Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
- Offers the industry’s most comprehensive, all-in-one protection against digital dangers.
- Guards against online threats and identity theft and automatically backs up important files.
- keeps your PC running at peak performance.
- Proactively alerts you to dangerous downloads before you install or run them on your PC
Norton 360 Version 4.0 offers the industry’s most comprehensive, all-in-one protection against digital dangers. It guards against online threats, automatically backs up important files, and keeps your PC running at peak performance.Norton 360 offers the industry’s most comprehensive, all-in-one protection against digital dangers. Its groundbreaking new reputation service provides unmatched real-time threat detection to guard against viruses, worms, spyware, bots, Trojans, rootkits, and other dig
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(out of 154 reviews)
List Price: $ 79.99
Price: $ 30.36
Review by Lewis A. Edge for Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
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Presumably this software got its name because it offers a full circle of protection. Several years ago I discontinued using Norton antivirus software because of installation and performance issues. It also made no sense for me to pay for protection when I could download and install McAfee antivirus software free-of-charge through my Comcast Internet account. Since I recently switched from Comcast to Verizon FIOS, I thought it might be a good time to give Norton’s software another try. I must say that I’m impressed with the improvements in Norton’s newest version.
The most important features that I look for in antivirus software is the ability to protect my computer from viruses and spyware and to do so without adversely affecting my computer’s performance. Although McAfee’s antivirus software, included free with my Comcast Internet service, apparently protected my Dell Inspiron notebook computer from virus infections for more than 3 1/2 years, it really slowed down my computer at times…especially when opening PowerPoint and Word files. When McAfee was running its weekly automatic full-file scan it would consume nearly all of my computer’s power, leaving few resources for me to do my tasks.
I experienced several pleasant surprises after removing my former antivirus software and installing Norton 360. Most importantly, the installation went smoothly and quickly. Norton 360 automatically configured itself on both my Outlook and Outlook Express mail clients to screen for SPAM, which I consider the scourge of the Internet. Then it did a quick scan of my hard drive to make sure there were no infections and offered to automatically remove hundreds of relatively harmless tracking cookies that were slowing down my computer. My computer now runs noticably faster.
Now I can open Word and PowerPoint files in a fraction of the time it took me to do so when I was using other antivirus software. I might add that I’ve also been pleased with Norton 360’s ability to identify and divert SPAM from my inbox and into a SPAM folder which I can check regularly and empty. Although my mail provider also screens for SPAM, a lot of it still gets through and I previously wasted enormous amounts of my time deleting it from my inbox. My Norton 360 catches and diverts most SPAM and, for the ones that it misses the first time, I am able to quickly “teach” it to catch it the next time. This has been one of Norton 360’s features that I have appreciated the most.
In summary, I see Norton 360 as a significant improvement over previous Norton antivirus programs that I have used and I get much better performance from my computer since I switched from other antivirus software. Only time and experience will tell me if Norton 360 is as effective with its virus protection. So far, after using it for nearly two weeks, I’m still virus free and my computer is running better and faster.
After writing this review and using the software for a couple of months, I installed Norton 360 on two more computers; an Acer netbook with Atom processor running Windows-XP home SP3 and an older mid-tower computer that I built several years ago. It is running Windows-XP pro SP3. In both cases the installations went smoothly and those computers actually ran faster after I removed other anti-virus software and installed Norton 360.
Review by R. Thompson for Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
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I’m in I.T. myself, so I don’t lightly malign a software company, and certainly not without plenty of personal experience with it. I’ve used Norton products since before Symantec got involved, and I’ve seen the customer experience go all the way to the bottom. I love their products, but I’ve had to contact them numerous times because of install or activation problems.
It’s no longer possible to talk to anyone in America, whether by phone, chat or email. On the phone, I can barely get past the heavy accents and have to make them repeat themselves over and over. If you approach with an “easy” problem, they may be able to find it in their cookbook of standard responses, but if my problems were easy I wouldn’t need their help. If it isn’t in their book, forget about help. Period. Even if you can make them understand your problem, chances are the solution won’t work.
Prior to this weekend, my most recent experience was through email. Five separate times (no exaggeration) I explained my problem in great detail and perfect clarity. Every single time, they sent me an answer that had absolutely no relation to the question. The last response was supposedly from a supervisor. I finally had to waste many hours in a literature search.
Yesterday I bought a 3-user license renewal for Norton 360, for two computers. Instead of renewing my activations, it decremented my available license count for the first computer, and refused to activate on the second. I had two lengthy, frustrating chat sessions, followed by two call-backs from supervisors. Both times I was assured that the problem was solved. It isn’t. Now I’ve got to wade through that system again to get a refund. I’m finished with Symantec–for good.
Review by mkfisher for Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
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Having used both free antivirus and spyware applications, and also McAfee and several versions of Norton, I love Norton 360 and wouldnt use anything else. It has worked very well for me – and starting with last years V.3, they enhanced it a lot AND have cut down – practically eliminated – the resource hogging. Set your Norton 360 V.4 up and it will work for you safely and quietly. It has intercepted many dangerous items that I had no idea about until I looked into my history or printed my report. I highly recommend this product to anyone, but don’t take my word for it – you can try it before you buy it – download the trial from Symantec and see for yourself
Review by Stephen Foster for Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
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These are first impressions: I’ll update this if I discover anything else of significance.
