The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Norton AntiVirus 2006 Ash Nallawalla ash@melbpc.org.au |
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Over the years I have mainly used Norton AntiVirus (NAV) happily. This year I have used McAfee VirusScan on my main PC and AVG on others around the house. I have been reading many end-user comments on the Web about NAV2006, most of which are very negative.
When the chance to review NAV2006 came up, I took up the challenge. It has been available since late 2005 and I use the Corporate edition at work - a different product but if the virus definitions are the same, then I can safely say that no viruses got through. I don't surf at random or go to dubious sites, so my exposure to viruses is low.
Features
NAV2006's main job is to find and block viruses and other nasties from damaging your data. LiveUpdate is a related component that fetches the latest updates to keep the program up to date. It does this automatically. Norton Quarantine and Restore is one of the many components of NAV2006. It catches spyware and adware and quarantines them in case you need to have these files to let some program work. There are a few other components, all with their own marketing-inspired names that are thankfully not shown on the packaging. Thankfully, because users just need to know that installing the software will keep their data safe. For example, it isn't a NAV2006 message that pops up on the screen, but it could be a Norton Protection Center or a Norton Internet Worm Protection message. Who cares?
In Use
Installation was a trifle annoying because NAV2006 wanted to scan my whole PC (which I did not want to start at midnight, when I was about to go to bed and turn off my PC) and the next day it kept reminding me. It was a couple of days before I let it do the scan - found nothing, as expected - and then it faded into the background, doing its job. In a way, forcing a scan seems like a good idea for the average home user, where novice users are likely to click on links that lead to viruses, but I'd have liked a "Are you really, really sure?" override option.
Unlike the people who reported major issues with NAV2006, I had none. Nothing froze or crashed, no viruses got through, and the Internet Worm Protection alert popped up when I tested the new Yahoo Instant Messenger beta. I detected slowness in getting to my downloaded email compared to McAfee VirusScan, but I don't know whether NAV2006 is slow or simply doing a more thorough job. I have no concerns with using it on my PC. It is available for about $56 from the usual software outlets.
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Reprinted from the August 2006 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia
