Norton's big security blanket.The term "Internet security ''This article or section is being rewritten at Internet security is the process of protecting data and privacy of devices connected to internet from information robbery, hacking, malware infection and unwanted software. " covers a lot these days, from attacks on ports to viruses to privacy concerns. Norton Internet Security Norton Internet Security (NIS) 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. It is one of Symantec's flagship products. 2004 address those issues, plus spam, unwanted cookies, and Web ads--all in one $69.95 package. You can install some or all of the features in IS and later disable and re-enable them individually from within the program's console. From there you can also configure and reconfigure components, or leave them at the factory default settings until something gets in your way--like the firewall blocking a Website. A firewall is a good idea, the most important piece of security software you can own if you're online; we're just not sure that Norton's firewall is the best option. The strongest component in Norton's security box is its flagship AntiVirus feature (see review above), but its firewall will deliver you from several evils, albeit clumsily, and block three specific intrusion attempts: Bonk, RDS (1) (Remote Data Services) A set of programming interfaces from Microsoft that enables users to update data on the Internet or intranets from their ActiveX-enabled browser. _Shell, and WinNuke. Norton's Ad Blocking module stops banner ads and pop-ups from clogging up Web pages. The AntiSpam component has three levels, and you can tweak the defaults with your Allowed and Blocked option, e-mail addresses, words, and phrases. Parental controls This article is about computer options. For the television show, see Parental Control (TV series). Parental controls are options, typically included in digital television services, computer and video games, or computer software used to access the Internet, that let you police Websites, newsgroups This is a list of newsgroups that are significant for their popularity or their position in Usenet history. As of October 2002, there are about 100,000 Usenet newsgroups, of which approximately a fifth are active. , and categories of Internet software, such as e-mail, file transfer, instant messaging Exchanging text messages in real time between two or more people logged into a particular instant messaging (IM) service. Instant messaging is more interactive than e-mail because messages are sent immediately, whereas e-mail messages can be queued up in a mail server for seconds or , and networked games. We found Privacy Control both promising and disturbing, particularly as it lets you block "private information" sent in an e-mail. We chose a word, sent it in an e-mail message, and saw a box pop up and check the outgoing letter, which appeared to go out. We knew from reading the troubleshooting section of the manual (which most folks won't) that the letter would never reach its destination--and it didn't. The entire letter disappeared. We didn't expect our e-mail program to know the letter was intercepted--but Norton IS didn't notify us either. The manual mentions the disappearing mail under the Troubleshooting section in the back of the book when users ask why their mail didn't reach its destination--if they ever discover it at all. If users choose small words or strings of numbers that make up parts of other words, a lot of mail could go missing. The manual suggests users get a copy of destroyed mail from their e-mail program's sent box, if they have one. The feature didn't work on AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. mail. We installed the full Internet Security package (which integrates all the features into one interface) and were alarmed at the drag on our normally robust system. It is accustomed to running three powerful utilities all the time--each known for their prowess in their respective fields: ZoneAlarm, Norton AntiVirus, and Zero Popup--plus SpyBot Search and Destroy (for spyware) as needed as needed prn. See prn order. . (None were on the machine during the review.) Our best advice: Run those programs. |
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