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Symantec’s Norton AntiVirus 2001
by By Donald Rosenfield—NOCCC , cardar@home.com - December 02, 2000 at 13:36:34:
As soon as I noticed that NAV 2001 had an automatic updating feature, I knew I wanted this program. I’ve been updating my previous NAV program by clicking on the ZDNet Update notice of new downloads available and going through the process of down-loading—which just takes a few seconds on this machine—and then START, RUN, etc. But, there’s an inherent problem with that scenario, to wit, that if I don’t get the e-mail message from the update service immediately my computer is open to the latest viral attacks.Now I just clicked on Live Update and the program updated itself, during the Setup stage. After this, I don’t even have to do that. As I am always connected to the Internet via cable modem, the program takes care of that for me. For those using telephone-line modems NAV 2001 will update itself as needed when you are connected.
Another new feature is SmartScan, an engine for faster virus detection. E-mail scanning is facilitated by an easier user interface. Internet and e-mail downloads, and e-mail attachments are scanned in POP3 clients such as Microsoft Outlook, Eudora, MSN Mail, and Netscape Mail. If you purchase the CD-ROM rather than download the program you can take advantage of the bootable CD, which provides easy recovery after a virus emergency, assuming your computer can boot from the CD-ROM drive. Otherwise, the rescue disks that you make provide that service.
You get protection against all virus threats, such as boot sector, program, polymorphic, stealth, multipartite and macro and from all the possible entry points for viruses—shared floppy disks, CD-ROMs, the Internet, online services, bulletin board services, email attachments and networks. You also get protection from Trojan horses, and malicious ActiveX code and Java applets.
“Wait a second there, Donald. In your review of the Norton Personal Firewall, didn’t you say that product protected against everything except viruses? Why would we need both products?”
There is some overlap, but you still need both programs operating. Since I installed NAV 2001 a couple of days ago, NPF blocked 42 attacks on my computer’s security and 2,327 attacks on my privacy. Since installing NPF, it has blocked over 50,000 attacks on my privacy.
When first I announced to the people I send e-mails to (and let’s not forget about fro) that @Home was going to make a computer modem available in about six months, I got an immediate response from George Margolin, saying he thought such a move was fraught with problems/dangers. The NPF results certainly indicate he was right . . . if you don’t use the NPF program.
“How have NAV and now NPF worked for you, Donald? Are they protecting your system to your satisfaction?”
Yes, they are. The last virus I got was about 180 days ago and I got rid of it without problems. That was the only virus my computers have gotten since I started with the Apple II+ in 1980. I have worked with machines that caught various virii but those were school machines that other students infected purposefully. In each of those cases, I removed the particular virus, using the techniques discussed in the AntiVirus manual.
NAV 2001 will identify and quarantine questionable or suspicious files, giving you the time needed to download new virus definitions and the tools needed to forward such files to the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC), which will help you with removing viruses from your computer. SARC finds 15 new viruses each day. Norton AntiVirus also performs comprehensive hard disk virus scans, which you can run either manually or on a predefined schedule.
If you are in a hurry, you can download the $39.95 NAV 2001 from www.symanticstore.com or from other vendors such as www.beyond.com, www.compusanet.com, or www.outpost.com or you can order the program to be sent to you for the same price. Alternatively, you can download the program for a free 30-day trial with purchase option. A $10 rebate is available to owners of previous versions of Norton AntiVirus or competitive products. A one-year subscription for online updates is free for the first year and costs $3.95/year after that.
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