NORTON INTERNET SECURITY - 2004

Spam: the plague of the Email blessings; Internet pop-up ads: the plague of the Internet Cruiser!

How often we have cussed these blasted interferences that occur while we are using our PCs for their intended purposes. The interferences result in wasting valuable time, are downright insulting, and they invade our personal lives with information not requested, not wanted, and often at mental levels far below our minimum needs.

Whether call blocking has acted to increase these activities, or simply mad rushes by marketers trying to mimic Madison Avenue, the volumes have increased dramatically in recent months. In our household, until now, we have not found the solution! Happily, there is a method that works … and at an affordable price. It would be a bargain if the price were doubled!

We have been thru them all! Mail Washer gave us an opportunity to open or not open questionable messages. While a free download, a modest contribution to the Aussies sponsoring the program improved their services. It requires a “key” which, you better by golly, never lose. Major updates are difficult; for novices like (my house) ourselves could, and did, fail in their efforts, plus lose the effectiveness of the program which we thought was satisfactory. Then there is AVG … definitely the best buy for the basic program (it’s free), and an affordable price for the upgrades. Still, it requires an effort on the user’s part in the daily (hourly?) management of the program. I don’t wish to mention the Mc word …. Sufficient to say, we found their anti-spam as effective as another Mc (Donald’s) preparation of bacon wrapped filet mignons. Additionally, Mc offers a rebate equal to the price we pay for the program. This by no means makes the purchase worthwhile. The program misses well over half of the spam received. Ridding oneself of the spam mail recognized is an unnecessary waste of our time, given the performance of Norton’s new product.

Internet Security 2004 is, to the best of my knowledge the first anti-spam program made available by Norton. It is simple to install, and effortless to maintain. It is not uncommon at our email address to receive 25 or more messages; 3 of which are not spam. Setting the security at Norton’s recommended level results in 98% or more effectiveness. When spam is detected, the message is immediately routed to the Norton Spam File. If you are inclined to do so, you can check the subject matter before deleting the files. In less than one month we accumulated 425 spam messages, all of which were deleted with one quick stroke. Frankly, I had to review to make certain some non-spam messages were not dumped … they were not … e.g. they were all spam.

As mentioned above, the program has been “98% effective” for us. Perhaps 4 or 5 spam messages have opened with regular mail. All one has to do is “select” that message, which opens up an option box. The options contain the Norton File, which is then selected; this provides a statement saying, “This is Spam”. Click and the message is gone, and the sender is blocked in a much more positive manner than Outlook’s “blocked message” command.

The included Firewall has blocked 100% of Internet ads! Our personal use of the ‘Net is 80% Insurance Companies, used in our operation. The balance is miscellaneous cruising.
Whatever your usage … if you look up a specific item; you may review and move on without having to see the 1,000,001 other places the item is available.

It is a pleasure to report and recommend this program to fellow members at TCCUG. The product has suggested retail of $79.95, available from the dealer for $69.95. A rebate of $35.00 is paid if you can document your present use of Norton or McAfee. Here is a bonus … request for rebate was acknowledged when received by Norton, and the check came a few days later. We still await the latest submission to the Mc word!

Jim Trump

Note: It is not the practice of TCCUG to endorse or recommend specific products. This report has been prepared by a TCCUG member strictly to share his personal impression of Norton Internet Security 2004 with his friends. It does not provide an endorsement or recommendation by Tri County Computer User Group, Inc.