Norton Internet Security
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Norton Internet Security is a computer utility suite made by Symantec Corporation, with a focus on providing comprehensive internet protection. It is available for both Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X. The most recent version of Internet Security is 2007 for Windows and 3.0 for Mac.
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[edit] Included software
Norton Internet Security is a combination of Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall on both platforms, in addition to ad-blocking and parental control tools not available from buying the individual products separately. The Windows version also adds Norton AntiSpam, which has spyware and malicious program detection to the suite, while the Mac OS version also adds Allume Systems' iClean, providing much of the same features.
It is to be noted that none of the suite is compatible with Mac OS X Tiger, and thus none are universal binaries. However, Allume's Internet Cleanup, which is a universal program, is seen as a successor to iClean. It is widely expected that if a new version is to be released, Norton Confidential will also be included in the Internet Security suite.
[edit] Criticisms
Many of the criticisms leveled at Norton AntiVirus, including being slow, inefficient and difficult to uninstall, can also be leveled at Norton Internet Security due to its inclusion of Norton AntiVirus. In September 2006 thepcspy.com did several tests to find out what programs slowed down Microsoft Windows the most. Norton Internet Security 2006 was the number one cause of a slow PC, with Norton Internet Security 2007 being the number three cause.[1]
Further, Norton Internet Security is known to "dig deeper" into the Microsoft Windows operating system than Norton AntiVirus, causing further uninstallation problems. Symantec has released a tool to aid in the uninstallation process.
Much of the same criticisms of the Windows version also applies to the Mac OS version, especially compred to the Tiger-compatible (and universal) Internet Security Barrier from Intego. Furthermore, it is been said that the Mac OS version lacks features that are found in the Windows version.
[edit] Product Activation
Norton Internet Security 2004 and subsequent versions includes an anti-piracy feature called product activation, which allows software companies to attempt to limit the number of installations to prevent large scale piracy.
