Symantec has just released the company’s latest Antivirus and Security software, Norton 360 v 5.0, which comes with a collection of new features and security tools to keep users safe while browsing the web. Norton 360 v5.0 provides more protection then you’ll find on many free versions such as online storage, anti-spyware protection, phishing protection, PC tuneup and more.

The newest version of Norton 360 continues the protection from previous versions and incorporates the security software from Norton Security 2011 to bring a comprehensive protection suite to your computer.

Norton 360 V5 starts at $79.95 and can be installed on up to 3 computers in your household for optimal protection without extra cost.

Virus Protection: To keep you safe from viruses and malware Norton 360 V 5.0 looks at how other users have interacted with websites and files to help protect your computer. Norton 360 uses this insight to check files as soon as you download them and will block you from installing viruses. The same software will block installations which you didn’t ask for in order to stop malware and crimeware that tries to install in the background when you visit a website.

Norton 360 V5 Video Review: This review is of the Beta, but showcases the new features found in the latest Norton antivirus program.

Safer Browsing: Another safety feature is Norton Safe Web which can integrate with Internet Explorer and Firefox to warn you about bad webpages within your Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask search results, preventing you from visiting a site that may try to install a virus on your computer. This protection will also help you avoid phishing websites.

Safer Social Networks: Norton 360 v5 can also scan the links on your Facebook wall to find links to bad websites that will try to take your personal information and possibly hijack your Facebook account.

PC Monitoring: Norton 360 V5 includes tools which will monitor your computer and look for suspicious behavior, in order to curtail it before it becomes a problem. This is one way that the new antivirus software fights the latest tricks, scams and crimeware.

Parental Controls: Norton 360 v 5.0 also includes parental controls and management which makes it possible to see what websites your children are visiting and block those you don’t want them to visit. The antivirus and security software will also monitor your child’s social network usage and let you see who they are in contact with.

PC Tuneup and Performance Alerts: Another nice feature of Norton 360 V5 is the ability to tune up your computer. Not only can the built in software clean up clutter, speed up boot time and free up memory — but it can also deliver proactive performance alerts which alert you when Norton detects that an application is slowing down your computer.

Backup and Online Storage: Norton 360 v5 comes with 2GB of free online storage, the premium version comes with 25GB, which allows you to backup your important documents and also makes it easy to share large files with a family member or coworker with a link. If you need to access a file, you can do so from any computer with an internet connection.

Norton 360 v5 also includes the ability to automatically backup your files to a DVD, USB drive or external hard drive to make sure that your files are safe.

Versions: There are two versions of Norton 360 V5, the standard version which is $79.99 and the Norton 360 V5 Premier version which is also good on 3 computers and comes with 25GB of online storage for $99.99. If you are upgrading, you can also save, by visiting the Norton 360 v5 Upgrade Page.

Norton 360 V5 Screenshots:

Norton 360 v5 Requirements:

Operating Systems Supported

• Microsoft® Windows® XP (32-bit) with Service Pack 2 or later Home/Professional/Media Center
• Microsoft® Windows Vista® (32-bit and 64-bit) Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Business/Ultimate
• Microsoft® Windows® 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) Starter/Home Basic/Home Premium/Professional/Ultimate

Minimum Hardware Requirements

• 300-MHz or faster processor
• 256 MB of RAM; 512 MB recommended
• 300 MB of available hard disk space
• Must meet minimum operating system requirements for Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/Win7
• Internet Explorer® 6.0 or higher, or Mozilla Firefox® 3.0 or higher
• Internet connection – a high-speed connection is required for online backup

Norton 360 v5.0 AntiVirus and Security Suite Overview and Features is a post by Josh Smith from Notebooks.com.

Even though we live in a modern world where most users have their own computer, there are still occasions where you might end up sharing or need to access a shared computer. When sharing your computer, it is always best to have a separate account to keep your personal files and settings private and secure. This task is easy to do in Windows 7.

Multiple accounts aren’t just great for occasions where you are sharing a computer with a friend, even families can benefit from having multiple user accounts setup on their PC, keeping important files safe from accidental deletion by children is probably the most important reason for setting up another user account on the family PC. Also, if you are a parent who cares about your child’s safety on the Internet, Parental Controls in Windows 7 will benefit greatly from multiple user accounts.

In this article, we look at how to setup another user account and apply special permissions to it for how it should be used. Permissions can be very important in computer lab settings where you might manage more than one computer and want to set permissions on how and when a computer should be accessed.

