First looks: Norton Confidential Beta

With so many financial transactions now carried out online, it's hardly surprising that the number of unscrupulous websites designed to scam people out of their money has also rocketed.

Computer users have long been aware of the risk of viruses, and more recently spyware, but the spread of phishing websites has caught a large number of people unaware.

Norton Confidential, currently in beta testing, is the latest in a range of Internet security tools from Symantec and is designed to protect against malicious software and websites that attempt to steal personal information.

Working in much the same way as a virus scanning utility, the program will prevent sensitive information from being sent to known malicious sites, while any suspicious sites will generate a warning.

A web browser toolbar provides at-a-glance information about the safety of a site, enabling you to quickly learn if a site can be trusted or not.

By simply blocking access to sites known to be fraudulent, the software offers a great second layer of defence to add to good old common sense.

Sensitive information that you would not want to fall into the wrong hands is stored in the password-protected Info Vault.

This can be configured for automatic sign-in with Windows so that online forms can be automatically filled in for you, or you can stick to the manual sign-in method for added security.

In another attempt to keep your computer secure, the Norton Protection Center warns if anti-virus software is not installed or Windows Automatic Updates are not enabled. But, since these are already monitored by Windows itself, they seem like unnecessary features to us.

With so many security tools on the market, including numerous free offerings, Norton Confidential has a lot to prove before it becomes an essential purchase.

Pricing will be confirmed once the beta testing is nearing completion in September.

To sign up for the Norton Confidential beta program, visit Norton's website .