Norton releases 2011 version of security software

Norton on Wednesday announced its 2011 versions of its Norton Internet Security suite and Norton Antivirus software. Norton also announced a new application - Norton Power Eraser that is designed to remove the increasingly common fake antivirus malware.

New features for Norton's 2011 product lineup include new "reputation-based" detection technology (where the software will check a downloaded file to see if it can be trusted, based on whether it's a known download from a known company, etc...), bolstered behavioral malware detection (detecting malware based on how it acts on your PC), and new system performance monitoring tools.

Norton Power Eraser is a new freebie tool designed to detect so-called fake antivirus malware, malware that looks like garden variety antivirus software and tried to coerce you into paying for "full" versions of the software that do nothing at all.

Also new is Norton's Bootable Recovery Tool, a tool of last resort for when your PC is so hosed by malware that it won't start up, or your antivirus software won't even work properly. The Bootable Recovery Tool is a free download, but you need to enter a Norton product key in order to use it.

As for detection, the company claims that the new Norton products lead the security pack. We'll be the final judge of that, though, when we have a chance to thoroughly test the new Norton products. To see how Norton Internet Security 2010 performed, be sure to check out our review from earlier this year.

The new Norton products are available for purchase now from Norton.com; Norton Internet Security 2011 costs $70 (for use on 3 PCs), and Norton Antivirus 2010 costs $40 (for use on one PC).