provides a a menu of FAQs. There's also an envelop icon that leads you to e-mail and chat support (which are free) or telephone (which is paid; the telephone support service was not yet available at the time of this review). The user guide is a mere 30 pages and only includes the bare minimum of details; use the in-program Help instead. There is no tutorial offered.

Conclusion
Norton 360 is a good example of the "out of the box" thinking needed by traditional security vendors today. By starting from scratch and building an entirely new security product, Symantec has made long overdue improvements to its existing product line. Hopefully next year's release of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security suite will benefit as well. But Norton 360 is not for everyone. Designed for home and student users, advanced users will want more online-transaction security tools and wireless protection. That said, for home and student use, we think Norton 360 represents the best value of ease, tools, and performance, and we recommend it over McAfee Total Protection or Microsoft Windows Live OneCare.

PC Magazine, March 7, 2007

Editors' Choice

Very Good: 4.5 out of 5.0

Norton 360 takes care of your computer's security, keeps it tuned up, and automatically backs up your files—all without getting in your face. It offers security as a service, like Windows Live OneCare and McAfee Total Protection, but does so better than either of these competitors. Even more than Norton Internet Security 2007, Norton 360 handles important tasks on its own without asking you to make decisions. If you do somehow hit a snag, you can get help via live chat without ever leaving the product. This is a suite you can install on Granny's computer without finding yourself promoted to permanent personal-support technician.

Norton 360 runs on Microsoft Windows XP and Vista only (logo certification for Vista is pending). At over 300MB, it's a big install: I had to add a second virtual drive to each of my virtual test systems to make room for it. It seems quiet and slow-moving in a friendly, teddy-bearish sort of way. I don't mean it slows down your system; far from it. But it works in the background, scanning, fixing, tuning, and backing up whenever the computer isn't busy. If it does need your attention it asks politely. And a simple green/yellow/red color code lets you quickly verify the product's status.

Stupendous Antispyware

The virus and spyware protection technology in Norton 360 is the same as what's in Norton Internet Security 2007. Its antivirus offers the same set of features and has the same full set of certifications from independent labs. But since my review of NIS 2007, both products have been enhanced with Symantec's new SONAR (Symantec Online Network for Advanced Response) technology. SONAR identifies malware by analyzing its behavior, complementing Norton's traditional signature-based scanning. Norton 360 also puts a friendlier face on the process of pillorying malicious software than does the more attention-seeking NIS 2007.

As its installation begins, Norton 360 runs a preinstall scan of sensitive system areas. This scan detected quite a few of my malware samples on preinfested test systems. It appeared to concentrate on terminating malware processes and deleting their essential executable files rather than on performing a full cleanup. Later in the installation process, the product runs a LiveUpdate and performs a quick scan—this scan, likewise, picked up quite a few of my samples. By the time the lengthy installation was complete, half my test systems were already malware-free; that's impressive. In order to get a full cleanup on the rest, I did have to run a manual scan after digging into the options and setting it to remove "low risk" items automatically. And on one infested system, the malware blocked me from installing Norton 360. When I tried to install in Safe Mode, it directed me to use Symantec's online scanner instead. The online scan cleaned up the system and let me complete the installation, so it worked out okay.

The results overall were stupendous. Like NIS 2007, Norton 360 removed all eight of the commercial keyloggers I use for testing. Of nineteen assorted spyware, adware, Trojan-horse, and rogue antispyware samples, it detected every single one and successfully removed all but two; that's even better than NIS 2007 did. By contrast, OneCare's Windows Defender totally missed over half the keyloggers, failed to remove more than half the spyware it detected, and couldn't even install (balked by malware) on one test system. McAfee fared only marginally better than the Microsoft offering.

Norton 360's stats for keeping nasty software from installing on a clean system were exactly the same: It recognized every single threat, blocked all eight keyloggers, and blocked all but two of the spyware samples. Primary Response SafeConnect blocked all eight keylogger samples, and ZoneAlarm Internet Security Suite 7 blocked all nineteen spyware samples, but neither excelled in both areas the way Norton 360 did.

Norton 360 blocked malware from installing on a clean system in its own quiet way. When I opened a folder full of samples, it started popping up little notes saying that it was processing this-or-that threat. The messages required no response, faded away quickly, and offered a box I could check to get no more messages. Gradually the collection of samples started to disappear. In some cases I was asked to save any open files and click "Fix Now," because if that particular threat were running, its removal might crash other programs. It also asked to reboot for full removal of particularly virulent threats. These precautions weren't entirely necessary, as none of the nasties had been installed. But better to be safe than sorry.

