Norton 2000 2.0 the Best Way to Help Consumers, Small Businesses Protect Themselves Against Y2K Problems

Version 2.0 Features Fix Assistant for Easy Remediation of Common Year 2000 Issues

Cupertino, Calif. June 23, 1999 - Symantec Corporation (Nasdaq: SYMC) today announced Norton 2000 2.0. Norton 2000 is an effective Y2K solution that addresses century-date issues on desktop and laptop PCs. By addressing both hardware and software Y2K issues, Norton 2000 makes it easier for small businesses, day extenders, and work-at-home employees to effectively reduce the threat of downtime resulting from non-compliant data, applications and BIOS'. Version 2.0 features Fix Assistant to help automate repetitive and tedious remediation tasks.

"Norton 2000 2.0 is the most effective tool for helping consumers and small businesses-who rely on the accuracy of the data on their PCs-to significantly reduce the risks associated with the century-date change," said Enrique Salem, vice president of Symantec's Security and Assistance Business Unit. "As with all Norton family products, Norton 2000 offers users world-class, powerful features in an easy-to-use format."

The new Fix Assistant for Microsoft Excel allows for quick and easy remediation of common, repetitive year 2000 issues in data. Norton 2000 scans Excel, Access, Paradox, dBase, Lotus, and Quattro Pro files. It identifies, prioritizes, and reports on date calculation anomalies in spreadsheet cells and formulas, database fields, and forms text. Unformatted files, or files with formats unknown to Norton 2000, are examined with a generic text date scanner. Fix Assistant enables users to expand all two-year dates in a spreadsheet to four digits within a 100-year window that the user specifies. Fix Assistant also allows users to visit each "root of an issue" cell in turn, in order to make individual decisions about data cells.

Version 2.0 offers flexible reporting options to enable consumers and small businesses to compile reports with different levels of detail. Users can select Detailed or Condensed reporting. Condensed reports are best suited for assessing which Year 2000 problems exist on a computer, thereby allowing the user to decide which issues should be addressed first. Detailed reports are ideal for performing corrections; they display all identified date-related cells, one per line, with cell contents and the matching format.

Norton 2000 2.0 also scans applications on a system, testing them against a database of information provided by software vendors. The application scan provides users with the vendor URL and direct link, if available, and a description of problems within the application.

To address hardware Y2K issues, Norton 2000 2.0 features a BIOS test and fix. The BIOS test is a floppy disk date-safe test of the BIOS. It evaluates the ability of the system to provide accurate dates as the clock rolls over from December 31, 1999, to January 1, 2000. The test is date-safe because it does not access the hard drive or endanger date-sensitive software or software licenses. A Windows-based system date test is also included which tests the ability of the operating system to correctly roll over to January 1, 2000 date sensitive data to January 1, 2000.

Norton 2000 continues to earn praise from publications representing both the public and private sectors. In January, Government Computer News awarded Norton 2000 its Reviewer's Choice designation for outperforming its six competitors, and Windows Magazine named Norton 2000 to its influential WinList-the only Y2K solution to receive the recognition.

Pricing and Availability
Norton 2000 is available now and has an estimated retail price of $49.95. Symantec is offering free upgrades to customers using Norton 2000 1.0. On June 28, users can click LiveUpdate to get information about the upgrade.

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.

About PC Data
PC Data is the leading market intelligence firm for software and hardware point of sale data with coverage of more than 80 percent of the U.S. retail marketplace. The Reston, VA based company has become the industry standard for tracking software and hardware sales through the retail, corporate and distributor channels. PC Data is located on the World Wide Web at http://www.pcdata.com.

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