By: Edward Heshka, System Engineer, Interware Systems
In today’s networked world it is vitally important for all connected users to protect themselves against threats they face while browsing the World Wide Web. There are all kinds of phishers, hackers, bots, Trojan horses and other malware lurking out there waiting for the chance to infect a new computer and spread themselves ever wider. 
Many companies have developed products to combat these threats, and one such company is Symantec. In this blog post we are going to discuss three products from Symantec: Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security, and Norton 360. Each of these have their own benefits and feature set which provides escalating levels of protection.
Editor's note: all of these products are available through TechSoup Canada's Symantec Desktop program for a small administrative fee. To check if you are eligible for this program, log in and check your status under "My Account".
Norton Antivirus is at the lower end of the price scheme and lacks some of the preventative features offered by the other two products. However, that is not to say it is an inferior product. Norton Antivirus protects your PC against viruses, bots, worms, and more. Norton has made great strides towards reducing the memory footprint of this product and it does a great job of protecting your PC while staying out of your way.
Norton Internet Security is a more thorough product that aims to prevent threats from ever making it onto your computer in the first place. To this end it has all the features of Norton Antivirus but adds Intrusion Prevention technology that safeguards against vulnerabilities as they are discovered and often before fixes have been developed. It also includes Norton Safe Web that warns the user of unsafe “phishing” websites and blocks them automatically.
Norton 360, as its name implies, is much more comprehensive than the other two products discussed. It combines the features of the other two products and adds Performance Monitoring tools to keep your PC running at peak speeds as well as backup utilities that allow the user to back up their files to multiple locations including other computers on their network, external hard drives, or even Norton’s Secure Online Storage cloud service. Furthermore, it has parental controls, allowing parents to ensure their children’s safety while they browse the web. It intelligently schedules memory intensive jobs to execute when your computer is idle, making sure that your computer is always running its fastest when you’re using it.
It has often been argued that the Mac operating system doesn’t suffer from the security vulnerabilities of its Microsoft competitor. It was often said to enjoy “security through obscurity” - that is to say that because there were fewer users of the platform, hackers were less tempted to go after it. That may have been the case in the past but the OS has seen steady gains in adoption. As a result, it has increasingly become the target of hackers and other malicious attacks online. In response to this, Symantec has released OS X versions of Norton Antivirus and Internet Security. These programs offer similar functionality to their Windows counterparts but are optimized for, and take advantage of the features of OS X.
With all these choices it may seem like a daunting task to decide which product to purchase. However, it need not be the case. Ultimately the end-user must decide what features they want and how much they are willing to pay but in general users of the Norton 360 product will want a full featured “set it and forget it” solution that will protect their computers with minimal effort required on their part. Users who are wary of phishing or scam websites but are happy to back up their own files may find Norton Internet Security to be the best choice for them. Finally, savvy internet users who can spot a phisher from a mile away may appreciate the limited memory footprint of Norton Antivirus, allowing them to safely browse the web without slowing their computer.
Interware Systems is a trusted, recognized, and widely used full service information technology provider, specializing in virtualization, managed services and end to end enterprise resource business services. Affordable, efficient, creative, customized and dynamic solutions have allowed us to become the IT partner of choice for many public sector organizations since 1984.
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