Symantec Norton Anti Spam 2004 5 User Home and Lifestyle Applications

With the ability to set up lists of people you do want to receive e-mail from in addition to those you'd like to block, Norton AntiSpam 2004 provides multiple ways of getting rid of the rubbish. Every mail is tagged with an identifying text header to indicate that it's unwanted and then pushed into a subfolder of the inbox so you may delete it at your leisure--and it's very effective too.

In terms of its operation, it integrates smoothly with Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora, nestling itself away in the program's menu system, ready for when you need it. On the surface it's a very simple program with few options, but this level of simplicity doesn't tell the whole story and anything that blocks 90% of incoming spam has to be a winner.

It's not all plain sailing though. Phone support can be quite expensive, leaving regular users to wade through Symantec's online support database to find answers to pressing questions; it can only handle POP3 mail accounts (no IMAP support at the moment) and it can slow down the operation of Outlook and Outlook Express. These niggles aside, anything that performs this effectively out of the box has to be worth the asking price.

For those who are heartily sick of body-part enlargement messages, requests for help from bankrupted foreign leaders and offers of cheap degrees from fake US universities, Norton AntiSpam 2004 provides a safe and simple way to lighten the e-mail load. --Chris Russell

A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton AntiVirus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs such as Kazaa install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files such as Zips before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton AntiVirus 2004 protects your e-mail and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common e-mail packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton AntiVirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, Trojan and spyware free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

Norton AntiVirus is the elder statesman of the virus-busting world, boasting a long and glorious pedigree. Symantec have tightened up the anti-piracy aspect and installation now requires that you activate the software online within a couple of weeks if you wish to keep using it. A nice feature during loading is that it does a preliminary antivirus sweep straight from the CD as some viruses can detect the presence of Norton on the hard drive and disable it. Newer virus definitions to combat the latest threats can be downloaded automatically and it is wise to ensure this is done as often as possible. A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton AntiVirus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs, such as Kazaa, install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files, such as Zips, before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton AntiVirus 2004 protects your e-mail and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common e-mail packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton AntiVirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, Trojan and spyware-free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

Norton AntiSpam 2004

With levels of spam (unwanted, unsolicited e-mail) rising dramatically, installing some kind of screening program to get rid of what you don't want is a great idea and thanks to Norton AntiSpam 2004 the process is clean, straightforward and much more successful than you could hope for.

With the ability to set up lists of people you do want to receive e-mail from in addition to those you'd like to block, Norton AntiSpam 2004 provides multiple ways of getting rid of the rubbish. Every mail is tagged with an identifying text header to indicate that it's unwanted and then pushed into a subfolder of the inbox so you may delete it at your leisure--and it's very effective too.

In terms of its operation, it integrates smoothly with Outlook, Outlook Express and Eudora, nestling itself away in the program's menu system, ready for when you need it. On the surface it's a very simple program with few options, but this level of simplicity doesn't tell the whole story and anything that blocks 90 per cent of incoming spam has to be a winner.

It's not all plain sailing though. Phone support can be quite expensive, leaving regular users to wade through Symantec's online support database to find answers to pressing questions; it can only handle POP3 mail accounts (no IMAP support at the moment) and it can slow down the operation of Outlook and Outlook Express. These niggles aside, anything that performs this effectively out of the box has to be worth the asking price.

For those who are heartily sick of body-part enlargement messages, requests for help from bankrupted foreign leaders and offers of cheap degrees from fake US universities, Norton AntiSpam 2004 provides a safe and simple way to lighten the e-mail load. --Chris Russell

A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton Antivurus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs such as Kazaa install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files such as Zips before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton Antivirus 2004 protects your email and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common email packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton Antivirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, trojan and spyware free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton Antivurus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs such as Kazaa install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files such as Zips before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton Antivirus 2004 protects your email and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common email packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton Antivirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, trojan and spyware free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton Antivurus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs such as Kazaa install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files such as Zips before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton Antivirus 2004 protects your email and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common email packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton Antivirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, trojan and spyware free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

A new feature with the 2004 edition is spyware protection. These small programs are often downloaded from websites and track your browsing habits to help companies target you with adverts. By removing or blocking these programs, Norton Antivurus helps protect your privacy. On the downside, some free programs such as Kazaa install these programs to raise revenue and removing them can stop such programs from working.

