Review: Norton 360 Antivirus

After some time using Windows, we end up installing dozens of programs, each with a specific function. Some of them take care of the security of our machine, bringing antivirus, firewall, identity protection and program sandbox modules. Others we choose for their machine optimization functions, with startup managers, removal of temporary files, registry defragmenters, and so on, which in the end makes us waste precious time using each of them to keep our machine always fast.

Wouldn't it be great to have just one program that does all this? This is the proposal of Norton 360, which, in addition to the already known security suite, also includes optimization and backup modules centralized in a single management interface. At installation Norton 360 updates virus definitions, initial checks, backups, and checks what optimizations can be done, which can take a long time on older machines. Unfortunately this is not an optional activity and you must wait for the whole process to finish before you can start using your machine.

On the home screen we have the 4 main modules of the program: "PC Security", which allows you to scan for malware, manage the firewall and update settings; "Identity Protection", with options for safe browsing, anti-phishing filter and identity protection to control/block the data that will be sent to websites; "Backup", to back up data to an external file or even Symantec's cloud with 2 GB of data included in the license; and "PC Optimization", which performs temporary file cleanup, defragments disks and controls startup programs.

The 4 options above cover the most general functions of Norton 360. But to get a more complete overview of all modules in the program, just click on "Tasks":

Let's take a look at how the program's main modules work, starting with the "Startup Manager," which shows all the applications that start up together with the machine:

With this module it is possible to identify which programs slow the machine down both at startup and during use, showing whether they use too few or too many resources. Many programs that we install are configured to start up together with the system, even if we do not use them often.

The "Registry Cleaner" option left us quite satisfied. When you start the module, the software automatically finds and corrects the registry errors without us needing to know the details, which is ideal for those who do not want to see every single problem fixed. Nevertheless, those who want to analyze them can click on "See Details" to see them.

In the "Analytics" module you can choose from 3 options: "Computer" which scans for malware; "Reputation" which measures the reputation of running programs; and "Facebook Wall" which checks every single link on the user's Facebook account to verify their safety. Within the "Computer" option, the "Quick Scan" may be the best option for most users - ideal to run weekly, as the full scan can take several hours, depending on the amount of files stored on the machine.

Although the scan does not interfere much with the operation of the machine, we missed an option to put the process in the background so as not to disrupt system usage.

In "Manage Backup Sets" we have a very simplified interface to manage and perform backups of files on the machine. It is only necessary to choose the folders that should enter the list and schedule the process, and it is possible (and highly recommended) to save it on an external disk or even in Symantec's cloud, which is included in the license.

Conclusion

The Norton 360 license can be purchased on Symantec Brazil's website for R$96.85 for up to 3 computers for a period of one year, being a very competitive price compared to its competitors. The software also brings very useful optimization functions along with the combination Antivirus + Firewall. But the truth is that these optimization tools do not bring any differential in relation to free programs that can be found on the internet to perform the same functions.

The advantage is really in the unified interface, which frees the user from having several programs and the need to open each one of them to do these optimizations. We find that the space included in the 2 GB cloud storage license is quite limited for many users - 5 GB would be ideal. An important point to mention is also the identity protection, which although a bit bureaucratic to set up at first, can become a powerful security tool.

Advantages

• Simple and functional interface
• Included optimization features
• Low processing power and memory consumption
• Competitive price

Disadvantages

• Very time consuming initial installation
• limited cloud space