We received a full copy of Norton 360 from Symantec and Mom Central to try out. The Big Guy planned to write this himself since he’s the real techie around here but he didn’t have time so here’s the joint effort…

Norton 360 Version 2.0 provides all-in-one protection for up to up to three PCs by verifying trusted Web sites, blocking fake ones, and securely managing user names and passwords so you can safely shop, bank, or browse online. Norton 360 V2.0 also helps keep your PCs running at peak performance and protects your data by making it easy to automatically back up and restore files locally or to a secured online storage service.

So, what’s new and improved in V2.0?

* Industry-Leading Layered Security helps protect you against advanced threats through a combination of definitions and heuristic and behavioral technologies give you confidence that your PC is secure.
* Network Monitoring protects your home network against unauthorized access by detecting whether your connected wireless network is secure or not secure, providing you with a visual picture of your network and each device that is connected to it and let’s you view the security status of the Norton protected computers on the network.
* Backup provides for new backup destinations including HD-DVD and Blu-Ray disc and iPods, while continuing to support the widest range of mapped and networked storage drives and an included 2GB of online storage, providing more options for backup than any other product in its class.
* Registry Cleaner helps optimize performance by removing unneeded Windows registry files to help keep your computer healthier and running more efficiently.
* Phishing Protection for Firefox: Phishing Protection guards online attempts to steal your personal information using real-time analytics to identify and block fraudulent web sites, and now supports both the Firefox and Internet Explorer browsers.
* Diagnostic Report provides a convenient system snapshot for easier troubleshooting and problem diagnosis of any PC issue by collecting detailed system information including operating system, installed applications, startup applications, hardware configuration, and more and delivers it to you in a viewable, printable format that you can save or email to whomever you go to for help.
* Fast, Easy Access to Settings and Tasks means that although Norton 360 does all the work for you automatically and quietly in the background, you can choose to do things manually such as run a scan, modify a backup job, query status, check for the latest updates, or just do some cleanup and optimization.

The Good:
+All of the above.
+Great features.
+Easy to install and use - pretty much dummy proof.

The Bad:
-It eats up a lot of memory and the computer slows down quite a bit while running it. Not so bad if you have a top notch machine, but if you don’t this could be an issue for you - particularly if you use other demanding programs. Like Photoshop, for example.

The Ugly:
Nada. It’s pretty darn impressive for only $79.99.

The Verdict:
Other than being a system hog, Norton 360 V2.0 is a really versatile and useful program.