Hardware Geeks

Last year Symantec had the Midas Touch, they were able to convert their crappy Norton Antivirus and Internet Security into Gold with the releases of their 2009 Product.

Not often do you see a company take a product and completely rework it and improve it. You normally see them add more and more to it hoping with each new addition it would get better but it never does. I think for years that was the problem with Norton Products. They were cluttered with features that we did not need or did not work properly, and the ones we needed were resource hogs. That all changed with the 2009 release.

The 2009 version of Norton Anti Virus and Internet Security literally blew my and everyone I knew minds away.

Their install time was under a minute, resource usage on systems I own averaged under 6 MB, detection rate was up, it became a product that worked the way it should and I and a lot of other people I know began to recommend it.

But with 2010 is only 5 months away Symantec already has a public beta of their 2010 products available to the public to test out for themselves.

I personally have been testing out the 2010 product since the public release of the beta and I am very happy with it.

It uses a tiny bit more resources than the 2009 version but not enough to complain about. Afterall since it’s beta it is a work in progrees and who knows maybe the final version will use less or more only time will tell, but overall the resources it uses is in line with the 2009 version.

The user interface for the 2010 product is basically the same as the 2009 product, the only major differences are the flip screen (Video Below) and the skin. I am hopeful Symantec will change the skin as it’s kind of ugly but the flip screen feature is pretty damn cool and they are able to pull it off with out draining your resources. Similar features in other programs sometimes brings my system to a halt.

One of the newest features you probably noticed in the flip screen video. Symantec has a tool in their product that will now allow you to view what you have downloaded it, and how that program or programs have affected your computers performance. You can then optimize your system to work better by simply pushing the optimize button.

This new tool is very helpful, just think about it your system starts to slow up and something is using a lot of your systems resources. You can now easily see how much resources Norton uses and what programs are using what percentage of your resources. You can even possibly track it back to a new install of some software or an update to certain software and remove that software from your system.

Very helpful tool especially if you are a novice user.

From my understanding Norton also plans to place some of their definitions in the cloud, so you technically will have real time protection, and also because the definitions are in the cloud Norton will have a smaller footprint on your system. A big plus if you are space conscious.

Overall the Beta version of Norton Anti-Virus and Internet Security look very promising, I for one can’t wait to see what the final version looks like.

If you want to test it out you can do so by visiting the Symantec Beta site, however if you are a novice user or are someone who doesn’t like to deal with bugs and 14 day trial periods you may want to stick with what you have and wait for the final version. Remember when the final version is out you can upgrade for free as long as you have a current subscription.

If you don’t mind minor bugs and renewing every 14 days (for free) then give it a try I am sure you will love it as much as I do.

Post Tags: software  symantec  beta  2010  nortin internet security 

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