Home User Anti-Virus: Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus 2005

Beginner-friendly Interface One of Norton’s most outstanding features over the years has been its advanced yet intuitive interface. Everything is laid out simply and efficiently, so you can easily scan a floppy disk or schedule a system scan with just a few clicks. Colorful buttons quickly indicate the status of the different protection areas, alerting you when updates are available or a virus has been detected.

Full Protection Options Before installing on to your system, Norton will run a “pre-scan” to ensure that no malicious viruses are present which could corrupt the installation. Once in place, Norton will automatically scan all new files coming to your system, whether downloaded from the Internet, email, or CD’s. And since NAV 2004, Norton will now also pick up Adware and Spyware programs in addition to viruses and Trojans. A new feature of Norton AntiVirus 2005 is mini-firewall designed to detect and block “worms”, a type of virus that attacks a computer through an unprotected internet connection.

Easy Updates and Maintenance LiveUpdate has always been a core feature to Symantec’s Norton line. Users can easily check to see if new updates are available by a few quick mouse clicks. And LiveUpdate will check periodically as well to see if there are new virus definitions or program updates. If you are connected to the internet, it will connect to the Symantec servers, download the definitions, install them, and display a notification when it has completed. Norton also automatically configures itself to scan your system once a week, usually at a time when you won’t be using the computer. When you return, you will see a message informing you that the scan was completed and how many (if any) viruses/problems were found and fixed.

Initial and Subscription Fees To purchase Norton AntiVirus, expect to pay about $49.99 (MSRP) for the boxed program and a one-year subscription. After the year is up, you won’t be able to update the virus definitions, but the software will still protect against viruses using definitions up to that date. You can buy another year of subscriptions, or just head out and grab the latest version.

Conclusion While Norton AntiVirus 2005 isn’t the cheapest virus-protection you can find, it certainly has a multitude of features combined with a great interface that cause it to surpass anything else on the market today.