A performance like that might mean that the product just has a fantastic set of signatures but will do poorly against newer or unknown threats. To check this possibility, I ran my tests again using modified versions of twenty samples: I changed the filenames and used a byte-level editor to change some nonessential bytes. The results were again stupendous. Of twenty modified samples, it treated sixteen exactly as it had the originals. It let the installers for three others launch but caught and killed them during installation. In only one case did Norton 360 actually miss detecting my uniquely modified malware installer. This is powerful protection!

Help! I Need Somebody!

I thought I'd have to make up a problem in order to experience the built-in live chat help, but the program itself supplied a minor quirk. It reported itself unable to fix a particular sample malware installer and offered a button with the enticing name Get Help. I clicked it and worked through the self-help options. When these didn't answer my question, I clicked Contact. This got me a choice of live chat, e-mail, or phone support. Of those, live chat has by far the most potential for success: The tech-support analyst can even fix problems by remote control (with your permission). I picked live chat and got an analyst response within a minute or so, and we quickly worked through the problem. It was caused by an incomplete update and fixed by manually rerunning LiveUpdate. I give Symantec's phone support a solid thumbs-up.

Friendly Firewall

Firewall protection is the scary part of most security suites. Firewalls often bombard you with reports about blocking access from such-an-address and ask you confusing questions about whether to allow a specific action. Norton 360's firewall is exactly the opposite. It blocks incoming attacks silently, lets known good programs do what they want, and simply removes known bad programs. With unknown programs, the suite monitors what they're doing and stops them cold if it decides they're malicious.

Like the NIS 2007 firewall, it stopped port scans easily, but it wasn't quite as resistant when I manually subjected it to malware-style attacks. I couldn't kill it with Task Manager or disable it by tweaking the Registry, but I managed to turn off its essential services. OneCare's firewall likewise caved when I turned off its service; McAfee's resisted all three attacks. None of the three stood up to my homemade utility that uses simulated mouse clicks to switch the firewall off. That's a pretty far-fetched possibility for malware attack, but both NIS 2007 and ZAISS7 resist the fake-clicks attack. Still, Norton 360's is a reasonably capable firewall; it's just not the best one out there.

Those complicated firewall settings aren't gone, just buried. You can view and configure a dizzying collection of firewall rules, program rules, and intrusion-prevention rules. But really, Norton 360's target audience will never touch these settings. If anybody uses them, it will be a support technician making adjustments via remote control.

Checkup and Tuneup

While it's busy tidying up your system, Norton 360 makes a few other security checks. It automatically examines your Internet Explorer settings and fixes any security holes. It verifies that your internal network addresses haven't been redirected to malicious sites (though it's hard to see how that could happen). And it can optionally run a scan for weak passwords on your Microsoft Windows user accounts.

The app also installs a big Norton antiphishing toolbar in Internet Explorer. This works just the same as the antiphishing feature in NIS 2007 and Norton Confidential. If a site is on the list of known frauds, you can't go there. For other sites, the suite sniffs out code that suggests fraud and plasters a big warning across the suspicious page. For specific secure sites that Symantec has authenticated, the toolbar displays a "Norton Authenticated" logo. In testing with real-world phishing sites, Norton beat out McAfee's antiphishing (found in several of its apps, including McAfee Total Protection), and it also beat the built-in phishing protection in IE7 and Firefox 2.

When your system isn't busy, Norton 360 clears out unneeded temporary files left behind by Windows. It also clears the browser caches for Internet Explorer, Netscape, Firefox, and Mozilla. There's an option to clear IE's browsing history as well, but this one is turned off by default, which seems reasonable. You can peek at what the tune-up removed, but in a rare instance of user-interface awkwardness, the suite displays the cleaned-up files in a fixed-width window with no horizontal scrolling. If the file's pathname is ultra-long (as many are) you may not get to see it all. Norton 360 also defrags your hard drives in the background when the system is idle. OneCare does much the same, and also checks to make sure you've got all high-priority security updates from Microsoft.

Backing Up Is Hard to Do—NOT!

To protect your essential data, Norton 360 automatically backs up important files. It's the one area that you simply have to configure yourself, because there are some choices the program can't make for you. You can choose to back up files in eight categories, including documents, e-mails, and music. By default they're all selected, except the often-humongous video category. You can also add specific files or folders for backup. OneCare and McAfee offer similar predefined categories for backup.

Your next choice is just where you want the backup files to go. The default location is "Secure Online Storage"—you get 2GB of free storage as part of your Norton account. And the default schedule is Automatic, meaning any new or changed files get backed up whenever the computer is idle. Two gigabytes of storage won't suffice to back up a ton of images and videos, of course, but this is still a good offer for those who have important documents they need to keep secure. If you need more space, you can also purchase 5GB, 10GB, or 25GB of additional online backup space at $29.99, $49.99, or $69.99 per year.

