Norton Internet Security 2009

However, if you rate functionality above protection, then what is the point? You can have tons of functionality, with very little protection. First and foremost, whatever is offered, has to work. If it doesn't, you have both lost of protection and lost of confidence. Then, the backup becomes your only security defense that you can really rely on. Might as well just have backups.

Rich

 

I don't think it's an either/or situation. The question is one of excellent functionality and very good protection versus lesser functionality and maybe a tad better protection. In that case I'd go with the first option as well.

 

You are begging the question. You missed my point, the premise of which is that with an image, AVs are not the ultimate defense. If you think AVs can protect you 100% of the time, you are wrong as any expert on this board will tell you.

 

From http://www.av-comparatives.org/ :
Avira clobbered Norton 2008 in the Retrospective/ProActive Test back in May 2008
(Avira 72% overall vs. Norton 18% overall)

As for the more recent On-demand comparative done in Aug 2008, they're basically even
(Avira 99.6% overall vs. Norton 99.0% overall)

From http://www.virusbtn.com/news/2008/09_02

Malware On-Demand: Avira 99.8%, Norton 2009 98.7%
Adware/Spyware On-Demand: Avira 99.0%, Norton 2009 95.4%

Some people care dearly about the percentage differences, but realistically, no antivirus product is going to get 100% and that's why most of us at Wilders usually layer our defenses to include firewall, antivirus, HIPs, sandboxing, or something else to harden PC defenses.

Speaking from personal experience, I tried out NIS 2009 for 2 weeks and immediately bought a license after the trial period ended. NIS 2009 runs smooth and light on my machine thus far. Norton's detection rates have never been bad as long as I can remember - it was just their complacency and prevalence in the retail market that led to the inevitable onset of becoming bloatware. I think they finally got fed up with their European and Russian rivals consistently taking away their market share and decided to pull a Empire Strikes Back with the 2009 product line.

FYI, before settling on NIS 2K9, I did install and try out the following products from anywhere between 2 days to 2 weeks:

KIS 2009, Eset Smart Security, and Avira Premium Security Suite. In the end it was a price/performance consideration that led me to choose NIS 2009 (found a place selling Symantec OEM licenses on the cheap).

 

Thanks for the info.

Rich

 

As I have posted before, I have had sporadic problems with Live Update (LU) since I first started beta testing NIS 2009. Lately, LU works at times, and not at others. It is nothing on my end, and I contend it is a bug in the program- and others have experienced the same thing. I like the program, but not when it is not functioning properly (at least for me). When pulse updates do not work for hours at a time, it is time to use more reliable AV software.

 

Hi,



I wanted to know if NIS 2009 works well with Vista 64 ,and Opera Browser.



Thanks



R.

 

Thanks for the feedback.

Rich

 

While I use NIS 2009 with 64 bit, I wouldn't recommend it if you use Opera. Here's why.

With 64 bit, you lose SONAR, which is Norton's behvioral blocker. I'm comfortable with that, as Vista 64 gives you some additional security features as well as protecting you with some behavior protection in its browser add-ons. However, those add-ons are only for IE and Firefox, not Opera.

Would it still work? Sure. But the more layers of NIS' protection you strip away, the more risk I think you take on.

 

My KIS license is up at the end of Oct. so I had to give NIS 2009 a try after all the discussion here. I have to admit it is lighter than anything I have tried including just Avira Premium alone. The pulse updates are working as they should and no glitches at all so far. The only issue I have is knowing that I had really bad experiences with Norton products several years ago. My PC was just loaded with malware and I had to reload the OS to fix the mess. If I can get past that then maybe NIS 2009 will stay here.

 

Hi there,

I am in the same place that you are. Used KAV and dumping it. Trying out Avira + DeviceSentry. Looking at NIS 2009. Would appreciate any further feedback that you might have as you go through your testing.

Rich

 

I'll definitely report back as I use it more.

Just curious, why are you switching from KAV?

 

Hi,

What happened with me was that all of a sudden, KAV was reporting that my database was no longer up-to-date. When I checked out the KAV site, apparently, I had to migrate to the new version, which I did. But then, it would no longer work alongside ZoneAlarm. Then I read on KAV's site, that the two products were incompatible.

That was it for me. I was livid, at the lackadaisical approach that KAV takes to its customers. It was bad enough that I was forced into an upgrade, but then an upgrade that broke my whole security system. So rather than throw out ZA, I threw out KAV, and feel much better for it. My system is far more stable and running much faster with Avivra and DeviceSentry. Now the question is whether NIS2009 will provide better security, reliability, and performance. So I am interested in your experiences.

