When it comes to malware protection, the first product that comes to mind is Norton AntiVirus 2011. Symantec has improved its award-winning antivirus and anti-malware yet again to lead the way again in home computer protection.

One of the things that makes Norton AntiVirus 2011 stand apart is its ability to provide maximum protection without sacrificing performance. Here are some of the features that make this possible.

Norton Insight

There are tons of files on every computer, ranging from the operating system’s files that make the computer run, to the family photos a user scanned in and stored, to the files that run the free Solitaire game that comes with every computer. These files are completely innocent and, for the most part, always there. With Norton Insight, AntiVirus 2011 may scan these files once or twice to catalog them, but then will recognize that they are not a threat and not run a full scan on them every time. This speeds up the time it takes for Norton AntiVirus 2011 to do a full scan and takes less of the computer’s resources.

Norton System Insight

Rather than an active malware detection scanner, Norton System Insight tracks a computer’s usage to make sure it is running at peak performance. System Insight tracks all activity on a computer, including installations, downloads, scans, and detected threats. It also collects information related to those activities, like memory and CPU usage. Then System Insight takes all that information and creates graphs to show the user how their activities affect their computer’s performance.

Proactive Performance Alerts

This is a new feature to Norton AntiVirus 2011. It works by proactively alerting the user when an application has slowed down the protected computer. For example, with Norton System Insight running, it may detect that an application is using far more resources than what the computer can handle, and an alert will be given to the user the opportunity to adjust what they’re using.

Smart Scheduler

When Norton AntiVirus 2011 performs a full scan, it can still drag down the performance of a computer. With Smart Scheduler, Norton will only perform large scans and updates when a computer is not in use.

Silent Mode

Today’s advanced computers have become full entertainment systems, with the ability to watch movies and television shows, as well as playing advanced games. Norton AntiVirus 2011 delays non-critical updates and scans when a user is watching a movie or playing a full-screen game.

Internet security and antivirus protection has become a necessity in today’s online world. We’re connected to the Internet all the time and therefore have to watch this the cyber door all the time.