Symantec’s latest security suite, Norton Security Premium, is a marked change from earlier ones in terms of classification -there used to be multiple versions of the security suite, which was confusing for users. This iteration is limited to three – Standard, Deluxe and Premium. I got my hands on the Premium version, which protects up to 10 PCs, Macs, Androids and iOS devices with a single subscription, at Rs 2,999 for a year.

The package no longer bundles the CD now. It’s a booklet giving one instructions on how to download the software and the product key to activate it. Since I have been a long-term Norton user, I already had an account – all I had to do was add the key to it and the subscription was activated. I already had Norton installed earlier (which I uninstalled before installing this one), the system didn’t take longer to start; in fact it was a tad shorter.

The security suite bundles all the usual suspects – antivirus, firewall, identity protector, system tweaker, theft protection and 25GB of backup. All of them performed as expected, which is very well. My favourites were Safe Web, which rated website security and the password manager, which is a very prudent addition. Also, one is able to track family using their mobile devices .

This version has some solid tools for Androids, such as integrating with the Google Play app and warning how safe an app is before one installs it. On my iPad, the protection was kind of rudimentary and I would love the app to integrate with the app store, like it does on Android. The backup feature is nice, though Microsoft’s OneDrive or Google Drive is possibly easier to use.

Overall, Norton Security Premium checks all the right boxes and should be on the list of all who need to protect multiple devices.

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