Another new feature is the ability to scan compressed files such as Zips before they are opened, although strangely this feature doesn't work under Windows 98 or Me.

As well as scanning files, Norton Antivirus 2004 protects your email and Instant Messaging by checking any files that are downloaded to your machine. Users of less common email packages may have to look elsewhere though as only the most common configurations are supported.

The main control panel is easy to use and clearly shows if anything needs attending to. This can be when a full system scan is due or if the virus signature files need updating.

The pack is rounded off with a printed manual that covers all aspects of the program's operation. These days most companies rely on built-in help or manuals on the CD so it's good to have a real manual you can read where and when you want.

Norton Antivirus 2004 will ensure your PC remains virus, trojan and spyware free and the automatic updates ensure you are prepared to combat the latest threats as soon as they appear. Best of all it requires no specialist knowledge; just install and relax. --Iain Laskey

It's vital to take backups of your system in case anything goes wrong; rather than just copying your files, Ghost 2003 takes a copy of your entire hard drive, files, applications, Windows and all, onto another hard drive or partition, or onto removable media (whether that's a stack of blank CDs or DVDs or an external FireWire, USB or network drive). If you want to copy the contents of one hard drive straight onto another--for instance when you upgrade to a new PC--you can do that directly over a network, USB or parallel connection rather than needing to save the disk image and then restore it.

Ghost 2003 saves the recovery software onto the CD or DVD; for hard drive copies you'll want to create a recovery floppy. And you don't need to actually restore the whole drive just to get a single file back; the Ghost Explorer utility lets you browse through a disk image and retrieve an individual file or folder. You can also check that an image file isn't corrupt without opening or restoring it.

Unless you're backing up a second hard drive that doesn't have Windows on, Ghost needs to work in DOS for storing your disk information as well as when it's time to recover it. Although you get a friendly Windows front end to start with and an icon in the Windows system tray to run backups from, it will need to restart your PC so you'll want to leave it working. The DOS-based utilities like the partition manager are powerful but complex to use. Experienced users will be glad of new features like support for NTFS and burning straight onto CD or DVD discs, but beginners might find the advanced features a little complex, even with the comprehensive manual and the excellent step-by-step tutorials. --Mary Branscombe

It's vital to take backups of your system in case anything goes wrong; rather than just copying your files, Ghost 2003 takes a copy of your entire hard drive, files, applications, Windows and all, onto another hard drive or partition, or onto removable media (whether that's a stack of blank CDs or DVDs or an external FireWire, USB or network drive). If you want to copy the contents of one hard drive straight onto another--for instance when you upgrade to a new PC--you can do that directly over a network, USB or parallel connection rather than needing to save the disk image and then restore it.

Ghost 2003 saves the recovery software onto the CD or DVD; for hard drive copies you'll want to create a recovery floppy. And you don't need to actually restore the whole drive just to get a single file back; the Ghost Explorer utility lets you browse through a disk image and retrieve an individual file or folder. You can also check that an image file isn't corrupt without opening or restoring it.

Unless you're backing up a second hard drive that doesn't have Windows on, Ghost needs to work in DOS for storing your disk information as well as when it's time to recover it. Although you get a friendly Windows front end to start with and an icon in the Windows system tray to run backups from, it will need to restart your PC so you'll want to leave it working. The DOS-based utilities like the partition manager are powerful but complex to use. Experienced users will be glad of new features like support for NTFS and burning straight onto CD or DVD discs, but beginners might find the advanced features a little complex, even with the comprehensive manual and the excellent step-by-step tutorials. --Mary Branscombe