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Norton Internet Security BundleReviewed By: Bill Stiteler Review Date: January 23, 2001
I've been using Macs for well over ten years, and in that time I think I've run into about four viruses. In every case except one, they've all been stopped butt-cold by Norton AntiVirus, which Hiner rightfully described as one of the programs you must have on your Mac. As for the one time a virus slipped past me, I barely count that because I wasn't technically responsible for them. I was working for a large accounting firm doing DTP on (God help me) PCs. They had two Macs for the hard-core graphics stuff, and dig this; they had no virus protection at all. I guess it was because IT was dragging their feet about giving them any kind of network or internet connection, so they thought they wouldn't have to bother. Then of course, that Hong Kong virus, the first new Mac virus in years, began making the rounds of graphic departments. Thanks to Download.com and a Mac's innate ability to read DOS-format disks, we were back in business shortly thereafter. One of the reasons I've run into only four viruses in that time is that I practice common sense. I turn off file sharing, I download only from sources I trust, run NAV regularly, shut off auto-play, and finally, of course, I use a Mac. So, when I got my copy of the Norton Internet Security bundle, I was thrilled to get the latest version of Norton AntiVirus, but viewed the other two components, Norton Personal Firewall and Aladdin iClean, dubious in value. One of these would prove its value shortly, if only as a wake-up call. Norton AntiVirus 7.0Besides inventing the GUI, electricity, and puppies, Microsoft is also responsible for the vast majority of virus threats to the Mac. This is because the omnipresent Office suite allows PC users to attach "macro viruses" to their files. Macros are platform-independent (like Java, and about as useful), so the viruses (virii?) can screw with your files just as well.
Shipping on a bootable disk, NAV installs and sets up in minutes. You can configure it to set different areas of your disk as "safe zones," meaning that any file created or dragged to that area will be scaned. NAV automatically looks for "downloads" folders and sets those up as zones, but you can add others as needed. In fact, one of NAV's greatest strengths is it's customizability. Most people will stick with the default settings; if NAV detects a virus it will try to repair the file. But you can crank it up further, simply having NAV delete the file or eject the disk it comes on, or if you're really paranoid, reject the insertion of floppies altogether. Also included is a password feature to prevent other users from altering your settings. Norton also updates their virus definitions once a month (more during particularly notable emergencies), which NAV users can access over the internet using the Live Update feature in addition to downloading patches to the program itself. The downloads are usually small, but if you have a poor connection or you just forget, you can schedule NAV to check for updates automatically. Since Office can carry more viruses than a zombie with a cold sore, better to be safe. Simply put, Norton AntiVirus is a must-have program, and there's no excuse for not having it on your computer. The really important thing, though, is that in your mind, I've managed to associate Microsoft products with an undead creature carrying a low-level STD. Aladdin Systems iClean
If you're the kind of person (i.e. "probably dirty") who uses these functions a lot, it'll save you a couple of steps. I, however, visit the same web pages daily, and keeping them in my cache makes them load faster. Much to my chagrin, I have also grown to accept cookie files, since they keep me from having to log in to web pages over and over. Yes, yes, all right, "probably dirty" web pages. Norton Personal FirewallAs I said, I wasn't sure how much I'd need this product. I don't share files from my home computer. I don't have a broadband connection. And, of course, I'm using a Mac. Who the heck would want to bother with me? Norton Personal Firewall controls and monitors four areas of incoming online activity. If you already have a malicious program transmitting your data, or more likely, just have a kid in the house, NPF doesn't monitor the stuff going out (e.g., it's not useable as a web filter or log of user internet activity). What it does control is File Sharing over TCP/IP, Program Linking over TCP/IP, Apple's Personal Web Sharing function, and "All Others;" the catch-all for the rest of your port functions. When installed, the defaults are set to deny everything. Fine with me, that's what I had them set to, anyway (people with valuable data they need to share, however, will appreciate the customizable "allow access to/deny access to" function built right on to the top level of the control screen). Wanting to see what kind of activity I would get, I told NPF to notify me for all activity as well. All I saw was my ISP's e-mail server looking to authenticate my access. It was denied each time, but apparently wasn't that crucial, since my mail still went out. It got annoying clicking off a(nother) dialogue box each time I sent mail, so I turned it off and forgot about it. In preparation for writing this review, I went back and checked my log. E-mail authorization, failed. E-mail authorization, failed. E-mail authorization, fai--hey, what's that? 
On Christmas Eve, 2000 at 12:20:48 PM an anonymous user tried to access several ports on my computer. All were denied. Several more failed e-mail authorization over the next few days. Then, on December 29, 2000 at 7:46:28 PM an attempt from a different host, trying to access ports on my connection for unknown reasons. Finally, January 14, 2001 at 2:02:16 PM, someone else was looking for Sub7, a Windows Trojan Horse. Well. Well. NPF provided the bare-bones information, the time, the host and IP of the attempt, and the port they were attempting to access. As part of that dialogue box, you can click on "more info." This takes you to a somewhat more detailed page from Symantec, which tells you how to reach the host, and what the user may have been looking for. In the second instance, for example, I was told they may have been checking to see if I was running NetBus, a Windows program which (Symantec tells me) gives remote users controls over computers. Along with a reminder that they can't confirm the intent was hostile, they also have links to the home pages of the hosts. I'm in contact with some of them now to figure out what was going on. I'm also reconsidering my previous thoughts about the usefulness of NPF. True, in two of those cases, the probe was looking for Windows apps, but the first...I found myself simultaneously more paranoid and more secure, since I had NPF telling me about the stuff it was finding. Freaky. Norton Personal Firewall gives you all the information in a clean, understandable manner, explaining the technical stuff without oversimplifying it or worse, simply hiding it from you. It also makes it easy for you to contact the appropriate people and give them the information they need. If you just want to keep prying eyes out of your stuff, it's a worthy install alongside NAV. People who have to share data, though, will likely find it invaluable. SummaryI'd like to point out that I feel there are legitimate purposes for hacking systems; the thrill of discovery, research into system weakness, and the movie "War Games" (Dabney Coleman's finest work, in my opinion). However, for every person out there who takes it as an honorable crusade, there are people who type zero for "o" and just want to mess with your stuff because they can. And that's just the grey area. Let's not forget the actual malicious viruses. If you can afford an internet connection, you owe it to yourself (and pretty much everyone you deal with) to get an antivirus program. And I can't think of any reason why NAV shouldn't be numbers one through five on your list. Personal Firewall and iClean boost the price a bit (NAV can be purchased alone), but if you're the kind of person with sensitive data, it may be just what you're looking for.
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Which is
good news for the Mac developers at Symantec. Without macro
viruses, there'd be like, one guy in the department, playing
Alone in the Dark and wondering if "CDEF Megaworm" would
sound better.
Now to
the odd duck on the disk, Aladdin's iClean. iClean is a
handy utility for regularly purging sensitive (i.e.
"probably dirty") information from your computer. With a
click of a button, iClean will toss internet cookie files,
clean your Web Cache of all files, delete your internet
History files, and empty your trash. It'll also fix broken
aliases.