Stop those worms and trojans now! (Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2002)

Member Name: andycharger

Product:	Symantec Norton AntiVirus 2002
Date:	19/09/03 (200 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Reliable, Good menu

Disadvantages: Compatibility, Support Prices, Script Blocking

Now im all for keeping your virus software up to date. In fact, Norton Antivirus 2004 has just come out and im as of yet, untried on this one.
However, the trusty old 2003 seems to be an excellent product with lots of gadgets and protection.

So what is it?

Well, its a Virus protection system for your computer and network.

Whats a Virus Andy?
Its a nasty little bug, a bit like in the human world, that has one goal.......To try and and stop you or the computer working, causing harm along the way and trying to spread itself on to someone else.
However, unlike human viruses, they are treatable with the right product.

How do I get them?
Mostly through infected files or Emails. These little viruses are hidden as attachments on emails or within files wuch as word documents and spreadsheets.

How do they occur?
Normally through bored teenagers sitting in their rooms with nothing better to do. Most are extremely easy to write and cause severe havoc accross the world. Anyone can write a virus using word or Excel to write a malicious macro, save it in a document and get it to run when opened on someones computer. then they send it out as an email to unsuspecting victims.

So what does Norton AntiVirus do for me?
Basically it protects you from these viruses.
At home, you would have Norton AntiVirus installed on the machine which would give you total protection. This is because you are probably using a program such as Outlook for your email and this acts like a big screening system. It checks new emails when they arrive for attachments and if there are viruses found, it takes the neccessary action to remove them.

IF you working in an office where you have a network, you probably have a server. Where there are lots of people recieving emails, you are probably running some form of email server. Therefore this needs a different sort of protection. A more thorourgh type!
That is where you ca
n install Norton Antivirus for Exchange 2003. Basically the same package but it gives you a lot more options as far as action taken, who to notify if there is an virus attack, etc.

Great features of 2003?
Well, it has many.
Firstly is its easy to install. Put the disk in and and off it goes. Being a clever piece of kit, it can work out which version of software you are running, which operating system you have and install the required version of Antivirus for your computer.

I say this because at work, we have 2 different servers. One is older and has Windows NT on it. One is newer and has Windows 2000. They both have Antivirus on them but look completely different.
So compatibility is very good. However, the NT instal lis no longer supported by NAV(Norton Anti Virus). Now, XP is supported though so new machines have complete protection.

Configuring NAV has got very simple. You open up a browser window to perform many of the tasks now. This is handy if you have Internet Explorer installed and less handy if you don?t! The management console is very easy to use with self explanitory buttons and great instructions for all.
The look of the application looks like a website with navigation buttons on the left and the actual resulting pages on the right.

Here you can set up the warnings, actions and results of a virus. Whether you want to delete the virus, quarantine it for further inspection or clean it up, you can do all of that here. You can also set up the people you want to warn of an attack or virus arrival. Good if you have an administrator (me) who needs to take a look if one arrives. You can let them know by setting them up as a recipient of a warning message.

If you have the internet (which I guess you do!) you can se the computer up to update itself with the latest ?Patterns? whenever you want. Patterns are the list of viruses that exist in the world and the actions to remove them so it is essential your
computer is kept up to date. Getting the latest one, ad even better, getting it automatically is a godsend.


Things you should know?.
OK, so it does lots of clever stuff as it stops you getting a virus but what are its limitations?
Well, for you old technology bods (that is people running Windows 98 or NT) you will have a reduced version of the software. Its compatibility means you lose some of the functionality. Either upgrade your Operating system or forfeit the benefits of this great product.
Also Script Blocking. For those of you that don?t know, some Microsoft applications require scripts to run on the computer to run processes. By default, NAV blocks these from working which can cause all manner of problems. This leads to programs not functioning correctly. You need to turn this off in the menu. Something it tends to leave out of the manual and only find when you have an issue. Luckily, the suppliers of the application knew what our problem was and told us about Norton.

Lastly is the support. HOW MUCH? £29 for each technical support question!!! I nearly fell of my chair when I saw this. It makes you wonder why you need to pay for it when you are paying enough for the product and licences.
It can cost as little as £25 if bought from the right pace but expect to pay at least this for each individual computer It goes on in your network.

Overall it?s a great product once its functioning correctly but it takes time to tweak it just right.

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