Norman Antivirus

Norman Antivirus & Antispyware is a good security programs but not as good as its some of competitors. There are decent features available in this software and its detection is also good. This software has an improved interface as well.

Scope of Protection

There is protection available from rootkits, keyloggers, Trojans, worms and of course from viruses and spyware. There is complete scanning available for emails coming into your inbox and also for those messages which are sent by you thus providing comprehensive and full email protection. You can go for Norman Security Suite if you are looking for more protection. This suite uses parental controls and personal firewall.

Effectiveness

The security of Norman antivirus is low comparatively than other programs. There is was 100% Virus Bulleting of this software for Windows Vista but it failed in Windows XP test. The cumulative score for proactive and reactive detection was only 48% which was very low. This software was also not very good in AV comparatives tests. The detection rate of this antivirus program was 84.8% but it produced 40 false positives which was very high.

Ease of Installation

The installation of Norman software is simple and straightforward which takes only five minutes and there is no need to restart your computer after installation. The update is set out automatically after the completion of installation. The good thing about this software is that it runs in background. It is very easy to set up scheduled scans automatically and these scans can also be performed manually.

Ease of Use

The interface of this software is very simple and easy to understand. You can find main categories of this program with tabs on left side of dashboard. The navigation of this software is also very simple.

Features

There is a feature of screensaver in this software with which you can recognize your system if it is idle. You can be able to run scan with this feature in case system resources are not in use. There is advanced heuristic detection included in this program. This program looks at the files proactively is safe mode with the help of SandBox technology without interfering your computer in order to see the file behavior. There is also DNA matching in this software with which it can find malware effectively which might even not present in signature database but have the malicious code and belongs to the virus family.

Updates

It is very important for the software to have regular updates which run automatically. There are automatic updates available on the daily basis which can also be performed on every 6 or 12 hours. The can also run manual updates with simple click. If there is proxy server then users can configure updates.

Help and Support

This antivirus program has fair enough support for the users. There are online help resources available with different help issues and user manual. You can contact help and support through email, but you have to pay $20 in order to avail phone support.

Summary

Overall this antivirus program is uninspiring. There has been great improvement in the usability, protection and performance of other manufacturers of security programs. This program is bit shorter in performance.