Norton AntiVirus 2013 v20.3.1.22 (60-day)

Norton AntiVirus 2013 is a powerful tool for detecting and eliminating all types of malware.

The most obvious change in the new edition is the revamped interface. The basic look and feel is the same, but the interface has been rearranged to optimise it for touch (and installing the system on Windows 8 will give you protection via a Metro app), and support for hardware acceleration improves responsiveness. Initially it feels a little odd - there are buttons without tooltips, which left us momentarily confused - but it only takes a moment to learn the basics and we soon felt at home.

Protection improvements see more rapid updates of the Insight file reputation database. The latest version of SONAR system now works in Safe Mode to detect even brand new threats by their behaviour. And the program can also work with new Windows 8 technology which enables it to launch earlier in the boot process, so better protecting you against rootkits, malicious drivers and similar threats.

And in a relatively minor (though still useful) tweak, Norton AntiVirus 2013 actually downloads and installs Norton Power Eraser for you. And as a result, if a scan completes, and you follow the "If you think there are still risks, click here" link, you're not left to sort things out yourself: you're able to launch Norton Power Eraser with a click to (hopefully) find and remove any particularly stubborn threats.

The other addition this time is what Symantec call "Bandwidth Monitoring", which they say "will help consumers avoid costly data overage fees by limiting non-critical updates on bandwidth sensitive networks". This seems to be represented by a new setting (Settings > Network > Network Security Settings > Network Cost Awareness) which allows you to set a policy to govern how the program uses a particular network connection. Options are "No Limit" (do what you want), "No Traffic" (don't use this connection at all), or "Economy": if this is some expensive 3G connection, say, Norton AntiVirus 2013 will use it only to download the most critical program and virus definition updates.

Put it all together and the new release represents a very significant improvement for Windows 8 users, more of a gently incremental change for everybody else.

Note that this is a special 60-day extended trial version of Norton AntiVirus 2013.

Build 20.3.1 adds these fixes/changes:

- Resolved issue where Norton Autofix appears after patch installation, showing that one item has been fixed
- Fixed a few UI issues for the uninstall pages
- Corrected an issue with Online Vault where customers who logged into Norton Account during install had their passwords automatically autofilled before they explicitly indicated via the Norton Toolbar that they wished to use the linked Online Vault

Norton AntiVirus 2013 reserves its most significant updates for Windows 8 users, but there are smaller improvements for everyone else and if you're interested in the program then it's still worth a look.