Is Norton 360 Security Worth $79.99?
I was stunned to see that Symantec’s latest security offering, Norton 360 will cost $79.99. The service comes ‘packed’ with antivirus, antispyware and firewall technologies as well as backup features and several tune-up tools for Windows PCs. It also includes:
‘technologies to protect online transactions in addition to techniques to block traditional threats from malicious software’.
But, most users are adequately protected against these threats as long as they use a modern browser like IE7 or Firefox 2, and if they are a Vista user all they probably need is an AV service to bolster the great protection Vista has built in. So how on earth can Norton justify $79.99 for something that most users don’t need?
The sad thing is that Norton and their OEM partners will probably continue to play on the insecurities of novice users and will probably ship millions of copies of Norton 360.
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Comment by billg on 28 February 2007:
People will pay Norton for the same reason they pay mechanics and auto dealers for “service checkups” that do thngs their car probably does not need. People don’t know, and don’t want to know, enough about either software or cars to be able to make precisely informed decisions. That’s not because people are stupid. It’s because most people are bored stiff by the inner workings of computers and cars. Faced with the prospect of learning enough just to be able to decide which of the multitude of self-proclaimed experts to pay attention to, it’s easier to take the shotgun approach, even if it wastes some money.
Comment by Everton on 28 February 2007:
True, I guess it’s good to be safe rather than sorry. Still, $79.99!!! It’s enough to make me be naughty and get a copy on bittorrent
Comment by Zath on 3 March 2007:
In my experience Norton has always been a bloated mess that just slows your computer down to a crawl more than anything else. I agree that the car analogy probably goes some way to explaining people’s acceptance to buy these “big name” pieces of software when in reality you can use free software such as Firefox, ZoneAlarm, Ad-Aware to help protect you.
When it comes to virus protection I do think you get what you pay for, so I avoid those free anti-virus programs, I’ve found that NOD32 is a very good piece of software which doesn’t suck up al your resources and can be bought for a reasonable price - I recommend it to everyone who I fix / provide advice on computers for.
Comment by Everton on 3 March 2007:
I’m the same with Kaspersky. I used them professionally on a 2m mailbox email platform and the service was amazing. The desktop version I use for Vista is very light - just how software should be