Labs

Norton AntiVirus is the world's best-selling antivirus product. When it comes to ease of use, at least, it's easy to see why.

Prevention

Norton has the most comprehensive update utility of the virus scanners here. LiveUpdate allows you to install updates manually, or use the automatic Express mode. Norton, like McAfee, monitors instant messenger programs such as MSN, and managed to block viruses that tried to mail themselves to people in our address book. All these

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viruses were removed successfully. The common Trojans and Backdoors were identified and deleted automatically - although it would have been nice to be told that this was happening! Norton gets a big black mark for not detecting our modified viruses, though - including our version of the very old Back Orifice.

Ease of use

Norton has a reputation for being easy to use, and the latest version does nothing to change this. It's also flexible. Users can create custom scans that search specified directories for viruses - handy for checking the contents of your downloads folder. You can repeat the custom scan regularly - ideal if your kids are always downloading games demos from the Web.

Overall

Like McAfee, Norton excels in its scanning features and ease of use. Where it falls behind is in bread-and-butter issues. It failed to stop the viruses and Trojans that we modified. Speed is another issue: Norton slowed our Pentium III 800 test PC considerably when scanning files. Support from Symantec's Web site, on the other hand, is outstanding.