Introducing Norton AntiVirus Corporate Edition
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How Norton AntiVirus prevents infections
A virus is a computer program designed so that, when run, it attaches a
copy of itself to another computer program or document. Thereafter,
whenever the infected program is run or a document containing a macro
virus is opened, the attached virus program is activated and attaches itself
to yet other programs and documents. In addition to replicating, viruses are
generally programmed to deliver a payload. Most viruses simply display a
message on a particular trigger date. Some, however, are programmed
specifically to damage data by corrupting programs, deleting files, or
reformatting disks.
Symantec engineers track reported outbreaks of computer viruses to
identify new viruses. Once a virus is identified, information about the virus
(a virus signature) is stored in a virus definitions file, which contains the
necessary information to detect and eliminate the virus. When Norton
AntiVirus scans for viruses, it is searching for these telltale virus signatures.
The Norton AntiVirus LiveUpdate feature makes sure your virus protection
remains current. Updated virus definitions files are available from Symantec
regularly. With LiveUpdate, Norton AntiVirus connects automatically to a
special Symantec Web site, determines if your files need updating,
downloads the proper files, and installs them in the proper location.
Virus infections can be easily avoided. Viruses that are quickly detected
and removed from your computer cannot spread to other files and cause
damage. Norton AntiVirus uses a variety of methods to detect file, boot,
and macro viruses early:
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File System Realtime Protection: Constantly monitors activity on your
computer by looking for virus signatures when a file is executed or
opened, and when modifications have been made to a file, such as
renaming, saving, moving, or copying a file to and from folders.
To supplement detection of known viruses, Norton AntiVirus includes
a powerful component called Bloodhound. With this advanced
heuristic technology, Norton AntiVirus can detect a high percentage of
new or unknown viruses not yet analyzed by anti-virus researchers.
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Signature-based scanning: Norton AntiVirus relies on signature or
pattern-based scanning to detect viruses. Norton AntiVirus searches for
residual virus signatures in infected files. This search is called a scan. If
a virus signature is detected, Norton AntiVirus notifies you that one or
more of your files is infected.
