Product Reviews

With all the hype surrounding hacker attacks via email, it's easy to forget that viruses pose as great a threat to the safety of data on all Internet-connected PCs. With Norton Internet Security 2001, Symantec aims to provide a complete package of countermeasures comprising three main products offering firewall, anti-virus and information privacy utilities. Originally released last year, version 3 sees improved intrusion protection, a handy Security Assistant, the ability to create a Trusted Zone for computer networks and a pop-up Alert Tracker.

Installation is simple and each utility is accessed easily from a single interface. The Security Assistant immediately comes into action by posing a number of questions to determine the levels of protection you require. Three firewall security settings are available. 'High' prevents any Internet-related activity unless you allow it. Prompts will be displayed whenever a Java applet and ActiveX control is encountered, and all unused ports are stealthed to prevent them from responding to connection attempts. 'Medium' keeps the firewall and port stealthing security set to maximum, but Java applets and ActiveX controls are allowed to run unhindered, while the 'Minimal' setting only blocks known malicious apps and leaves all unused ports open for access.

Access Control scans your system and creates a list of Internet-enabled apps. You can browse this and decide whether to permit or block access on an individual basis. System and application access rules can be viewed and modified from this screen, but Symantec doesn't provide a great deal of help when it comes to port numbers and protocols. From the Internet Zone Control screen you can create lists of trusted or restricted computers using either their IP address or URL. If your PC is part of a LAN you'll need to use this, otherwise the firewall will stop you seeing other systems. Symantec scores higher here than BlackICE Defender (reviewed issue 78, p169), as it allows ranges as well as individual IP addresses to be added.

Many users store personal information on their PCs, so it pays to ensure that this is protected. Privacy Control maintains a list of personal information and will notify you if an attempt to send it is encountered. There's no limit to the type of information you can enter. If Privacy

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Control detects any of this information being sent it displays a warning screen with options to view specific details and to block or allow the transfer. It also blocks Web sites that try to send or retrieve cookies that contain this information. One complaint is that the personal information entered isn't protected, so anyone with access to your PC can easily load Privacy Control and view these details.

If you're fed up being bombarded with Web-borne advertisements, Norton can put a stop to these by blocking them. This isn't the perfect solution, as some Web pages won't load correctly if these are stopped, but it will reduce the number considerably, so speeding up load times for Web pages. Alert Tracker keeps you in touch with suspected attacks, port scans and applications attempting to access the Internet. It keeps a low profile on the Desktop with a small icon on one side of the screen, and only pops out when a threat is detected. Double-clicking on the message brings up a comprehensive event log showing areas such as firewall activity, advert blocking and port scans. However, when it comes to backtracking suspected attacks, BlackICE Defender wins hands down; it's frequently provided me with not only a machine and workgroup name but a MAC address as well, narrowing the attack down to a specific PC, whereas Norton only provides minimal information.

Virus protection is ably handled by Norton Anti-Virus 2001, and this latest version includes script blocking. This monitors scripts such as those attached to emails and stops them running if they attempt to make any system modifications. Your system is protected constantly by an Auto-Protect real-time scanner that checks any files that are opened, copied or moved and blocks access if it spots any viral code in their makeup. Internet downloads get the same treatment, and you can also select specific email accounts for monitoring.

The main Anti-Virus program provides on-demand scanning and acquitted itself well during testing as it identified all 55 test viruses thrown at it, including boot sector, multipartite and polymorphic varieties. Word and Excel macro viruses were also dispatched efficiently, leaving genuine macros intact. If an infection does occur, a Wizard guides you gently through the repair process. Should your system become unusable after infection, it can be recovered using a set of bootable rescue disks; Symantec is one of few companies to offer a floppy/ZIP boot disk combo for restarting into Windows. Along with new rules for blocking trojans, regular virus signature updates can be downloaded from Symantec's Web site using LiveUpdate and the price includes a one-year subscription.

As a budget-priced PC security solution, Norton Internet Security 2001 is hard to beat. It combines good firewall facilities, top-quality virus detection measures and some useful tools for keeping personal information private.