When we first reviewed Norton 360 we were impressed by its comprehensive offering of malware and phishing protection, and PC tune-up and backup services. Version 2.0 adds identity theft protection, automatic backup, and network monitoring for the same reasonable price. You can’t go wrong with this security suite.

Installation

Our Centrino 2–powered HP Pavilion dv5t took 5 minutes to install Norton 360, plus an additional 3 minutes to finalize the installation and submit our registration form. Although the install took longer than other security suites we’ve tested, we liked that we didn’t have to click through many screens to get the setup going. 

Clean Interface

We still like Norton 360’s clean, intuitive interface. The main screen has four buttons—PC Security, Identity Protection, Backup, and PC Tuneup—and scrolling over each reveals a range of related tasks (“Run a scan,” for example). If Norton detects anything you might want to fix, you will see a message in bright red at the top that says, for example, “3 items need your attention. Click Fix now.” My Network has its own icon on the lower left corner of the main screen.

The program is fairly bereft of advanced settings and is really designed for “set and forget” use. Everything from backup to PC tune-ups can happen on a schedule. Under the settings menu is a checklist of features that can run automatically. Another tab lets you decide whether PC security and tune-ups (they’re considered one category here) and backup should happen weekly or monthly, or you can run these tasks manually. You can also schedule daily scans.

If you choose to run scans automatically, processes will run whenever the computer is idle and not on battery power. If you choose Monthly or Weekly, you can specify the days and time and, if you wish, set the scans to run only when the computer is idle.

Performance

The last time we reviewed Norton 360, we praised the program for its low performance impact, which hadn’t always been Symantec’s strong suit. Indeed, Version 2.0 had little effect on our notebook’s performance. For instance, launching Skype took 2 seconds regardless of whether we were running a virus scan. Launching Media Center took 2 seconds without Norton 360 running, and just 4 when it was.

One thing that miffed us about Norton 360’s performance is that you can’t run more than one scan at once, though they may be run sequentially. We like that the program encompasses so many features, but we wish we could run at least some of these processes simultaneously.

New Features

Perhaps the biggest addition to Norton 360’s feature list is its identity theft protection. For starters, Identity Safe stores and manages passwords and can also detect if a password is strong or weak. It allows for one-click login capability, so keyloggers can’t record your passwords when you type them.

Setting up Identity Safe was quick; all we had to do was type a password, confirm it, and come up with a hint. As we typed our password, which had seven letters and four numbers, the meter rated it at medium strength. Once you’re in, you can create cards with identities attached to them, including contact and credit card information. You can add as many cards to Identity Safe as you wish.

Norton 360 2.0 also introduces network monitoring, which alerts users every time they connect to an unsecured network. A single license of Norton 360 can run on up to three computers, and My Network shows the status of each computer at a glance.

Automatic Backup and PC Tuneup

Like the previous version, Norton 360 2.0 comes with free online backup: 2GB for $79.99 and 10GB for $99.99. The program also restores files and now offers automatic backup and can even back up to Blu-ray media and iPods.

We like the program’s smooth integration with Windows: When you back up a file, an icon appears on the corresponding file on your desktop or in your Windows folders. And whereas many of Norton’s scans, including virus checks, don’t have progress bars, the online backup feature has a status bar showing how many files have successfully been uploaded. 

As part of its comprehensive package, the program can still perform PC tune-ups by cleaning the registry. Unlike other features, such as malware scanning, which lets you cherry-pick the items you want to remove, the registry cleaner doesn’t give you the opportunity to approve changes. The tune-up feature can also clean up file folders, including temporary files and browsing history in Internet Explorer and Firefox.

Finally, you can generate a printable diagnostic report in your Web browser. We imagine this feature coming in handy for people who are charged with troubleshooting their friends’ (or parents’) tech problems; just have them print or e-mail a report instead of asking them to describe their computer’s symptoms over the phone.

Verdict

Norton 360 2.0 provides the ultimate in computer protection—security scans, network protection, identity theft protection, automatic backup, and PC tuneups—and makes it so that the user barely has to manage anything. In addition to the comprehensive feature list, we love the clean interface, minimal performance impact, and the program’s easy “set and forget” approach. For $79.99 a year, it’s a very good deal.