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It's both good and bad in that for the casual user, the malware scanner is front and center while most other complex tools, options, and features stay out of the way. There is a decent number of useful tools under the hood, but not a whole lot of obvious signs of the existence of these monitoring features, at least at first glance. Overall, 360 IS's general interface remained easy to use but also lacks a bit of direction in some areas. On the plus side, these menu options did seem a bit odd at first, but at least they weren't invasive. In the second row, a giant check mark and a small arrow tab in the center both reveal a pull-down menu with added filtering options, as well as some stats on the number of blocked items. The upper-right area sports the standard closing and minimizing buttons, as well as a drop-down menu that lives alongside them. 360 is no exception: the interface, menus, and buttons are all bright, clean, and simulates Windows 8's switch-toggle option items.
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Modern AV programs have been following suit after Windows 8's design makeover by incorporating bright, flat UI elements into their programs. For the purpose of this review, we chose to opt out of the toolbar and focus on the core 360 IS experience. Again, layering multiple AV programs is generally bad practice, but if used in a corporate environment with preinstalled security software, you might have to take into consideration that 360 IS may not function properly with any neighboring security suites.ģ60 also gives you the option of installing a Chrome extension, but in an unconventional accepting or cancelling call to action.
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The setup process will then notify you of any potentially conflicting AV programs you have already installed and give you the option of uninstalling them. Still, the opt-out option might appear a bit suspicious, especially for users who are simply trying out the software. And though it's more or less required to move on, those who are more keen on privacy details or interested in the terms of agreement should keep this in mind before they install the software.
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Prior to installation, 360 will automatically prompt you to agree to their license and usage terms, something that's normally an opt-out process. The installer is a light 17MB, and though the overall installation time and duration was relatively fast, it's update process took longer than we had expected.
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360 Internet Security 2013 is anti-virus and anti-malware protection software for Windows PCs.
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