Norton 2005: To Upgrade Or Not To Upgrade?

Norton Personal Firewall 2005
Norton Personal Firewall (NPF) is one of two software firewalls that I've recommended over the last few years. (The other is Zone Labs' ZoneAlarm.) Unlike ZoneAlarm, Norton Personal Firewall has not undergone drastic changes over the last 18 months or so. The revisions in Norton Personal Firewall 2005 are mostly usability oriented. It pops up fewer user prompts, and those prompts are a tad easier to understand than before. The change isn't large, but it's a welcome refinement.

Recommendations: Even though you don't want to face the hassle of re-training the firewall, if you buy NPF 2005, be sure to uninstall all previous versions of Norton Internet Security and Norton Personal Firewall before installing this one. That piece of advice is perhaps even more true of firewall software than other types of security products.

Of all the software firewalls on the marketplace, Norton Personal Firewall 2005 is the easiest one to use, especially for inexperienced users or people who never want to fuss with their firewalls. If you're used to monkeying around with your firewall, ZoneAlarm is a better choice.

Norton Internet Security 2005
Norton Internet Security's new Outbreak feature is a good idea. It notifies you with a pop-up box of rapidly spreading threats, which hopefully, could result in your getting a Live Update sooner or, if one isn't available yet, it gives Symantec a way to let you know what else you might do in advance of the update's availability. It also gives you a way to know that your computer is protected against a threat that there's a lot of buzz about. You can check that in the Norton Internet Security status window. Too bad, though, that you have to pay for Norton Internet Security (NIS) to get that functionality. That should be a part of Norton AntiVirus.

At this time, I cannot recommend
Norton Internet Security 2005.
I could also do without the content blocking and privacy control features. It's not that they're a bad idea, it's that -- like most programs of their ilk -- they don't work very well. Don't get me wrong, I'm as concerned about safeguarding my kids and preventing against identity theft ("phishing") as anyone else. It's just that the tools we have in these areas are inflexible and immature.

There are things about Norton Internet Security 2005 that I like. And I clearly prefer it to its predecessors. But I'm still hearing about too many issues with the Norton superset products. At this time, I just cannot recommend NIS 2005.

The Bottom Line
The Norton products that everyone most needs are Norton AntiVirus and Norton Personal Firewall. The 2005 versions of these products are commendable. It costs more to buy them separately than to buy them as a package in Norton Internet Security 2005. But how much would you pay to avoid a major hassle or problem on your computer, the kind you spend hours trying to fix and wind up having to call tech support over? Pay a little more now to avoid the headache.

This article appeared previously in Scot's Newsletter. Scot Finnie is Editor, the Pipelines and TechWeb, as well as the author of Scot's Newsletter and previously an editor with Windows Magazine, ZDNet, and PC/Computing. He has been writing about Windows and other operating systems for two decades.