Symantec Norton Internet Security 2005

There's no doubting the power and completeness of this integrated security solution, although some will inevitably be disappointed with what's essentially an upgrade rather than a complete overhaul. However, the crunch for Symantec is whether it can attract back those users who have jumped ship to either ZoneAlarm or McAfee, or simply haven't been tempted by the Norton approach. So has it done enough to tempt these all-important floating voters?

Well, we have reservations in some areas; in particular the impact upon system resources, which, while significantly better than Norton products of old, is still heavier than ZoneAlarm. But when you put the whole package together, it's hard to beat as an integrated suite, especially given the price when compared to the cost of separate firewall, anti-virus and anti-spam clients. Buying the three core components separately would cost £105, but it's not just £55 you're saving - it's system resources, management complexity and ultimately the integrity of your data as well. This, along with the consummate ease of use of the central management console, is enough to once again raise Symantec to the top of the all-in-one security suite tree and regain a spot on the A List.

Author: Davey Winder