Norton Internet Security 2003 Pro (AntiVirus, Firewall, Spam Alert, Privacy Control)

Setting up a firewall can be complex, but the Security Assistant wizard walks you through all the choices you need to make, and it automatically sets up PCs on a home network to work behind the firewall. The Program Scan looks for Internet-enabled software on your system so you can let all your Internet tools have access at once; you can add other software to the list as well. When a program you haven't specified tries to connect, the Alert Assistant helps you decide whether to allow it, block it or tweak the settings; it checks both file names and checksums to make sure an application hasn't been tampered with and you get specific suggestions rather than generic tips.

Similarly it uses signatures and detects common techniques rather than just looking at file names to spot incoming attacks. If your PC is attacked, it will block the source address automatically for 30 minutes, and you can see where the attack is coming from. If you need to be completely secure you can block all traffic in and out. And you can easily see how you're protected and if there are any problems from the red and green indicators in the Status display.

If you share your PC, everyone will need anti-virus and firewall protection, but you can choose whether to turn on the ad and spam blocking tools, the privacy controls that protects private information and the parental controls for blocking particular Web sites, Usenet newsgroups and programs. Symantec categorises these so you can keep people away from gambling and job sites as well as adult sites, and you can add specific sites that you want blocked or allowed. It's no substitute for monitoring what children do on your PC but it's certainly a help. You can also configure the settings for privacy, blocking spam and pop-up and pop-under adverts.

Norton AntiVirus 2003 is one of the best anti-virus packages on the market; Norton Firewall is a powerful tool too, and Internet Security 2003 Professional combines them with other useful tools, plus a foolproof setup that protects you without making what you do want to do online too difficult. --Mary Branscombe

Norton Internet Security Professional (NIS Pro) 2003 includes the following features: Firewall and active content protection Intrusion detection Privacy protection Ad Blocking Spam alert Productivity Control and Accounts Norton AntiVirus Professional Edition 2003

New Features Install over previous and current versions: This feature allows you to install over other versions of Norton Internet Security (NIS), Norton Personal Firewall (NPF), and Norton Internet Security Professional Edition (NIS Pro) without uninstalling the currently installed program. NIS Pro 2003 will install over NIS or NPF 2001 version 3.0, NIS/NPF/NIS Pro 2002, and NIS/NPF 2003. If an older version of NIS or NPF exists on your computer, the install feature of NIS Pro 2003 will prompt you to uninstall the older version.

Transfer settings: This feature allows you to transfer all the firewall rules from NIS/NPF/NIS Pro 2002 and NIS/NPF 2003 into NIS Pro 2003. This is a great feature if custom firewall rules already exist and you do not wish to recreate the rules. Migration from versions before NIS/NPF/NIS Pro 2002 are not supported and will need to be recreated after NIS Pro 2003 is installed.

Web Clean Up: With just a click of the mouse, you can safely and easily delete unnecessary files from your computer's Internet history, cache, and cookies.

Connection Keep Alive: Prevents your dial-up Internet connection from discontinuing unexpectedly or when you are not actively using it. Warns you when your on-line session is nearing an end, allowing you to choose to remain connected or disconnect—giving you more online connection control.

Password protection: Provides increased security by requiring a password to disable the firewall or intrusion detection, or to change any NIS or NPF options

Security Monitor: Provides a compact User Interface (UI) with many of the NIS and NPF features and options.

Block or Allow Internet access: This is a one-button feature that immediately stops all inbound and outbound Internet traffic with one click of the mouse.

Detect when applications/services are listening, but not yet connected: The feature detects and alerts the user when an application or service is listening on the Internet. This allows the user the option of blocking or allowing the application or service to connect to the Internet.

Confidential Information filtering for email (POP3): This feature provides the functionality of scanning outgoing email and documents attached to the email for confidential information. This feature supports the standard email clients using standard email protocols for sending email through the SMTP protocol. The supported email clients include, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, and Eudora. Email clients that use proprietary protocols, such as Lotus Notes is not supported.

Pop-up and Pop-under ad blocking for Web browsers: This feature blocks advertisements from being displayed in a spawned window that pops up on top of a Web page, or pops underneath the browser.

Spam Identification for email (POP3): Provides support for filtering email from a users inbox for spam messages. The supported email clients include, Microsoft Outlook, Microsoft Outlook Express, Eudora, Eudora Pro, Eudora Lite, Netscape Messenger, and Netscape Mail.

Stop Web Referral: This feature automatically closes multiple windows that were unintentionally created as a result of continuous referrals and solicitation when you tried to open or exit a website.

Visual Tracker: This is a graphical UI that allows you to run a traceroute on a remote IP address that attempted to access your computer.

Network connection notification: This feature adds the ability to detect and alert you when your computer has entered a new network without their knowledge.