[OK, the first update is that I installed it on a friend's computer that I'd just done a reformat and clean Windows (XP) install on. Her machine is older, but it has the Norton-recommended 512Mb of RAM. Norton, left at its default settings, hogged her machine so completely that she couldn't get any work done. I suggested that I could dial Norton down significantly without compromising her security, but I can't fault her for uninstalling it and going back to her old freeware. On my own machine (also aging, but dual-processor, 2Gb RAM), Norton is effectively invisible.]
[Second update: After a month, a really nice monthly report popped up. It's a great idea, especially for a program that really is mostly invisible once it's settled down. It tells me two threats were detected, four intrusions blocked, and so on. Blowing its own horn, yes, but it's nice to know it's working away. I'm getting more impressed]
First, the introduction of a single product that covers all aspects of computer security seems like a no-brainer: the average computer user gives not a jot about the various and diverse flavours of threat; they just want their computers secure and their data safe. Are you concerned that for a fair amount of money you’re only buying use of the program for one year? By all means be concerned, because Norton doesn’t appear to offer discounts for renewals, but the yearly cost is not outrageous, given how inventive the Nasties are.
If you are a completely non-technical user, this program can be rather wonderful. If a concerned, tech-savvy relative asks how you’re dealing with hard drive crashes, spam, malware, viruses, rootkits… just breezily answer: “I installed Norton 360, and I let it deal with all that stuff” and watch them walk away fairly reassured.
But only fairly: the program has a complete set of default settings, and in the spirit of installing seamlessly and easily, it doesn’t point out or ask about some rather important things. It will backup all your important data, but by default it will save it on the same hard drive that contains your data: when the hard drive fails, the backup is lost along with the data. I recommend you don’t just accept all the default settings, but instead spend some time learning what the program actually does.
(That, and get yourself an external backup drive, today. Terabyte-sized USB drives with long warranties are now available for under $100. They literally require no more installation or thinking about other than to plug it into a power outlet, plug it into a USB port, introduce 360 to it, and tell it to use it for backup from now on. Good ones will automatically power themselves on and off with your computer. Computer hard drives are now very reliable indeed, but now they also contain a significant portion of most peoples’ lives, so by the Law of Maximum Damage, they are guaranteed to still fail.)
I don’t yet know how effective the program is. Would I had it a month ago, when my computer got infected by a rootkit that turned it into a spam zombie: I’d love to have 360 pass that test, so I didn’t need to reformat my C: drive and reinstall Windows. (The only evidence the rootkit was there was an unexplained extra 20-30 Mb of uploads every day, but that translates to thousands of spam messages.)
It may not solve all of your problems, because “malware” is ill-defined. I have a friend who complained that her google searches had been hijacked; 360 did not locate that problem, because she herself had unwittingly installed a “search enhancer”.
What follows are some observations; I’ll expand and clarify them as I get more familiar with the program.
The documentation is not clear on the location of the product key. It says “on a sticker on the CD case, or on an insert in the packaging…” There was a sticker on my CD case with what looked like (but wasn’t) a key on it, but better would be to show what the key looks like (XXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX-XXXXX) to give some idea of what to look for.
Scan options are: Quick Scan, Comprehensive Scan, Let Me Choose. The Let Me Choose options are very wide:
LiveUPdate Virus and Spyware Scan (specific files and folders)
Remove IE temp files
Remove Windows temp files
IE History flush
Disk optimization (defrag, and it’s not quite clear what else)
Registry Cleanup
Backup (identify and prepare files for backup)
The Security History is very complete and readable.
It claims to know about Firefox and can clean up Firefox, but it doesn’t automatically detect it or offer to clean it. It has never heard of Chrome, Opera, or any other off-brand browser.
Not obvious how to (or if you can) configure which types of files to scan. For example, I have gigabytes of Photoshop files that offer no infection threat at all, but Norton spent several hours pointlessly scanning them. Sure: if the files don’t change they won’t get scanned again, but it’s still an enormous waste of cycles.
Following the annoying habit of every anti-virus program I’ve ever seen, it doesn’t use a standard Windows File | Edit | View | Tools | Help interface, so you have to hunt for things that you shouldn’t. Example: I use a small, separate hard-drive partition for my operating system, keeping all non-OS data on a larger partition (with the enormous advantage that I can do a clean Windows reinstall really easily). But discovering how to tell Norton to (mostly) scan only my C: drive is not at all obvious.
But I’ll close with some real praise: after its interminable initial scan, the program more or less vanished. It is running, but it stopped hogging my CPUs, and completely stopped bothering me except to ask if I wanted it to remember all my usernames and passwords, card numbers and other personal information for automatically filling in browser forms: I don’t yet want to take that step, but I also don’t want it to stop asking me.
Review by Lost Customer for Norton 360 4.0 1 User (3 PC)
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At the end of a “subscription” Norton used to only disable updates for virus definitions. Now, they disable the sofware altogether, effectively making anti-virus coverage plunge from 100% to nothing after the subscription end date. Furthermore — as happened to me on a business trip — internet connection becomes difficult and inadvisable. By ceasing protection altogether Norton is putting a gun to the head of its customers, forcing them to renew by a specific date and in some cases having to purchase online at higher prices. IT technicians recommend AVG or freeware instead.