Norton 360 5.0 1-User/3PCs

Norton 360 5.0 1-User/3PCs

Norton 360 5.0 improves on version 4.0 by making it even faster, better looking, and taking up even less resources while retaining the same effectiveness. Installation is exceptionally fast and within a minute or two, Norton 360 is up and running. The interface could use some work, but overall, it is pretty nice. Important tasks are immediately in your face by hovering over four LARGE blocks. Scans are much faster than Microsoft Security Essentials, Panda, and McAfee. The add-ons are decent. Parental Controls are mediocre. It has a few nice tools that make online shopping easier and safer. 

Norton 360 contains many performance improvement tools such as Registry Cleanup, File Cleanup, and Disk Optimizer. Some are available by default in Windows though I have found Norton's to be more comprehensive and faster. Norton 360 is also very light on resources. It feels like it isn't even there! The only thing reminding you Norton is installed is the icon in the System Tray, which restores confidence in your computer's security. 

PROS: 

Very Fast Installation and Setup 

Easy to use and organized Interface 

Fast Scans (and still light on CPU and RAM usage) 

Some nice little tools here and there 

Very light on resources 

No major popups. Only one I've encountered are "High Resource Usage" for Flight Simulator X, Photoshop, and Chrome with multiple tabs. 

CONS: 

The "not key" components feel rushed and buggy 

Backup Notifications may nag you (can easily be turned off) 

Overall a great value. I would recommend buying the cheaper Norton 360 version 4.0 and using that key to upgrade to version 5.0 (upgrading is free!) 

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011

Kaspersky Internet Security 2011 brings the same level of computer protection and peace of mind that I've come to expect from Kasperksy. 

Installing was easy -- seamless and relatively quick. I wasn't sure if it would automatically uninstall the old version so I manually uninstalled it to be safe. This is running on a Windows Vista machine -- AMD Athlon 64 dual-core processor (32-bit) with 2 GB of RAM. It's an older, slower system compared to the ones on the market today, but my system specs well-exceeded the system requirements. (See below for list of system requirements.) 

The interface for both the old and new version hasn't changed too much. It's always been intuitive and user-friendly. The new version, however, has more bells and whistles and offers additional layers of protection. One new feature that I like the most is the "safe run" mode, which allows you to run potentially dangerous applications on an isolated, safe desktop. 

I also like how almost everything is customizable, including update runs and system scans. 

A major complaint with most antivirus software is that it hogs up computer resources, but Kaspersky doesn't slow my system down when it runs. 

Here are the system requirements per the box: 

GENERAL: 

-375 MB of free space on hard drive 

-CD-ROM Drive (for installation via CD) 

-Internet connection for product activation 

-Microsoft Internet Explorer 6 or higher 

MINIMUM SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS: 

-For Windows 7: 1 GHz CPU, 1GB RAM (x32) or 2GB RAM (x64) 

-For Windows Vista: 800 MHz CPU, 512MB RAM 

-For Windows XP: 300 MHz CPU, 256MB RAM