Go in to any major software retailer in the UK and you’ll find the shelves dominated by two or three key security brands. One of these is Symantec products and their anti-virus product has been around for eons, so some would regard it as trust tried-and-tested technology. For fighting the latest threats, it is certainly an excellent choice.

However, over the last couple of revisions, the interface has had an overhaul and various pro-active modules implemented to make sure that it finds the latest threats when you start up your computer, so you don’t always need to run a full system check. The snag is, it’s these changes that slowed the software to the point where it affected systems.

This is a public beta preview of the forthcoming Norton AntiVirus 2009 and is both more lightweight in its used of system resources, but also based on the Norton Protection System, a multi-layered set of technologies that work in concert to stop threats before they impact you. This public beta will expire 23rd of September 2008. You will also need to get a beta serial code from the beta download page.