Questions regarding new purchase [NIS 2012]

I am thinking about replacing my existing security protection that expires in 5 days with Norton's Internet Security 2012 for $69.99 but have several questions to help me decide.

 

1.  If I purchase this product, how do I install - do I download or wait for an install disk?

 

2.  If I have to download, in the interest of security vulnerability would it be safer for me to leave current protection active while I install Norton or remove existing protection before downloading Norton?

 

3.  When I took this purchase to the checkout, another optional $8.99 charge for Norton virus removal assurance appeared - what is this and why should I include this in my purchase?

 

4.  Consumer Reports currently ranks Norton's 2011 firewall as "fair" - should I be concerned with such a low rating regarding the 2012 version or has it improved?

I am thinking about replacing my existing security protection that expires in 5 days with Norton's Internet Security 2012 for $69.99 but have several questions to help me decide.

 

1.  If I purchase this product, how do I install - do I download or wait for an install disk?

 

2.  If I have to download, in the interest of security vulnerability would it be safer for me to leave current protection active while I install Norton or remove existing protection before downloading Norton?

 

3.  When I took this purchase to the checkout, another optional $8.99 charge for Norton virus removal assurance appeared - what is this and why should I include this in my purchase?

 

4.  Consumer Reports currently ranks Norton's 2011 firewall as "fair" - should I be concerned with such a low rating regarding the 2012 version or has it improved?