Security
Smart home suites match up devices for security and convenience
Hands-on: Buying Norton for your PC or Mac just got a lot simpler. The product has a rich set of features and the threat protection is excellent.
If you compared the Norton product line, Symantec's consumer security products, to the competition in recent years, the most glaring distinction would be the bewildering variety of Norton products. Symantec has tossed this confusing arrangement aside for a simpler approach. Now there are two possible things you can buy: Norton Security and Norton Security with Backup.
The new products are full collection of the features in the previous set of products, They have the antivirus and other protections of Norton Internet Security, the system performance tuning of Norton 360 and the mobile device protection of Norton Mobile Security. Norton Security protects up to five devices including PCs, Macs, iOS and Android. Norton Security costs $79.99 US. For $10 more per year you get backup and protection for ten devices.
In the pages that follow I will examine different characteristics of Norton Security and issues users should consider when choosing a consumer security product.
My overall impression is that Norton Security is an excellent, high-quality product, as Norton products have been for many years. The protection is top-notch, the product comes with several ancillary security programs like Norton Identity Safe (a password manager). Consolidation of the product line into just 2 SKUs is a good decision and about time too. The old product line was a confusing mess.
Beyond threat protection some of the features are not so impressive. The performance tuning tools, formerly in Norton 360, are as uncompelling as ever. Identity Safe itself has just the bare essentials of a password manager. The mobile protection is limited, as are all such products, to what is permitted by the operating system on those platforms.
But the main reason to buy a product like this is threat protection, and for that Norton Security is an excellent product.
(Images Symantec)
Caption by: Larry Seltzer
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