Norton AntiVirus

Norton AntiVirus
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	Norton Antivirus Norton AntiVirus 2006 running on Windows XP
Developer(s)	Symantec Corporation
Stable release	2007.2 (14.2), 10.2 (Corporate Edition), 10.0 (Mac Edition) / as of 2007
Operating system	Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X
Type	Antivirus
License	Proprietary
Website	Symantec.com

Norton AntiVirus (NAV) is a product of Symantec Corporation and is one of the most widely used antivirus programs. Norton AntiVirus is sold as a standalone product and is also included as part of Norton SystemWorks. In addition, there is also a standalone corporate edition version, which is aimed at a centrally managed corporate environment. It is called Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition and has different features not present in the traditional retail version of the software.

History

Since its release in 1990, over 100 million people around the world have used it. After the acqusition of Central Point Software in 1994 by Symantec, NAV was integrated with its main competitor of the era, Central Point Anti-Virus (CPAV). CPAV was also licensed to Microsoft as the Microsoft Anti-Virus utility.

Virus definitions

Symantec's LiveUpdate provides virus definition updates, which enable Norton AntiVirus to detect viruses known to Symantec; a total of 73,231 viruses as of March 27 2007 ^[1]. In order to receive updates, a valid subscription is required; an initial subscription good for one year (or 90 days for OEM copies) is included with the purchase. When a user's subscription expires, the user can still receive program updates (patches) for free but will not be able to download virus definitions updates without renewing his or her subscription or purchasing a new version of the Symantec product with a year of subscription included.

The corporate edition has a client/server strategy to update virus definitions. Each of the workstations will not have LiveUpdate installed, but will be linked to a central server. The server will be the one that will actually update itself with LiveUpdate, and distribute such updates to the client/managed workstations. This is to reduce redundant updates over the organizational network (such as 100 PC's updating the same definitions).

Competition

Norton AntiVirus also attempts to remove spyware and adware, both of which are forms of malware that are not computer viruses. It competed in this capacity with the freeware Spybot - Search & Destroy (among others), although the company seems to have expressed an interest in leaving the anti-spyware/adware market.

In 2006, Symantec announced the following:

"There is no product from the Symantec or Norton line that competes with Spybot [ - Search and Destroy]."^[2]

Product activation

Beginning with Norton AntiVirus 2004, Norton AntiVirus includes an anti-copying feature called "Product Activation," which is similar to the activation process in Windows XP and Office XP. The activation process for Norton AntiVirus 2004, 2005, and 2006 can be accomplished through two methods: over the Internet or by phone. The latter, however, leaves the process vulnerable to cracking - key generator programs (which product activation was designed to defeat) simply generate a bogus 'activation code' of the type given to licensed users over the phone.

Mac Edition

Symantec Antivirus for Macintosh (or SAM) is a discontinued edition of Norton AntiVirus for Mac OS. It was merged with the Norton line of products and is now part of the Norton Systemworks and Norton Internet Security suites. Although originally dealing with viruses on the Mac OS, its use was largely limited in later years, due to the widespread use of the freeware antivirus program Disinfectant in Mac OS Classic, to simply dealing with Windows viruses that may lay dormant while on a Mac.

Although Norton AntiVirus is compatible with Mac OS X v10.4, it is not a universal binary, and its use is generally not recommended on an Intel-based Mac. Criticism of Norton AntiVirus typically stems from its complex installation (similar to criticisms of the Windows version in that respect) as well as its relatively slow speed and high cost: competing products such as Intego's Virus Barrier X4 suite typically run faster, requires less disk space, and considered less intrusive in terms of installation.

Criticisms

Customer Service

Retail customers experience slow and indifferent service on bugs, such as the one that returns to certain users' a specific error message that their valid subscriptions have expired,^[3] and refuses to allow daily updates via "Intelligent Updater."^{[citation needed]} Though the bug was reported in 2004, it was not corrected for the 2005 version, and continued unpatched during 2006.^{[citation needed]}

FBI/CIA cooperation

Norton AntiVirus was criticized in the past because of Symantec's policy that allows spy software (keyloggers/backdoors) of US secret services, such as Magic Lantern (developed by the FBI) and Oasis (developed by the CIA), to bypass Norton's malware detection.^[4]

Response to viruses

According to an article by the Washington Post, Norton Antivirus has one of the worst average response times for providing virus definition updates based on the worst virus outbreaks of 2005, lagging behind every major competitor, including NOD32, Kaspersky, F-Secure, Sophos, Avira, Trend Micro, F-Prot, Panda, AVG, avast!, ClamWin, and McAfee.^[5]

For everyday viruses, according to an article by Eweek titled Why Is Symantec So Slow with Updates?, Symantec is the only vendor that provides virus definition updates on a weekly basis, as opposed to competitors such as McAfee that provides them on a daily basis or Sophos, Kaspersky or Panda that provide them several times a day.^[6]

However, Symantec does provide frequent beta and "Intelligent Updater" definitions in the form of manually downloadable 8-10 MB packages (although impractical for daily use for even highly technical users) as well as daily updates for LiveUpdate Platinum customers such as large corporations and businesses.

Daily LiveUpdate definitions are, however, available for users of later versions of Norton AntiVirus.^[7]

Uninstallation

Norton AntiVirus has been criticized for refusing to uninstall cleanly. Norton has created a tool to remove its registry keys and values, along with the software available at their web site.^[8]

Impact on computer performance

This software is typically regarded as making considerable demands on resources.^[9] In common with other Norton products, Norton AntiVirus relies on Internet Explorer's web interface, instead of using the standard GUI libraries. Besides using more resources, any problems or changes to Internet Explorer will be reflected in Norton products, commonly resulting in "Script Error" messages when the user opens or uses a Norton program.

File:Ie-scriptingerror.png

A screenshot showing a typical Internet Explorer scripting error in Windows XP

Incompatibility with other software

Norton AntiVirus 2007 is incompatible with popular programs ZoneAlarm and Spy Sweeper.^[10] It will not install unless these programs are uninstalled from the system. This has caused annoyance for Norton customers who purchased Norton AntiVirus 2007 with no warning or notice of the incompatibility.^{[citation needed]}

References

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External links

Reviews

Review of Norton Antivirus 2004 at PC Plus
Review of Norton AntiVirus 2005 at ZDNet
Review of Norton AntiVirus 2006 at CNET.com
Review of Norton AntiVirus 2006 at ReviewBase
Review of Norton AntiVirus 2006 at PC World
Review of Norton AntiVirus 2007 at CNET