Rich

 

the fault is acually zonealarm. zonealarm ships the antivirus stuff in the firewall even if you dont have a license for the antivirus, so its installed but not protecting you against viruses. but since the drivers for the antivirus are installed it would conflict with kav. im just stating facts here.

 

However, ZoneAlarm and KAV worked without any probs until the latest version of KAV was released. Therefore, the problem has to be with the way Kaspersky decided to design the latest version. The facts speak for themselves.

Rich

 

I had NIS 2009 installed in a FD-ISR snapshot. When I tried to boot into it today I got a BSOD. Re-booting did not fix it so I replaced the bad snapshot with an archive with Avira Premium. Everything working fine now.

I have never had a BSOD with FD-ISR before. Any idea what would cause this?

 

I also have NIS2009 in a FDISR snapshot...No problems here, been shifting and booting to and from it several times...Got to be something else.

 

There are no facts here. All you know is that ZA is incompatible with the latest version of KAV. You don't know how, why, or whose fault it is, and if you do, you're doing a great job of playing dumb.

 

I think the problem is that there's really no one at "fault"; The benefit of running different security products (vs a suite) is that you have multiple layers of protection from different vendors. The downside, rich just discovered: Sometimes those layers dont play nice with one another

Kaspersky can't be expected to necessarily ensure it works with every other 3rd party security product - Nor can ZoneAlarm. I'm sure both companies will work as they can to fix it, but its certainly not a negative to either that they don't work together right out of the box (particularly immediately after a new version of one is released).

 

No, I know much more than that. The latest version of KAV broke my system. I could use the previous version, but database updates for the previous version of KAV don't work any more. In other words, KAV left me without any protection. Nice piece of engineering by Kaspersky. Kaspersky always had problems with engineering and support. I am glad to get rid of it. On the other hand, Avira works fine. I am down to either moving over to Norton or Avira.

Rucg

 

Hi,
ZoneAlarm is hardly an obscure little product out there. To break compatibility with ZoneAlarm is horrendous engineeering - and Kaspersky knows it. Probably did it on purpose. No matter, there are much better products out there nowadays anyway. Kaspersky was a constant pain to deal with, and I am somewhat relieved to have it off my system.

Rich

 

And yet that "piece of engineering" works fine on mine and many others systems. The trouble is knowing why it caused problems for you.

 

Kaspersky has outright said that the KAV and ZA are incompatible and customers are on their own. Kaspersky really is quite a joke. Let's leave it at that.

Rich

 

Why I bought NIS 2009 -

I have been a computer hobbiest and later professional since 1976. My computer's performance has always been of the highest priority to me. Not that I chase the latest and greatest, but that I get the most out of what I have.

I've long been high on safe-computing habits, low on intrusive software. Selective use of sandboxing and virtualization has been my preference over a computer brought to its knees by security software. But no longer.

Today the stakes have risen tremendously. My entire financial well-being is dependant upon computer security. Banking is online, the government is online, and the risks have grown exponentially. But even more so, I have a family. Spouse and teens who don't have the understanding of computers I do, and they need the internet every bit as much as I do.

So the day had come to move from AVG7.5 to something much more secure. As a high-tech guy, I'd lean to Kaspersky and Comodo or similar - but I can't imagine how confusing and frustrating this would be for my family. The tweaks and configuration I love are their devil!

But Norton.. oh how I've hated Norton over the years. It slowed systems almost as much as the viruses it was designed to prevent. And intrusive? Constant barrages of pop-ups asking me to buy more.

Based on a recent review, I tried NIS 2009. I had very low expectations. I tried it on my least-powerful system (the one that would most reflect any resource hogging) It works. It works well. It works really good!

And best of all, it works without teaching, configuring, tweaking, or any of the other things that would drive the rest of the family to the edge with frustration.

No, its not perfect. The much touted Sonar does not work on my Vista 64 laptop. Websafe is a bit too picky. But if you, like me, are not an island and need a security suite that does what it needs to do and stays out of your face, NIS 2009 is worth a look.

(PS, if it were just me, I probably would have went with Kaspersky, because it appeals to the techie in me.)

 

I have been using NIS 2009 for about a week. It runs very light but sometimes the pulse updates seem to be working and other times I am surprised that there was no update in 8+ hours. Clicking on Live Update fixes the problem, but I don't want to have to rely on other family members remembering to hit the live update button.

I am also trying Avira Premium, Online Armor Free and DefenseWall. This combination also runs light although not quite as light as NIS and I am sure it covers all the bases well.