Two Powerful Norton Products Give Power Users and Experts Year 2000 Protection and Fast Disk-Cloning Capabilities

Utility Suite Already Fourth Best Selling Windows Software According To PC Data

TORONTO, December 16, 1998 -- Symantec Corporation (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in utility suites, has announced that it is expanding the suite market even more with Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition, the industry's number one utility suite for power users and experts. Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition includes five powerful Symantec utilities-Norton AntiVirus, Norton Utilities, Norton CrashGuard, Norton CleanSweep and a six-month subscription to Norton Web Services - in one convenient integrated package. The Professional Edition now includes the new Norton 2000 that helps guard files against Year 2000 problems and Norton Ghost for quickly cloning or copying a PC's hard drive.

In addition to Norton 2000 and Norton Ghost, the Norton SystemWorks Professional Pack includes pcANYWHERE Express, Norton Mobile Essentials, WinFax Basic Edition, Visual Page and Norton Secret Stuff. Together, Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition and Professional Pack represent a retail value totalling over (CDN)$900.

"Power users recognise the need for proactive and comprehensive system maintenance," said Enrique Salem, vice president, Symantec Security and assistance Business Unit. "Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition profices customers with all the tools they need to keep their computers protected, maintained and running at peak performance."

Norton SystemWorks was designed specifically to provide consumers with a comprehensive, completely integrated solution to keep their computers working. Much more than a bundle, Norton SystemWorks gives users everything they need in one box - one install, one product update centre, one manual, one support line and one emergency disk set - all with a single, easy-to-use interface. Each product in the Norton SystemWorks suite is part of the Norton family of products that were designed and developed to work together. These products were then integrated using Symantec's proprietary technologies, thereby eliminating the compatibility problems associated with bundled offerings.

Professional Edition Professional Pack Adds Advanced Functionality
In addition to providing customers with remote control, mobile productivity, fax, web page creation and file encryption tools, Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition includes two programs designed especially for power users - Norton 2000 and Norton Ghost.

Norton 2000 offers customers an effective tool that proactively guards critical data, such as financial planning information, residing on their desktop and laptop computers. Designed and created by the work’s most experienced utility software engineers, Norton 2000 scans data, applications and hardware and alerts the user to non-compliance problems that may lead to financial losses, liability issues and incompatibility with other systems.

To address Year 2000 problems in spreadsheets, Norton 2000 includes a data scanning component that not only discovers Year 2000 problems in these complex files, but also generates a customisable report detailing findings. Norton 2000 scans the following files: Excel, Lotus 1-2-3, Access, dBase, Clipper, FoxPro and Paradox. For recent Excel spreadsheets, Norton 2000 colour-codes and annotates the spreadsheet to highlight and explain Year 2000 issues in each affected cell.

Norton 2000 also audits other popular software applications for Year 2000 compliance and tests those applications against a database of known Year 2000 problems. The application database is kept up-to-date using LiveUpdate, Symantec's powerful utility program that locates and helps install hardware drivers and software updates specific to the user's system.

In addition, Norton 2000 uses a boot floppy to test and fix system clocks and the BIOS,, where possible, thereby preventing users from inadvertently destroying data and program configurations during testing. For added convenience, Norton 2000 offers a Windows-based System Date Test.

Norton Ghost makes it easier to upgrade to a new hard drive by speeding and simplifying the task of copying one disk to another without the risk of losing data or configurations. Norton Ghost can also reduce the headache and time required to recover a system if it fails. With Norton Ghost, system recovery, fast upgrades and disk backups are as simple as restoring an image and getting back to work with the confidence that the original PC configuration will work every time.

Integrated Product Suite Includes Valuable Utilities
Norton SystemWorks includes Norton AntiVirus, PC Magazine's perennial Editor's Choice Award winner. For the third time this year, Virus Bulletin awarded a Norton AntiVirus product its coveted 100 per cent Award for detecting all in-the-wild viruses in VB's comprehensive test sets. Norton AntiVirus offers detection and repair of unknown and new viruses, the ability to safely isolate viral files in a safe location, support for incremental or "micro" definitions and an extensible virus detection engine that is updatable via the Internet.

Norton Utilities, included in Norton SystemWorks, was named MVP by PC Computing magazine. Norton Utilities gives users unrivalled problem-solving power for their systems. Norton Utilities provides automatic background detection of Windows and registry problems, disaster recovery in Windows (including a Recovery Wizard), analysis agents to make problem-solving easy and efficient and notification of out-of-date rescue disks.

Norton SystemWorks protects users against data loss with Norton CrashGuard, which offers the industry's highest level of crash recovery and data recovery. It intercepts the crashes users face most often: application or browser crashes, application hangs, blue screens and system crashes, while protecting against data loss and assisting users in recovering from crashes that do occur.

Norton CleanSweep is the most comprehensive PC hard drive cleanup software available. Norton CleanSweep safely and completely removes the widest array of unneeded programs and files for maximum space savings. Users can remove space-eating file types with the click of a button anytime or can schedule the program to clean up at specified times. Norton CleanSweep also removes Internet cache and history files," "cookies", ActiveX controls and browser plug-ins.

Norton SystemWorks also includes NortonWeb Services, a library of web-based programs designed to make computing easier and more reliable. Norton Web Services checks every patch for viruses and installation issues before being posted, fully supports Windows 98 (with an emphasis on Windows 98 compatibility updates), gives priority to meaningful business application updates rather than shareware, provides twice as many international patches as competitive products and is built on an open, web-based architecture.

Pricing and Availability
Norton SystemWorks Professional Edition is available now at a suggested retail price of (CDN)$149.95. Users of point products can upgrade for (CDN)$121 with a (CDN)$28 mail-in rebate.

System Requirements
Norton SystemWorks requires an IBM PC or 100 per cent compatible, Windows 95/98 (for Norton Ghost, MS-DOS or PC DOS 5.0 or later), 486/66 or higher, 16 MB RAM, 105 MB hard disk space for typical installation, CD-ROM drive double-speed or higher and 256-color VGA or better video. A sound card and Iomega Zip or Jaz drive are optional.

About Symantec in Canada:
With 250 employees, Symantec's Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa and Vancouver. For information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec's Canadian Wide Site. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

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.

Founded in 1982, the company's global operations span North America, Europe, Japan and several fast growing markets throughout Asia Pacific and Latin America. Traded on Nasdaq under the symbol SYMC, Symantec Corporation is based in Cupertino, Calif., and employs more than 2,000 people. Information on the company and its products can be obtained by calling (800) 441-7234 toll free, (541) 334-6054 or accessed on the World Wide Web.

NOTE TO EDITORS: If you would like additional information on Symantec Corporation and its products, please view the Symantec Press Centre on Symantec's web site. Brands and products referenced herein are the trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective holders.