New Norton suite auto-fixes problems

Symantec has officially released new versions of its Norton Internet Security and Norton AntiVirus products in the US, with European versions to follow.

Although much has been left unchanged, Symantec has added Norton Identity Safe to the Norton Internet Security Suite. This offers better solutions for protecting users against identity theft and personal information loss.

New solutions help protect users

Both products have been redesigned to provide better performance. They now offer One-Click Support, which allows for built-in troubleshooting routines that can automatically fix problems without the need for additional support. If the user is unable to fix the issue by themselves, the One-Click Support feature will escalate as needed to phone, e-mail or live chat support all within the user interface.

To reduce user stress, the system will now eliminate the asking of security questions that a user may not be properly qualified to answer, and LiveUpdate will work in the background.

Both software solutions will offer BrowserDefender technology as well, to protect users from exploits found on malicious or hacked websites. Further, Symantec asserts that BrowserDefender will block ActiveX controls attacks, and protect users from the risks of JavaScript and VBScript.

Threat of keyloggers

Symantec also announced that threats to confidential information are up compared to last year and many of these issues have arisen from keyloggers. To combat this, Symantec has built features into Norton Identity Safe that allow it to fill forms out for the user, so passwords are not inadvertently submitted to malicious hackers. In effect, this solves the biggest issue with keyloggers, which can only capture what the user types.

Both Symantec products support Windows XP SP2 and Windows Vista. Norton AntiVirus 2008 is available for $39.99 (about £20), while the one-year subscription for Norton Internet Security will cost $69.99 (£35).