Norton 2010 is Fast, Fresh, and Free

Whether you know them as Symantec or Norton (it’s all semantics at this point anyways), their newest installment of security software is on the way. Expected to release later this fall (or Autumn if you will), Norton’s security software lineup (Antivirus, Internet Security, Norton 360) will all see some significant changes. For now, you can download Norton Antivirus 2010 and/or Norton Internet Security 2010 in beta for free.

Norton 2010: Bigger, Bolder, Beta.

Security software has adopted the release schedule of new cars, releasing new products the fall prior to the new year (2010 in Sept 2009). Norton’s new technology is being likened to the automobile industry in another way, drawing an analogy to fuel-efficient vehicles. While still maintaining a robust set of traditional virus protection via virus definitions, heuristics, and cloud security, Norton adds new “fuel” in the form of reputation analysis.

The new reputation technology  takes the approach of performing an autopsy on PC applications to determine their reputation, accurately defining and defending from new malware without a huge number of false positives. This is made possible by taking advantage of the huge (currently the largest market share) Norton community who contribute data (anonymously) to help protect others.

More new features for the 2010 models:

• Updated dashboard interface (which is decidedly less automobile-like than years prior)
• Next generation of SONAR (Norton's behavioral “fuel-injection” behavioral antimalware system)
• Upgraded 2.0 bootable recovery tool (like a jump-start for a dead PC Operating System)
• Users can “flip over the UI” (or “look under the hood”) to see how the software is actually working. This also lets novice users better understand what actions are being taken.

Test drive a new security solution:

Norton Internet Security 2010 beta: www.norton.com/nis2010beta
Norton AntiVirus 2010 beta: www.norton.com/nav2010beta

*As far as I am aware, Norton is not offering leasing or low-finance options. Norton will not buy your used security software, nor are they offering 0 down for 12/24 month.