Norton Internet Security 2008

Pros: Great real time detection of spyware/adware, ease of configuration in the Norton antivirus option, great customer support

Cons: No anti-spam yet, no configuration options for the advanced users, it still devours your PC's resources, making it extremely slow.

The Bottom Line: Norton Internet Security 2008 offers online tech support at any hour; fast scanning, message alerts, and great firewall tell us it has already been hugely improved from the original version.

Benefits:
Norton Internet Security has a stellar reputation of getting high scores on third-party tests for its anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall modules. It earns an Advanced+ rating (the highest) in the test of on-demand scanning.
To confirm whether an antivirus app is good, you should consider 4 aspects as follow:
1. Anti-virus. Norton Internet Security 2008 includes all the functions Norton Antivirus 2008 provides, and there are two additional features - wireless protection and transaction security. The firewall has also been improved over 2007 to block most traditional and popular virus.
2. Anti-spyware. As we known, there are innumerable spywares or Trojan horses hidden behind the web pages we browse. Norton Antivirus blocks adware and malware with advanced protection, and the new additional functions prevent our privacy from leaking to various baleful sites, it also scans and cleans all email and instant messaging (IM) attachments, preventing you from receiving spreading viruses. So NIS continues to get high marks, however, there is a flaw I feel a little pity that NIS does not provide anti-spam function.
3. Anti-phishing. With respect to anti-phishing, there is something I want to share with you guys. This function could be turn on or turn off as you need. If you turn it off, Norton Transaction Security features remain active; this means that we could make transaction in this situation. This makes me confused, is anti-phishing only an adornment? Why without its protection, we’re allowed to provide personal information to various phishing sites.
4. Update. Live update is finally fully integrated into this application, as it should have been long ago, and Norton 360's superb help system was imported to NIS 2008, it checks for updates continuously and automatically. However, the system resource usage by the product still is too high with live update, if your computer has low memory; it is advisable to turn off automatic live update.

According to what I said above, NIS is fairly a good utility, and it helps protect your entire computer by obstruct viruses, spyware, and other security risks. NIS may occupy part of RAM, but if your PC has a high configuration, plus it works in the background, you can surf the Internet, play games, and download software or music without disruption.

Set up:
The installation is easy and straightforward, you can finish it just following the navigation; it won’t take you much time. As a famous antivirus application, which malware dares combining with it, it’s 100% clean. However, to uninstall NIS 2008 is a troublesome thing. Many users complain that it is hard to uninstall NIS thoroughly. It does offer us a quick door for uninstall; you can remove the entire program with Norton Removal Tool if you feel that the software is useless.

Interface:
Unlike Kaspersky’s colorful UI, or NOD32’s blankness, the colors of the interface are lean to sobriety – the background is black and the icons are golden. It’s easy of configuration in the NAV option; you never need to consult the Help File, although it is fairly detailed.

System Requirements:
Before you order this program, make sure your PC’S OS is Windows XP or Windows Vista; Norton internet security could not be compatible with Windows2000, while McAfee and Kaspersky could. Norton Internet Security 2008 requires at least 256MB(512MB is recommended) of RAM and a whopping 350MB hard drive, while Kaspersky requires 512MB and at least 50MB of hard drive space.

Conclusion:
Which antivirus app users like most? It should contain the merits as follow:
Powerful protection, great firewall, and fast scan, less usage of system resource, ease of use, detailed Help File, and online tech support at any hour. NIS 2008 is an excellent antivirus application, but there still a long way it should go. In the next version, I wish it could integrate a Backup & Restore function with NIS that Kaspersky already does.