Norton Solutions Sweep Editors' Choice Awards in Annual PC Magazine Utility Product Face-Off

Norton SystemWorks, Norton AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, and Norton CleanSweep Named "the best"

CUPERTINO, Calif. - April 13, 1999 - Symantec Corporation (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in utility software for business and personal computing, today announced that Norton AntiVirus 5.0 Deluxe, and Norton Utilities 4.0 won PC Magazine's acclaimed Editors' Choice awards. Norton CleanSweep 4.5 also dominated its competitors to be named editors' first choice in its field. The awards were announced in the publication's May 1999 edition and are only the latest in a series of awards all four products have recently received.

"The Editors' Choice designation is further evidence that Norton products deserve to be recognized as true best-of-breed solutions. PC Magazine is one of the computing community's primary sources of factual, carefully researched and tested product information. As shown by its consistently high subscriber base, readers around the world regard the magazine as a serious tool for helping them make intelligent buying decisions. As a result, we are very pleased that its editors recommend Norton brand products as the most effective solutions to keep PCs problem-free," said Enrique Salem, vice president of Symantec's Security and Assistance Business Unit.

Norton SystemWorks continues to raise the bar in integration, comprehensiveness, and overall value to customers in the rapidly growing utility suite category it created when it was first released. Earlier this year, Norton SystemWorks again bested Network Associates' (Nasdaq: NETA) McAfee Office, earning a place on Windows Magazine's WinList. In January, Norton SystemWorks earned superior reviews over McAfee Office in detailed product comparisons by Home Office Computing and Small Business Computing & Communications. In November 1998, the Symantec product again swept McAfee Office in Ziff-Davis Independent Lab Tests, outperforming the Network Associates offering in all test areas.

Norton AntiVirus products also have received numerous awards in the past year, including PC Magazine's Editor's Choice in 1998 for Best AntiVirus Utility for the last three years, PC World's Best Buy for the second consecutive year, and PC Computing's A-List. In addition, Norton AntiVirus for Lotus Notes was honored last year with Network Computing's rare "Editor Refuses to Give it Back!" award-a seldom-given designation reserved for products that provide exceptional reliability, performance, and usability.

Norton Utilities continues to receive recognition from trade publications and users worldwide. In January of this year, it was named Best Utility Program for the fifth consecutive year in the Annual Computer Currents Reader's Choice Awards. Earlier, Norton Utilities won PC Computing's prestigious 1998 MVP award and was named to Windows Magazine's influential A-List.

According to many industry experts, Norton CleanSweep is the best uninstall software available. Last year, PC Magazine hailed CleanSweep as the premier uninstall program, naming it Editors' Choice. CNET also recognized CleanSweep with its Editor's Choice designation in August 1998.

PC Magazine 1999 Utility Guide Results
Norton SystemWorks Outperforms Network Associates' McAfee Office "Norton SystemWorks 2.0 brings together several best-of-breed utilities for significantly less than you'd pay to get them separately," PC Magazine editors wrote in the 1999 Utility Guide round-up. "But the real advantage lies in SystemWorks' integration. . . while the various programs are suited to both intermediate and advanced users, there is little overlap among their features . . . For one-stop shopping for system utilities, it's the obvious choice."

Norton AntiVirus Bests Field of Nine, Including McAfee VirusScan "Winning our Editors' Choice designation is getting to be a habit for Symantec Corp's Norton AntiVirus," PC Magazine editors wrote. "And with good reason. Despite lots of competition, Norton AntiVirus continues to deliver the most effective virus protection in an easy-to-use package." Editors' test results showed that Norton AntiVirus was one of only three products to disinfect every virus in the tests completely, without removing user macros.

"Norton AntiVirus has a number of useful features found in few if any of the other products," editors continued, singling out the new Quarantine and Scan and Deliver features in version 5.0. Editors also described the product's superior LiveUpdate feature as "a one-button update facility that sets the standard for usability in this category." In reference to Symantec's intelligent use of NAVEX technology in Norton AntiVirus, editors commented, "Conveniently, LiveUpdate supports incremental updates so you only need to download the new virus definition files."

Editors also praised Symantec for using Windows 98's Scheduled Tasks facility. "On Windows 98, Norton AntiVirus uses the new Windows Scheduled Tasks facility to schedule scans and virus updates. Scheduled Tasks is a powerful facility, and Symantec was wise to use it," they wrote.

"Norton AntiVirus deserves its fame," editors concluded. "Symantec has made it easy to use and thorough in its protection. Users will be well served by this package."

Norton Utilities Beats Offerings from Network Associates
"The long-time powerhouse in this category, Norton Utilities is a comprehensive package of troubleshooting and diagnostic tools that are well integrated with Windows 98," editors wrote in this year's Utility Guide. "This year's Editors' Choice, Norton Utilities offers the best tools for cleaning up junk files and bad Registry entries, detecting conflicts, and monitoring system performance.

"Unlike Nuts & Bolts [from Network Associates], Norton Utilities is well integrated with Windows 98," they continued. "Using the start-up information logged by the operating system, Speed Disk-Norton's defragmenter-intelligently places all the pieces that a program uses during start-up. Although Norton Utilities uses its own scheduler when it runs on Windows 95, under Windows 98 it uses the OS's scheduler. Furthermore, various program options are available through the scheduler."

Norton CleanSweep Tops Network Associates' Uninstaller, Other Competitors
"Norton CleanSweep works quickly and conservatively to clean out applications, invalid registry entries, and other debris," PC Magazine editors wrote. "CleanSweep lets you remove applications with just a few mouse clicks . . . The separate Fast & Safe Cleanup application frees disk space quickly and reliably, and the Registry cleanup feature generates a huge list of possible invalid entries . . . CleanSweep's speed, reliability, and interface make it our first choice in its field."

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.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, view the Symantec Press Center at www.symantec.com/PressCenter/ on Symantec's Website.

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