subject: Computer Protection - Is Norton Antivirus Firewall Software The Best Protection Available? [print this page] Choosing an all-around antivirus software program that's also cost-effective can be a trying task, to say the least. With the numerous features to watch out for that will provide you with the best benefits and protection, it's hard to know where to start. However, there is one thing that people seem to wonder: is Norton Antivirus firewall software the best protection available? Why?
Despite its well-known reputation, Norton's 2010 competition seems to be pretty fierce this year, with various overall ratings appearing to be all over the place in terms of each program's protection, features, ease of installation, customer service and price. Some of its most-mentioned contenders are that of Kapersky, Panda and ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4.
How is that the all compare to each other?
It appears that Norton has set out on mission to impress its buyers, offering faster speeds and more well-rounded performance overall to their latest product version in fighting spyware and viruses. A frequently-mentioned feature happens to be regarding the software's rapid pulse update feature, which updates virus definitions every few minutes, besting the other contenders who either offer hourly or daily updates. Norton also outranks many of the others when concerning customer service, which they offer free phone and chat support on.
Kapersky is definitely a contender to be reckoned with when compared to Norton's latest version. They have ranked as one of the highest in overall performance, protection and features, though run a bit short when comes down to cost for those who may be using more than one PC. Only Norton manages to outrank Kapersky by a small degree when it comes to some protective features, although its superior anti-spyware breezed by that of Norton's by a little amount. While Panda's anti-phishing may leave Kapersky with a little more left to be desired, the product is ranked as one of the highest in terms of customer service and the program's user-friendliness.
While ranking fairly low in terms of customer service and user-friendliness amongst several different ratings, the ESET NOD32 Antivirus 4 soft did manage to impress when it came down to the little amount of memory used during scanning, making for smoother and less-hindered performance on PCs while running other basic programs. It appears that, even with great improvements, ESET received an average rating when it came to detection and removal, but still faired lower than some of the competition. ESET also lost a few points due to only having daily virus definition updates, versus Kapersky's hourly and Norton's rapid pulse updating. Cost, depending on what or how you want to protect your data, is average.
Panda's Antivirus Pro 2010 is slowly moving up the ranks, with this particular version offering numerous extra features, as well as supporting protection for instant messenger users. Overall, they gained average ratings in malware and spyware protection, though still hanging short from the rest of the group and only having daily updates such as ESET's. They also gained a little disfavor for not having chat options with customer service, but rather only email and phone, though still got good reviews and ratings on overall customer service. They still prove to be a good choice for scanning, price, and its user-friendly features.
Norton still manages to keep its well-known and reliable reputation intact. So we still have to ask that big question: is Norton Antivirus firewall software the best protection available? The general consensus seems to be that, while Norton may fall short in some areas or protection, they still maintain a pace well-ahead of the many others, short of Kapersky and its somewhat better protection in a few areas. Considering price points, the Norton 360 may be a better option for those who are looking to protect more than one computer, as well as gain even more added features.