Create a New User Account

To create a new user account, click Start, type: Create an account

Hit Enter on your keyboard

Give the account a name, choose the type of account, in this case, we will be choosing Standard user for added security. Click Create Account

To make changes to the account, click on the desired account.

One of the most important things you should do is setup a password for the account. A password ensures that only the right person can access your computer and accounts on the system. Click Create a password.

Enter a password for the account, then enter it again to confirm it. If you would like some tips for creating a strong password, click the ‘How to create a strong password’ link for instructions. Next you will need to create a password hint, this will help you remember the password in case you forget it. Once complete, click Create password

If you would like to setup parental controls you can do that next. Please refer to Notebooks.com article about how to use Parental Controls for more info.

Permissions

If you are using Windows 7 Professional, Enterprise or Ultimate editions, you will have access to more functions that allow you to define certain settings for user accounts in Windows 7. Local Security Policy is a feature of these particular editions.

You can access it by clicking Start, type Local Security Policy

Then hit Enter on your keyboard.

In Local Security Policy, expand Security Settings, then expand Account Policies. Here you will see two folders: Password Policy and Account Lockout Policy.

Password Policy folder list policies you can apply for requirements a user must have when setting up a password on the computer. The Enforce password history for instance allows you to set the maximum amount of characters required for a password.

Here you can set the amount of values required before you can apply a password to an account. Listed are other options such as Maximum and minimum age of the password, how long the password must be, complexity and options for encryption.

Account Lockout Policy This folder list some very cool options that can help lock down your PC and prevent unauthorized individuals from trying to access your computer.

For instance, if you enable secure log on (CTRL-ALT-DEL), you can set the amount of tries before the user is prevented from attempting to try again. So, if the user fails to enter the right username/password after 2 attempts, this will lock the user account. When this is enabled, you can then use the Account lockout duration, which be from 1 min to 99,999 mins.

An Example:

Here I am setting up a policy when people enter the wrong password after a certain amount of times, in my case, I have set it to 2. I have also set the lock duration to 2 minutes. You can extend the threshold and the amount of attempts as you like.

So when someone makes two failed attempts, they will receive the following error message.

Locking down accounts

If you want to make your accounts even more secure, Local Security Policy includes a Security Policy folder with options for securing your accounts even more.

In the above screenshot, I will be enabling the option to not display any account information when Windows 7 displays the account screen. Double click Interactive logon: Display user information when the session is locked

Click in the list box and select Do not display user information

From now on, your account name will not be displayed by default, users must enter both User name and Password.

Another option is to display a message when the Windows 7 Welcome Screen is displayed. If you manage a group of computers, you can have this message displayed for scenarios such as help and support. You can even use it for cases where your laptop might be lost (good luck with that). So you can display a message on the welcome screen telling the person who finds your laptop where they can locate you to return it.

Here I can enter a message for people who are attempting to log on. In this dialog I have typed If you are have trouble using your Laptop, please go to http://www.notebooks.com After entering the message, click Apply and OK.

I have also added a title for the message: To Notebooks Users from Xavier and Josh Click Apply and OK.

So every time the Welcome screen is displayed, users will see the following message.

This can greatly help you prevent individuals from trying to access your account, it’s a great deterrent and makes it frustrating for the individual making password guessing a waste of time.

How to Create and Protect User Accounts in Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.

Ten years ago, the Internet was a small extension of the desktop that was available to a select few. With today’s pervasive Internet, the risk are higher, we have seen cases of teenagers and much younger being solicited in chartrooms, over instant messaging and most recently with the advent of popular social networks young children being lured away from home to take part in wrongful activities. Of course, Parents have a greater role to play, and Parental Control’s in Windows Vista and 7 is one of the tools there to help them regulate and control their child’s experiences on the PC and Internet.

What can you do with Parental Controls?

You can use Parental Controls to help manage how your children use the computer. For example, you can set limits on the hours that your children can use the computer, the types of games they can play, and the programs they can run.

When Parental Controls blocks access to a game or program, notification is displayed that the program has been blocked. Your child can click a link in the notification to request permission for access to that game or program. You can allow access by entering your account information. Lets take a look at setting up Parental Controls in Windows 7.

Click Start, type: Parental

Hit Enter on your Keyboard

As you can see, the Parental Controls Explorer features a clean design with well explained options. Our intention is to setup Parental Controls on one of the accounts on this computer. You will notice that you can apply Parental Controls only to accounts that are Standard User or Guest. The reason for this is quite logical, of course considering that the Parent Controls are intended for could log in to your account is easy bypass these settings. Also, ensure that your account has a strong password on it. I created a Test Account just for the purposes of this article. Lets click on that to begin.

