By Neil J. Rubenking Back in days of yore, computer hobbyists would lovingly assemble a collection of best-in-breed security components, picking this company's antivirus, that company's firewall, and so on. But who has time for that these days? Modern users want one stop shopping, an all-in-one security suite that covers the whole gamut of security needs. Norton Internet Security (2014) ($79.99 per year direct for three licenses) is a perfect example—it does everything you need, and all of its components are effective.
Just looking at the main window, the only way to tell the difference between this product and Norton's standalone antivirus is by the window title. Both products feature big buttons to launch a scan or check for updates. Another button switches to the advanced view, which offers easy on/off control of security components as well as links to important features. If you prefer the advanced view, you can pin it in place as the default.
The main window also links to a variety of other Norton products and services. You can click to get a mobile security QR code, or download the free Norton Zone file sharing tool. Another click will take you to Norton's online management tool. If you have a Norton Backup account you can quickly connect with it. And you can link to Norton Family, the source of this suite's parental control protection.
This suite's antivirus protection is exactly the same as what you get in Norton AntiVirus (2014), and the two products share a number of other features. I'll summarize my findings here; you'll want to read the antivirus review for full details.
Shared Antivirus Protection
Getting Norton installed on my twelve malware-infested test systems was a mixed experience. The product solved a few problems on its own; help from Norton Power Eraser and the Norton Bootable Recovery Tool solved others. But two systems ended up unbootable after malware cleanup. Getting those back to normal took hours of remote-access diagnostics and repair by tech support.
As far as independent lab testing, Symantec rejects many current test methodologies, static detection testing in particular. Norton includes layer upon layer of protection; they feel an accurate test should rate all layers. In fact, Norton earned an excellent score in the latest test by AV-Test, which includes both static and dynamic elements. The chart below summarizes recent results. For more about the labs, see How We Interpret Antivirus Lab Tests.
Norton Internet Security (2014) lab tests chart
Norton also did well in my own hands-on malware removal test. It detected 81 percent of the samples and earned 6.3 points. Of products tested using my current malware collection, only AVG AntiVirus FREE 2014 and Bitdefender Internet Security (2014) have scored higher. The article How We Test Malware Removal explains how I conduct this test and score the results.
Norton Internet Security (2014) malware removal chart
My malware blocking test relies in part on a product's ability to recognize static malware samples; just the kind of test Norton doesn't like. I do launch all the samples that aren't killed on sight, but to exercise the full range of Norton protection I'd have to start from the beginning by downloading and launching each sample, and that's not a test I can repeat on demand. Norton's Web-based detection did block every current sample whose URL is still valid, which is a good sign. Overall, though, its score of 8.5 points for malware blocking isn't the best. AVG and Ad-Aware Free Antivirus+ 10.5 scored best among current products, with 9.4 points each. For details on my hands-on malware blocking test, see How We Test Malware Blocking.
Norton Internet Security (2014) malware blocking chart
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