Norton 360 is an all-round system suite. It has Norton's fantastic Internet Security Suite, which has been reviewed before (Anti-virus + Anti-spyware + Firewall + Spam filtering), coupled with a fine PC tune-up and a feature-rich local and online backup system, with remote access and file sharing in this version. Today we'll be reviewing everything but the Internet Security Suite part of it and concentrating on the extra features that make Norton 360 a complete package.
Who is the product for?
Norton's 360 line is typically for the average Joe; this means for your mom and pop. Norton 360 is meant to be a "set it and forget it" application and it does this job admirably well. Not once did I get a pop-up asking for permission to some inane application dll/exe trying to access the internet or memory. Norton handled it all in one fell swoop!
Now before you jump to conclusions, this can be a very good thing or a very bad one. Knowing what's happening in your system is always a good thing, but it requires skills of a different nature, one that many people don't have or care about. After all, no one wants to get stuck with what program wants to connect to the internet or is accessing a protected directory. Geeks and security conscious individuals may raise their eyebrows, but really, would you like it if your security guard kept coming up to you to ask you whether it was safe to let someone go in and out of the building every time he came across a new person? After all you are paying him to do his job of securing your building not for bugging you!
At the same time expect something you don't want (or care about) to connect to the internet without your knowledge, such as an application update or worse a new virus/malware. This is the price to pay for such a "set it and forget it" program. But thankfully, Norton being very efficient, these scenarios are very few and far between.
Downloading and Installation
You wouldn't believe how much the installer weighs, 1GB? Nope. 500MB? No. Only 80MB! That right 80MB for an entire System Security Suite is a fantastic job by Norton. Not only is the installer file small, but the actual installation is also around the same size overall.
Here is the direct download page where you can try your copy of Norton 360 and other products free for 30 days. The link is not apparent on Symantec's website, and only after much searching could I locate it.
Don't Opt for Opt-Out!
One thing I must criticize Norton for is the complete jumbled way they let you download trialware. Tested on both US and India site, it's not clear as to how to obtain a 30 day trialware to test out. In fact the most obvious links lead directly to their store where credit card information must be entered just to try out their copy!
What's the logic?
Well it's simple from Symantec's point of view. In order to download and try a copy, enter your credit card details and at the same time agree to their "Opt-out Trial". What it does is, your credit card doesn't get charged immediately but will if you don't "Opt-Out" after a 30-day trial period. Voila! A direct sale for Symantec as they are counting on people to definitely forget. Symantec's certainly not the only one doing this but that shouldn't stop them from employing such cheap tactics just to get a sale, it isn't befitting for such a good company with such a great product. Of course they do clearly tell you what the ugly "Opt-Out Trial" is all about if you click on this link.
Don't believe it, this is the page where you need to enter information to download and this is the explanation of the horrid "Opt-out Trial" right from the horses mouth.
User-Friendly Interface
Out of all the security products including Norton's very own and other Security Suites or System Suites, Norton's 360 has the best and the easiest user-interface to work with. Nowhere is the interface clunky and boring, and neither does Norton bog you down with security jargon.
The interface is neatly skinned, with a one-stop check on whether all systems are a go and with a re-assurance of "You are Protected" prominently displayed. Advanced users might find this quite unnecessary and noobish, but considering that the target audience is the average Joe, the main screen is perfect!
Clicking on "Tasks" above will immediately bring up the Task screen, which presents a lot of options, but minus all technical jargon, with each option clearly explained in a sentence.
You'll see similar friendly structure with the more advanced "Settings" page.
In spite of me testing a lot of security products and being well versed with security terminologies, I'm more than pleasantly surprised. In fact I'm ecstatic that a Security product manufacturer has taken so much pain over the user-interface. This is what other security vendors ought to be aiming at in terms of interface and ease of use.
Live Update
Norton's Live Update sees to it that you are constantly updated every 15 minutes or so with the latest virus-definitions/program updates available. Since the installer package was a few months old, I immediately clicked on Live Update to manually update Norton 360.
Live Update certainly does its job well without user intervention, but it lacks details such as how many updates need to be installed, how much MB must be downloaded in order to keep the product up to date, etc. If I correctly recall, older Norton Live Update versions very clearly used to list components out and one could even deselect what one did not want. What I'm referring to is manual updates and not automatic updates.
