Review
This great application is famous for being part of the well-known “google pack” (a set of programs, usually free) that can be downloaded from google as well as from the manufacturer’s own url. According to Symantec, this software is targeted at home users or “the everyday Internet user” (experts may prefer other options, of course).
As I mentioned before, Norton Security Scan is the free version of Symantec’s antivirus software. It is not a real-time software but an “on demand” application that looks for viruses, spyware and other security threats. The installation is easy, but not extremely speedy; I have for sure run faster antivirus installations. It has a very complex updating interface, after trying to update the virus database from different computers and with different broadband connections, I can say with full certainty that most of the times the connetion with the server is very slow.
The scanning process, nevertheless, is within the regular speed parameters for this kind of software. For me, it is never fast enough. As most antiviruses, it scans installed software, the boot sector, the partition sector, and looks for Viruses, Trojan horses, Hack tools (tools to gain illegal access to your computer), Spyware, Adware (enables third parties unwanted advertising content) and Trackware (small programs that follows your system's activity, system information or user habits). It usually detects threats with great accuracy.
I gave you a hint before, most experts will surely prefer other options, there are free antiviruses that provide real-time protection, instead of the “on demand” protection. Home users, who don’t have much knowledge should also expect those features. This software should be used when it is the only available. |
