Symantec says security software needs speed

Symantec Corp. released beta versions of its flagship Windows software today, citing significant improvements in performance.

The previews of Norton Internet Security 2009 and Norton AntiVirus 2009, both of which run on Windows XP or Windows Vista, boast "breakthrough" changes in performance, said Jody Gibney, the senior product manager for the former product.

"We've been looking at performance the right way in the past," argued Gibney, "but because of the changing way people are using their PCs and because of their demanding expectations, it wasn't enough to be a great-performing security product. We had to be a great performing product, period."

Research the company conducted showed that lackluster performance and system impact were the biggest reasons why customers switched security software, she added.

Among the changes to the new versions was a reduction in memory consumption, a decision prompted by research that showed 40% of Symantec's base runs PCs equipped with just 512MB of RAM.

Read More Article...