Here you will see the list of settings available for managing this account with Parental Controls, right now, it is turned off. Select the On, enforce current settings radio box and immediately you can start adjusting settings for Time limits, Games, Allowed/blocked programs. If you have the free Windows Live Family Safety add on installed, you can further control your child’s experiences on the web, we’ll take a look at that a little later in this article.

Setting Time Limits

Save your work kids, its time for bed

By default, Game Ratings, Time and Program limits are off. As an uncle, I have witnessed the problems associated with managing a child’s time on the PC. My little nephew is always on on the computer playing games at his favorite website’s, a bit too much if you ask me. Time limits allow you to set a mandatory schedule for when your child can use the computer. So, instead of coming home from school and going straight to the computer, you can have set schedules by hours or days when they can log on using a simple grid based layout. Its especially useful for school nights when you want your kids to go to bed early or focus on their studies.

Authorizing what types of games your children can play.

Games

As I noted earlier, games are a favorite past time for my nephew. Controlling which games are allowed is a feature of Parental Controls. Options include by age, content, a combination or all games. Blocking and rating games suitable for children are based on the Entertainment Software and Rating Board, which categorizes those that are already installed on your computer. If you select a game in the Windows 7 Games Explorer, you will notice in the Task Pane a tag describing its appropriate audience, which can range from Early Childhood to Adults only. Windows 7 is very thorough about gaming on all levels, you can even choose to block all types of content with certain subject matters, whether its profanity, blood, alcohol, crude humor and other mature subject matters.

Applications

Parental Controls goes beyond games, you can even have certain applications blocked from being used. You might say, I don’t have any unsafe applications to begin with! Not really, I am not talking about Microsoft Word here, but programs such as Instant Messaging and even web browsers can be unsafe depending on how they are used. They could be used for communication with strangers or activities you would rather not have your child involved in such as social networks or chartrooms. Hey, if you want your child to go easy on the number crunching in Excel, you can do that too When you click the Programs link, you are asked if you would like the account to use all your programs or only programs you allow. If you want to set restrictions, select only use the programs I allow’, then click ok.

User notified when an application is blocked from use.

A wizard will then scan your PC for all the applications you have installed on the system. Prepare to be a bit overwhelmed, depending on how many applications you have installed, you might see a lot of files listed. Personally, I would have liked if the wizard only scanned what’s available in the All Programs group instead of scanning the entire system, leaving the user administering the Parental Controls to browse for unique files or programs they don’t want access to by browsing and adding to the program list. I gotta admit though, its a very thorough list.

Windows Live Family Safety

I personally thought that Windows Vista’s web filtering capabilities in Parental Controls were not robust enough. There was still the slip of adult content in Internet Explorer or Firefox in addition to reports not reporting the activities at times. Since the release of Windows Live Family Safety, a lot of these problems have been resolved. Parents can appreciate a more thorough and informative experience that spans the desktop and provides tight integration with Mozilla Firefox. Windows users should know that the Activity Reporting interface from Windows Vista is not available and lacks functionality such as integration with the Notification Area, Family Safety instead uses the web interface for this which requires that you sign in to get the latest reports.

Windows Live Family Safety is installed as a free add on when you install the free Windows Live Essentials (http://download.live.com). With Live Family Safety Filter, you can choose who they communicate with online and generate reports of their online activities, other features include:

• Categorize and block unwanted web content for yourself and your family.
• Create your own list of allowed or blocked sites.
• Monitor Family Safety users’ Internet activity.

The Windows Live folks recently updated Family Safety featuring tighter integration with Windows user accounts for storing settings. There is no need to have a Windows Live ID for each child who needs their own settings. Windows Live Family Safety scans the Parental Control settings on Windows Vista and Windows 7 providing Parental Controls activity reports from any computer running Windows Vista or Windows 7. These reports include time spent on the computer, browsing history, games and applications run. This monitoring is transparent to the end user, as a notification is displayed once on Windows account login when monitoring is enabled.

Conclusion

Windows 7 and Windows Live provides a cohesive experience for Parents to help manage and provide a safe experience for their Child on the PC and the Internet. Of course, you as a parent must play a significant role to help implement these tools. A tip I would offer parents is to make sure you are the Administrator of the computer. Kids these days are extremely computer savvy, so its best you restrict your child’s account to a limited user so your child does not change settings in the User Accounts Control Panel or turn the tables on you.

 Resources

 Windows Live Essentials

Utilizing Parental Controls in Windows 7 is a post by Andre from Notebooks.com.