Software Review of:
Norton AntiVirus
2001 

I have been a loyal user of McAfee for many years. I have been very happy with it, and it has saved me many times from viruses. I download a lot of stuff from the Internet, and there are a lot of idiots out there that like to mess with things.  So, up until now, I have had no complaints at all with McAfee. 

That is, until I tried Norton Antivirus. Just the ease of use alone makes me love this program. Once installed, it checks for updates regularly, and makes those updates almost painless. I have to say that after years of going to the McAfee site, manually downloading virus data files and installing them on the computer, the idea of never having to do that again makes me very happy (well, people who know me would say that I am never happy. Let's just say less unhappy, shall we?). 

I am not going to go into details on the installation itself. Not much to say. A smooth install, no problems whatsoever. Loaded the CD, and away it went. Asked its questions, and Wham Bam, uh, ah, it was installed. When it finished that, it checked for updates for the program and the virus data files, updated those, and had me create a set of boot disks in case of a virus emergency. It created five disks, and told me how to label each one.  Then it asked me if I wanted to fully scan the computer for the first time. This took a while. The results were good. No viruses. 

The interface is simple. The status screen gives you handy information about the program. Things you need to know and so on. From here you can choose your system settings and scan options.   You can choose the common scan configurations, or create custom scans. You can schedule these for convenient times, like late at night, so as not to interfere with your web surfing . You can have it scan all your drives, or just some, or whatever.

I left most of the settings on whatever the default was. This allows the Live Update feature to check the Symantec site for updates regularly. In the first few days, I had an update each day. Live Update checks the web, informs you that there are updates available, and asks you if you want to download and install them now. You can choose not to, or go ahead and update. It then does its thing, asks you if you want to reboot, and then is ready to go again. Smooth and easy. Gotta love that.

I didn't want to have this review try to explain how antivirus programs work, because most everyone knows at least a little. The more complex stuff I don't care to know myself. I just know that these programs work. If you don't have an antivirus program installed on your computer, and running in the background, you are just killing time before your computer is wasted by some malicious code laying in wait just for you. Everyone should have an antivirus program. I can't stress this enough.  Not only will you protect your own computer, but you can help keep viruses from spreading to everyone else’s computer.

But just having the program is not enough. You have to regularly update the virus DAT files. These are the virus definitions that the program recognizes, and uses to check your files. With new viruses being discovered every day, these updates are critical. You hear it said over and over, but you'd be surprised at the number of people who do not have updated antivirus programs, and who think it will never happen to them. Well, we all tend to think that at one point. Until the problem shows up on your computer. Reformatting the hard drive is a nasty job. (Another reason to also regular backups. But that is another subject, best saved for another review.) 

My recommendation
I liked this program. I liked it so much that I went out and bought two more copies for use on my other computers. The automatic update alone was worth it for me. To review this program, I had loaded it  onto one of my computers that I don't use all the time. Not my main workstation, which is the one with McAfee. After this review, I am going to uninstall that one, and load Norton instead. 

So, if you don't have an antivirus program yet, get this one. Makes life so easy. If you are tired of chasing down the updates for whatever program you are using, then this is one more great reason to get this one. 

Requirements
Norton Antivirus works under different versions of Windows (all except 3.1). For each, they list different requirements. All require a CD-ROM drive, and 50 MB of hard disk space. For Win95 or 98, required is an 486DX/66 processor and 32 MB of RAM. For Win ME, a Pentium 150 MHZ processor and 32 MB RAM. For Win NT 4.0 Workstation, a Pentium processor, 16 MB Ram (32 MB recommended), and Service Pack 4. For Win 2000 professional, a 133MHZ processor and 64 MB of RAM. 

Availability
The 2001 product is already old news. They only sell the 2002 version now. You can find that in town at any of the normal retail outlets. The price in the stores is $49.95. You can also order it in its packaged form from their website. The cost is the same, but with an additional $6.95 charge for shipping and handling . You can also download it from their website for the same $49.95. At the last computer show, I picked up my two copies of the 2001 version for $19.95 apiece. That is for just the disk, though. No box or manual. 

Contact information
Symantec’s site is www.symantec.com. They can also be reached at their customer service phone number is (800) 441-7234. Fax: (541) 984-8020. They don’t post an email address for customer service. They have instead a form that you fill out online that is then sent to a representative who then contacts you. Their postal address is: 

Symantec 
175 W. Broadway
Eugene, OR 97401.