Now this design decision isn't bad, but it's just that as Norton is aiming at the novice everyday user, this sort of information is of least importance to them. This also means you keep the clutter on the screen to a minimum, but at the same time there is no option to switch on these options if an advanced user would like to. Neither is there any information, nor will you find a progress bar indication of how much has finished downloading.
Privacy Protection
This is a Norton Internet Securities domain, however, I just wanted to highlight that Norton 360 is equally big on privacy protection. With the installation, you get Norton's Safe Web toolbar in Firefox and Internet Explorer (no Opera, Chrome or Safari support though).
The Web toolbar is Norton's phishing protection that warns one of possible dangers from websites, even in internet searches such as Google's search results.
Identity Safe
The Identity safe is a feature that pretty much does what LastPass (freeware) can do for you. It can automatically fill web forms using information entered in "identity cards". But Norton ID safe goes beyond that, as you can store data safely encrypted on a removable drive to transfer to another computer. Few Suites or even applications offer this kind of functionality.
Norton Tune-up
Norton's Tune-up is pretty straight forward. There is a defragmenter, registry cleaner, browser cache, Window temporary files cleaner, diagnostic reports, etc. There isn't much you can configure or tweak, but then you don't have to, as the Tune-up function does its job admirably well in PC idle time. This will however prevent your system into going into standby if Norton is performing tasks.
The registry cleaner cleans out useless and obsolete entries. However, you cannot preview its changes beforehand but only after the action has been taken. Unlike CCleaner's registry, cleaner backs up the registry before making changes. I do not think Norton does the same or at least doesn't say so.
Norton Startup Manager is a nice, user friendly way of introducing to Windows "Msconfig" utility that geeks have known for ages. Norton Startup Manager does a few things that Msconfig misses out on, individual delayed start mode and performance impact shown of each application that starts.
Online Backup
Norton has packaged a nice online backup option with Norton 360. For this you need to make an online account through the application itself. By default, the online backup backs up common file types plus whatever folder and files you wish to include/exclude. The backup is smart enough to accept locations from any device, be it fixed hard drives, removable storage, CD/DVD media, iPods, etc. The default Norton 360 comes with 2GB online storage, while the Premium version ups it to 25GB storage.
Only Admin Accounts Need Apply
This is by far the silliest overlook or bad design decision by Norton. The Suite's settings and advanced features cannot be accessed if one is using a Windows "Limited Account". A Limited Account is a non-admin account that requires an Administrator password to access protected directories, advanced under-the-hood features of Windows, etc.
What this means is that, if you run the Limited account of Windows, which is a good security practice (my preferred way), you will not be able to access any of Norton's "Settings" page, look into the details of security alerts, etc. Apparently Norton thinks that only Admins can look into it when logged in from an Administrator account only. Therefore each time a "Limited user" wants to check some settings, s/he must switch user accounts just to change a setting. Even the "Run as Admin" option doesn't help! While not many users are going to be affected by this, it is needless to say this is an overlook on Norton's part; after all Norton 360 is a security based application.
For the standard edition including 2GB of online storage space, the suggested retail price is Rs. 3,200 (for 3 PCs) for one year, while the single user license is Rs. 1,795 for one year. For the premium edition, which includes 25GB of online storage space, is Rs. 4,025 (for 3 PCs) for one year. In comparison to the Internet Security Suite of an MRP of Rs. 1,420 for single-user one year license, Norton 360 makes a lot of sense.
Verdict
Would I recommend this to anyone including family and friends? The answer is a definitive and resounding Yes. Why? Simple, No headaches! The computer essentially does what it needs to do, keeping everything secure and running smoothly. Of course there is a performance impact but nothing to be concerned about. Every layer of security and automation is going to bring in its own baggage per se.
What about advanced users/geeks?
This is tougher question to answer. If you are the kind who likes to have control or likes to tweak around with the Security package with your own unique settings, then any of Norton's Security line up isn't for you. But if you want a true "Set it and forget" security package, don't give this one a miss. This, however, doesn't mean that the package is weak, but is more a question of preference than performance.
Let us know your experiences with Norton 360 right here in the comments below. We'd love to hear from you. Till next time, stay safe, stay secure!
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