These public beta versions of the well-known Norton consumer security suites, Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, maintain the dramatically improved speeds of Norton 2009 and 2010, while exposing more Norton Insight data to users than before.
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A familiar interface
The interface in Norton 2011 remains largely unchanged from the 2010 version. One big difference is that the large, colored icon indicating your security status has been removed. Hopefully that will make it back into the product before the final version, perhaps in the blank space near the bottom of the window.
Tooltips are prevalent, providing concise definitions of various options and functions within the program.
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Quick scan still quick
The quick scan has retained the blazing benchmarks it earned in the 2010 version. Both the quick antivirus scan and the quick reputation scan took around 1 minute each.
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Low-risk threats
If you're currently using a security program, it's likely that the Norton betas will only turn up tracking cookies if anything at all. That doesn't mean they're not a cause for concern, though, and so the 2011 betas can tell you more about detected threats when you click on their linked names.
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Reputation scan
The new Reputation scan allows you to focus your security scan solely on the "reputations" of existing files on your system, as compared with other Norton users. This is an efficient way to check if an otherwise-safe file has been corrupted by malware.
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Facebook scan
The Facebook scan is new as well. It will check links on your Facebook wall to ensure that they're safe to use. It requires approving Norton's SafeSearch Facebook app.
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Plugging vulnerability holes
The Vulnerability Protection module takes a look at all the programs you've got installed and attempts to seal up security holes in them that their publishers haven't yet patched. This can be an effective stop-gap measure for notoriously risky apps like Adobe Reader.
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Internal ratings
Norton Insight, first introduced in last year's version, now exposes rating data on how your programs and files compare to the rest of the Norton community. You can also adjust Norton's scans of your trusted files here.
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Jump list
For Windows 7 users, the jump list will allow activation of Norton's "silent mode" for gaming and watching movies, or allow you to temporarily disable antivirus autoprotection.
Users on any computer can further drill down into their processes, discovering which ones are causing CPU spikes and killing them if need be.
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Keep personal data protected
The new Nortons have the identity guarding functions called out in the main window, including credit card numbers.
Two new Norton Rescue Tools, the Bootable Recovery Tool and the Power Eraser, are available separately. The former creates a recovery disk and restoration mechanism, while the latter is a last-ditch option for removing malware.
Updated:Caption:Seth RosenblattPhoto:Screenshot by Seth Rosenblatt/CNET
