Since Symantec significantly improved their 2007 edition of Norton Antivirus, it was highly expected that they would only make slight modifications and additions to the 2008 release of the well known software program. Although Norton Antivirus 2008 often does quite well when compared to competent benchmark tests, the program seems to have lost a fair amount of usability within the interface, hurting the overall experience.

First of all, something that cannot be overlooked is the sheer size of the program. Weighing in at a robust 300 MB, users really start to wonder exactly why it takes up so much room in your computer. Not only is the space requirement a bit extreme, but the software is dumbed down and doesn’t give users the ability to turn on anything remotely advanced.

As far as the using Norton Antivirus 2008 to protect your computer, buyers should refer to analysis and tests recently published by two independent antivirus testing organizations. AV-Comparatives.org and CheckVir.com both tested the program through their own benchmarks and while it received the highest rating possible in some areas, there were a significant number of areas where it was only rated as being standard.

Symantec’s Norton Antivirus 2008 is the latest in a long line of supposedly corporate-ready antivirus programs however, it seems as though the software could benefit by becoming more user friendly, or at the very least, accessible. There are many options that cannot be changed simply because Symantec doesn’t think that the user can handle the responsibility.