Symantec has unveiled the 2011 beta versions of the Norton AntiVirus and Norton Internet Security, along with its first beta security application for Facebook and two security tools to address the threat posed by fake antivirus programs and other infections.
The company said that the 2011 Norton betas are being developed to improve or maintain key performance benchmarks in installation times, scan times, and memory usage. In addition, the new products will include System Insight 2.0 and reputation-based security technology.
According to Symantec, Download Insight 2.0 increases the breadth of the product’s reputation protection by applying it to virtually every download regardless of the client (browser, email, IM). The Norton 2011 uses the reputation information to report on the ‘trustworthiness’ of files on a system and help users understand if their download behaviour is more or less risky versus the Norton Community Watch members.
Norton Safe Web beta application for Facebook counters evolving social networking threats by scanning their Facebook news feeds for malicious URLs, allowing them to identify risky sites before clicking through.
In addition, the new security tools, Power Eraser targets and removes the threats that impersonate legitimate programs, modify browsers or boot screen graphics, and even redirect traffic; while Bootable Recovery Tool allows users to boot a PC into a safe state when a system is so deeply infected that it will not properly start up.
Jens Meggers, vice president of engineering, for Norton products, said: Further to this, our customers are looking for value beyond ‘core security’ and the free new tools we’re bringing to market will keep the Norton community and the community-at-large safer from the cybercriminals who find new ways everyday to target people’s identity for a profit.