Norton Internet Security 2010 Beta: New Features, Some Glitches

From PC World: The just-released beta of Symantec's Norton Internet Security 2010 is more notable for what's under the hood than what you actually see. However, if you're planning to try it out, you'd better not do it on your main PC -- this is not only a beta release, but a temporary one as well. Currently, the installed beta says that it is good for only 14 days.

Symantec's comprehensive suite offers protection against viruses, Trojans, rootkits, spyware and malware of all kinds, as did the previous versions. Like those versions, it includes a firewall, intrusion protection, e-mail protection and Web protection; for example, it integrates with your browser and search engine to warn you away from visiting sites that might be malicious.

Symantec says that the newest release of its security suite marks a major shift away from signature-based detection to what it calls "reputation-based security technologies," which it claims offer more complete and up-to-date protection.

According to Symantec, traditional signature-based solutions simply can't keep up with the massive amounts of new malware released every year. The company says that Symantec researchers see more than 200 million attacks on PCs every month, many of them threats not seen before that may slip by signature-based security software. Because of that, the company claims, signature-based solutions by themselves can no longer adequately protect PCs.

Its new reputation-based security strategy relies heavily on Symantec's global product reach, in which millions of people who use Norton products and opt in to the Norton Community send information anonymously about the applications running on their system. Using this data, Symantec calculates a "reputation score" for applications, and uses that reputation score, in addition to traditional malware signatures, as the engine to keep PCs safe in Norton Internet Security Suite 2010.

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