Review by Kathlyn Storey

The products box indicates that if you are currently using Norton AntiVirus, then this product, Norton Security, will replace it. As my current Norton AntiVirus subscription expires in 29 days, and I have no backup program, I chose this product. I first installed this program on my four-year-old plus desktop running Windows 7; I use both Internet Explorer and Firefox browsers.

There is no installation CD; a website is provided instead. When entering the 25 character product key, the dashes will be automatically entered and letters will be automatically capitalized for you. Just for information, I had a horrible time differentiating whether the product key was designating capital Ds or zeros. It turned out that they were capital Ds. Once the code is successfully entered, there are online directions to download, save to your computer, and then run the installation file. This takes in excess of five minutes.

Then an initializing screen appears. Following was a message that this product was not compatible with AVG 2015, which is also on my computer. I am guessing that Norton will respond similarly if you have any other anti-virus program on your computer. Although this program wanted me to remove AVG, there was a box allowing me to skip and continue, which I did. I realize that this might create problems, but Norton Anti-Virus ran agreeably with AVG 2014 for me, so I am hoping for the best.

Next, Norton Security detected my current Norton AntiVirus program and automatically removed it, which took several minutes. Then I was requested to restart the computer. The Norton installation screen reappeared and proceeded with the installation. Then you are given an opportunity for a product tour, which I took; you are allowed to opt out at any point. The installation automatically puts an icon on your desktop, and the subscription runs for 366 days.

The next step was to set up the backup program. Note that there are no instructions included within the box, but it was surprisingly intuitive. What I did was to click on the desktop icon, then on Backup, next on Settings in upper-right hand corner, which then opens a screen that allows you to click on the Manage Backup area, the blue area marked Configure. This opens yet another screen, Manage Backup Sets. Here is where it can get dicey if you are not familiar with the various areas of the computer where your files are stored. I thought that I would need my husband to help me here in determining exactly what I want backed up. However, Norton has greatly simplified the choices by providing several File Types which can be marked either on or off. The file options and locations [sources] are pretty self-explanatory. The one I was most particularly concerned about is my Outlook file, which I was able to double check is contained in the Email category.

There is an ability to back up in one of three areas: online in a secure area, up to 25 GB [which is not enough space for me], or on the C drive itself [which I do not personally recommend because what happens if your computer fails?] or an external hard drive [my personal choice, which has 145 GB space]. You can schedule backups weekly, monthly, or manually, but the fourth category, automatic, I really like. Norton will automatically back up when you are not using your computer [but it must be turned on].

This program was also installed without incident on an Acer netbook [2 years old], and Toshiba [2 years old, Windows 8] and Dell [3+ years old] laptops. This review will be updated over the next several months regarding any issues [i.e., blowups, system drags, freezes or other hassles] that develop. I noted that the program can be installed on up to 10 computers.