If you don't go for online backup, you can use just about any storage device as the backup destination, including CD/DVD, local hard drives, network hard drives, removable hard drives, and USB keys. Automatic backup is still the recommended choice for any destination except CD/DVD; since you have to feed blank discs to the system, the CD/DVD backup runs only manually or on a fixed schedule. OneCare originally supported only CD/DVD and removable hard drives as backup destinations. With Version 1.5, it added the option to use high-capacity USB devices or networked drives, but not online backup. Oddly, OneCare doesn't let you use a spare drive in your own computer as destination. McAfee Total Protection offers all the same destination choices as Norton 360 but leaves out the online option.

Restoring files from backup is simple: Just select the files from a searchable list and choose whether you'll restore them to their original location or to a different location. Note, however, that only the most recent version of a file is stored. If you screwed up a document, you can't go back to last Tuesday's version, the way you can with Mozy and most dedicated backup services. And if a file has changed, the entire file must be backed up, not just the differences (this can be significant if your backup is online). Symantec plans to add versioning in the next release of Norton 360, and it will be a most welcome addition. OneCare likewise doesn't keep multiple versions. McAfee does keep multiple versions of files, though accessing a specific earlier version is awkward. None of these solutions can provide bare-metal system restoration after a disaster, but they'll keep your important documents safe.

The B Team

Like NIS 2007, Norton 360 offers a set of second-string features that aren't installed by default. If you want spam filtering, parental control, or confidential-information blocking, you'll have to download and install a separate add-on pack. The Norton 360 version of the add-on pack won't be available until March 15, but Symantec assures me that the security add-ons are just the same as those in NIS 2007, which means they're limited and not terribly useful. Symantec chose to gut these modules to make the overall package slimmer and reduce drag on performance. They're betting that most people don't need them.

The shared antispam feature has limited features and performed poorly in testing, letting over half the spam that came in into the inbox and blocking 5 percent of undeniably valid mail. On the other hand, OneCare doesn't offer antispam at all. McAfee did much better, blocking just one marginally valid message and letting only 20 percent of spam into the inbox. On the other hand, we did that test some months ago, before the current flood of filter-busting image spam.

Parental control is limited to blocking Web sites by category, and there's no option to configure it differently for different users. McAfee's parental control is rather more complete. It allows per-user configuration based on Windows accounts or on program-specific accounts and includes the ability to set a schedule of when each user is allowed on the Internet. It even attempts to block inappropriate images, though with uneven success. OneCare's parental control will be supplied by Windows Live Family Safety, currently in beta. Family Safety offers content filtering and activity monitoring. It does have per-user settings, based on Windows Live ID. Settings are stored online, so you don't have to configure it separately for multiple computers. I'll take a deeper look at Family Safety when it comes out of beta.

The add-on pack also includes an option to record specific confidential information and keep it from leaving your computer via Web forms, IM, or e-mail. You can make exceptions, so your bank password is okay at the bank's site but nowhere else. But you can't configure it on a per-user basis. If you've blocked your kids from e-mailing your home phone number, you won't be able to send it, either. McAfee lets you choose whether to block the entire communication or just to replace the private data with asterisks; Norton always blocks it. Both products let anybody with the supervisor password browse the private data. I prefer the way ZAISS7 does it: Once entered, your private data is encrypted and not shown to anybody.

Technology nuts like me will find Norton 360 a little alarming. Like the elves in the cobbler's shop, it does its work only when you're not looking. If you touch the keyboard or mouse while it's working, it will scurry back into the shadows. So what did it do? Clicking View Statistics in the Tasks and Settings dialog brings up an overview on just what Norton 360 has done for me lately. It will report that a spyware scan ran and even say how many nasties were caught, but it doesn't get into details like just what the nasties were or what files were removed. But for the average user, and certainly for Norton 360's target customers, that's more than enough information.

Norton 360, McAfee Total Protection, and Windows Live OneCare all tout themselves as simple services to handle the ordinary user's security needs and more. Microsoft has just announced that beta testing of OneCare 2.0 will start in April, with final release scheduled for the fall. New features include Wi-Fi security, help for printer sharing, automatic removal of little-used start-up programs, and unified monitoring, reporting, and resolution for multiple installations on the same network. It will also add online photo backup as an extra-cost option. But in its current incarnation, OneCare comes up short feature-wise, and its antispyware and firewall protection are subpar. McAfee has similar problems with effectiveness, and is huge and awkward to boot. Norton 360 has definitely hit the sweet spot, both performing its tasks effectively and minimizing user interaction. The optional antispam, parental control, and privacy protection are weak, but not everyone needs those. Buy NIS 2007 for yourself, but get Norton 360 for Granny.

Protect Your Family, Your PC, and Yourself with the BEST.

Don't take chances with second rate PC protection. You might regret it.

Norton 360 All-In-One Security     |     Norton Internet Security 2008     |     Norton AntiVirus 2008 with Antispyware