Norton 2009 products open to public beta
On Monday, Symantec opened two of its Norton 2009 products to public beta. Both Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton Antivirus 2009 feature new code that not only makes the scans and services run faster, but consume fewer system resources, says Tom Powledge, vice president of consumer product management.
As an example, Powledge said that where Norton Internet Security 2006 consumed roughly 300MB of hard-disk space, the 2009 version is coming in around 100MB. Symantec has achieved this, in part, by reducing a number of redundancies introduced over the years. For example, previous versions of NIS contained multiple copies of the antivirus signature database.
For antivirus protection, faster and lighter has been achieved by focusing only on the files that have changed. As hard drives fill with digital photos and songs--files that typically do not change--Norton is able to mark them as trusted and then ignore them on subsequent scans. Powledge says this results in big gains in speed, reducing the time it takes to scan large drives.
Also, in order to keep up with the ever-changing malware loose on the Internet today, the 2009 products with be updated every 15 minutes or so with new signature files.
The public betas are available here. As with any beta software, you should make a full system backup first, and not run it on your main computer system.
Norton Internet Security 2009 features a new interface with most of the controls just one click away. (Click image for a slightly larger view.)
As CNET's resident security expert, Robert Vamosi has been interviewed on the BBC, CNN, MSNBC, and other outlets to share his knowledge about the latest online threats and to offer advice on personal and corporate security. Listen to his podcast at securitybites.cnet.com or e-mail Robert with your questions and comments. 
I found this from the press release:
Norton 2009 will have features designed for advanced computer users and gamers:
-- Silent mode -- suspends alerts and updates automatically to avoid interrupting or slowing activities such as games, movies or presentations.
So, if that's why you want to turn it off, then yes, you will be able to "temporarily turn off" the protection.
ill blog about it later on.
Thanks for info.
In regard to thedreaming's (and alegr's) comments - The new products include a CPU usage monitor right on the main screen so you can easily track CPU utilization - both total and that from all Norton processes. We also provide a more detailed views of CPU utilization, memory, tasks running and a view of every process running and its security status. It is a useful tool.
I am aware of only one test of the performance of security products. If you are interested, surf over to http://www.passmark.com/ftp/antivirus-performance-testing-ed3.pdf.
Dan Schrader
Symantec
Errm... Task Manager already monitors and tracks what you just built into Norton 2009!
(And, I'd rather not have TWO processes tracking processes).
So far the only glitches I've had with the 2009 Beta involve the updates -- (e.g., even after downloading them, the program still tells me the issue wasn't fixed...) but these go away after a day or two.
Really looking forward to getting the program, hope I can save up in 2 months time... (The Beta testing ends in September, right? I forgot the exact date...)
Now I am stopped to buy anti-virus or anti-spyware at stores! Stores are sucks and waste your money for it. Get FREE from internet.
You will get very annoy pops up when you download many files from internet. I have Norton 2005 with Security. I download many files and cause Norton to catch many, many viruses like Trojan Horses. Auto pop ups about over 300 to 500 times and keep pop ups. Pop ups can't be stopped! When you click ok on button by Norton and pop ups will be back, back again, again. Viruses can't be delete by Norton easily. Now I am blamed on Norton. I did delete Norton out of my PC and install McAfee in my computer and McAfee found warning and McAfee kill/blast of thousands of viruses to remove extreme hard out of my PC! Means you cannot remove Trojan Horses out easily by AVG or Norton. I really ANGRY on Norton and AVG! Shame on AVG and Norton like same as Windows Vista! I stick with Windows XP forever! People will be warned don't use this product! Norton disable all your services hidden on your PC what you cannot see! Fix your services to turn on all. Go to Start, run - type (services.msc) and make sure all programs must not disable!!! Set on Manual and Auto. To make all programs to work like such as Aol Instant Messenger(AIM), Yahoo, MSN, etc. That all. That why reason Norton hurt my feelings. I paid Norton for $70.00 at Staples store in year 2006. I don't trust Norton anymore. Now I am sad and unhappy on Norton product.
there are for sure products, worse than NAV, but none of them have the same pupularity and high prices! :}:}
listen to them, how are they selling to the stupid (no offense intended:) ) the NAV 09.. it's better, smaller and faster. i heard this story since 2001; i have installed each edition of their products, every year, just to make sure i was right about it :):). i have a cd with files, that come out clean when scanned with NAV or NOD32, and believe me, there's nothing clean about that cd :) - the experiment is dated in 2007, and at that date, avg, antivirxp, bitdefender, they all detected the evil :)
mr Dan Schrader, why doesnt norton get it? any person with a bit of common sense regarding IT, knows that NAV is not the way to stay protected! your products use lots of ram - it never refreshes the ram used, it just grows bigger until restart, it uses the CPU more than other products/solutions, and it doesn't protect like it says it does. take for ex, bitdefender, or zonealarm (for firewall). now these guys, make some FINE products...
Don't they mean Alpha?
Their released product is usually the beta!
They are never clear on what a user requires for "full" protection. For example, with IS 2009 do you also need to purchase Norton Confidential & Norton Anti Bot?
They also have the cheek to ask for support payment.
Norton 360 is not the answer - it mixes security with cleaning/backup tools (bloat ware or crap ware )
- by Myrrh.Antolini July 30, 2008 10:08 AM PDT
- I've never had a malware slip when I had Norton. Sometimes worms would try to get in through Limewire. Norton would block those buggers cold. It's never let me down.
- Like this Reply to this comment
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(17 Comments)But I gotta admit, NIS 2008 was too much of a resource hogger. It took my computer almost 10 minutes to start up because the system was waiting for NIS to finish loading.
NIS 2009 however, looks very promising. I have the Beta installed right now and one very noticeable change is the start-up time. NIS 2009 loads in an instant. In fact, it's the first program to load. Its usage meter usually says 4 percent. While scanning, it can spike up to as much as 42% but it drops to around the 14-20-percent range.
I also have my own process manager (from Tune-Up Utilities) and according to that, the Symantec processes only use up about 13,000 KB of memory in total (sometimes they use 9000 KB of memory, it depends). That's a big difference.
When is NIS 2009 going to be available for purchase? (I hope there's a promo, please, please, please... a few dollars off would mean a lot.)