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Here we have the arch rival of McAfee Internet Security 4. Like its competitor, it's a collection of security utilities designed to keep viruses and hackers at bay and your personal details private.
When you first install Internet Security, the firewall component scans the hard drive for internet-capable applications and lets you choose which of these should be given the okay - typically your browser and email program - and which should be blocked.
If you skip this step, every fresh attempt by a program to access the internet will generate an alert message and to prevent being interrupted, you simply set one-time-only or permanent rules as you go along.
If that still sounds like too much hard work, just let Internet Security make up its own mind as it sees fit. After a few days, the firewall should be configured to taste and more importantly, from the moment it's installed, your computer's presence on the internet is hidden so that hackers can't easily probe it for weaknesses.
AntiVirus bonus
The excellent Norton AntiVirus is often sold as a standalone product but a full version is included here. It provides comprehensive protection against all internet-borne bugs plus any that you might inadvertently introduce to your computer by other means.
The important thing, as always, is to keep the database current and LiveUpdate provides a semi-automatic way of downloading virus updates as they become available.
Unusually, AntiVirus scans outbound as well as inbound email, although whether there's really any need for this is moot; after all, if the program is doing its job properly, any virus that finds its way into your system should be eradicated before you could possibly spread it around.
Your number's up
Elsewhere, privacy controls are on hand to prevent sensitive information being entered in web forms or bandied about in chat programs. The trouble is that information is protected only in precisely the format in which you first enter it. Thus, if you tell the program to safeguard credit card number 1234 4321 5678 8765, all somebody has to do to bypass security is type the number without the spaces.
The only option is to spend considerable time trying to protect all possible permutations - but frankly we're not convinced that it's worth the effort.
Parental controls
So far, so similar to McAfee's version - but there's one clear point of difference. If you'd rather your kids steered clear of sites that are sex-related, drug-related, violent or which offer online gambling, chances are you'll appreciate Norton's parental controls.
In essence, these let you stop anybody else who has access to your computer using specific applications and/or visiting websites deemed to be undesirable.
Now, it wouldn't do for us to suggest ways of circumventing these controls. Take it from us that they're far from foolproof and certainly no substitute for keeping an eye on web-aware youngsters.
Blocking banner ads
We found the ad blocking feature a welcome extra: by stripping banner ads from web pages, it speeds up surfing considerably, especially on a dial-up connection. We also felt that Internet Security 2002 struck just about the right balance between instant ease of use and advanced possibilities.
However, we were disappointed by its sluggishness. Also, when you consider that the excellent ZoneAlarm firewall is freely available (www.zonelabs.com) and factor in the limitations of Internet Security's privacy and parental controls, we're not wholly convinced that it warrants its price tag.
Contact
Symantec: 020 7616 5600 www.symantec.com
ALSO CONSIDER
McAfee Internet Security 2002Effective but over-fussy security software.
£50
***
Computeractive, Issue 99
See also:
Norton Internet Security 2002 & McAfee Internet Security 4 slug it out in the antivirus arena. 30 Jan 2002All Internet Tools
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