Symantec Norton AntiVirus Receives Third Virus Bulletin 100% Award

- Network Associates NetShield NT and Dr. Solomon's AVTK Fail to Make the Cut -

CUPERTINO, Calif. - Oct. 5, 1998 -Symantec Corporation (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in utility software for business and personal computing, today announced that Norton AntiVirus for Windows NT has earned the VB 100% Award from Virus Bulletin.

Virus Bulletin tested 19 NT-based anti-virus products, including NetShield NT from Network Associates (Nasdaq: NETA) and AVTK from Dr. Solomon's and published the results in its September 1998 issue. VB only awards its VB 100% Award to products that detect all "In the Wild" viruses in VB's test suites. Virus Bulletin's testing criteria are widely recognized as the most stringent in the anti-virus industry. Offerings from both Network Associates and Dr. Solomon's failed to attain VB 100% awards.

"As the virus threat is continually changing, you should look for products that have garnered a string of VB 100% Awards, rather than just managed to capture one or two," wrote Nick Fitzgerald, editor of VB. "Developers that can best keep their products up to date are more likely to receive VB 100% Awards." This latest VB 100% Award marks the third such distinction for Norton AntiVirus this year. In May, Norton AntiVirus for Windows 95 received the VB 100% Award, and Norton AntiVirus for NetWare received the award in July.

Virus Bulletin's comparatives typically focus on virus detection rates, scanning speeds, and, more recently, performance overhead of on-access or resident scanning components. According to VB, "The relevance of 'In the Wild' detection tests is that the viruses on the WildList Organization's lists are acknowledged as causing real-world virus incidents, and of doing so in more than just one or two isolated places. Products that do not have a very high detection of these viruses are unlikely to be of widespread appeal." Norton AntiVirus was one of only 11 products to earn a perfect score by detecting every "In the Wild" virus in the test set.

Symantec offers a suite of multi-tier virus protection solutions designed to protect the enterprise at the desktop, server, groupware servers, Internet, and gateway levels. Symantec's Norton AntiVirus products have received numerous awards since January 1998, including PC Magazine's Editor's Choice in 1998 for Best AntiVirus Utility for the third year in a row, as well as the magazine's 1997 Best AntiVirus Utility award, PC World's Best Buy, and PC Computing's A-List.

Symantec AntiVirus Research Center
Norton AntiVirus for Windows NT is backed by the Symantec AntiVirus Research Center (SARC). SARC is the industry's largest dedicated team of virus experts. With offices located in the United States, Japan, Australia, and the Netherlands, the sun never sets on SARC. The center's mission is to provide swift, global responses to computer virus threats, proactively research and develop technologies that eliminate such threats, and educate the public on safe computing practices. As new computer viruses appear, SARC develops identification and detection for these viruses, and provides either a repair or delete operation, thus keeping users protected against the latest virus threats.

About Symantec
Symantec is the world leader in utility software for business and personal computing. Symantec products and solutions help make users productive and keep their computers safe and reliable anywhere and anytime. Symantec offers a broad range of solutions and is acclaimed as a leader in both customer satisfaction and product brand recognition. Symantec is traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC. More information on the company and its products can be obtained at www.symantec.com.

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