Symantec Safeguards Productivity of Professionals, Small Businesses and Advanced Users with New Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition

TORONTO, Ont. - Dec. 14, 2001 Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the world leader in Internet security, today announced the release of Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition, the world's most trusted anti-virus solution for professionals, small businesses and advanced users. Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition is compatible with the latest Palm and Windows operating systems and has been developed to address the needs of sophisticated users by automatically keeping their PCs and PDAs safe from malicious code without interrupting productivity. In addition to protecting users from the latest virus threats, Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition prevents downtime by enabling the quick recovery of erased files and the secure elimination of sensitive and confidential digital documents.

"Time is a scarce resource for business professionals today," said Steve Cullen, senior vice president of Consumer and Client Product Delivery at Symantec. "These savvy users need the best protection and most automated solution available to eliminate the need for time-consuming computer maintenance. Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition helps professionals and advanced users make the best use of their time by keeping their computers and handheld devices virus-free and by making solid protection easy and automatic."

Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition is designed to help maintain user productivity by detecting and removing viruses without user intervention, speeding recovery from virus attacks, and keeping virus definitions up-to-date. By automatically repairing and removing infected files in the background, Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition eliminates the need for user input and keeps interruptions to a minimum. Customers receive a free one-year subscription to virus definition updates with the purchase of Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition.

New script-blocking technology constantly monitors scripts for virus-like malicious behavior in both incoming and outgoing e-mail, then stops their activity and alerts users before the virus can spread and cause downtime. Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition also now protects and recovers sensitive files and allows users to digitally shred confidential electronic data.

In addition, Symantec AntiVirus 2002 for Palm OS is included as an integral component of Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition, providing real-time anti-virus protection to users of handheld devices. Symantec AntiVirus for Palm OS secures personal data on Palm OS compatible devices at all times. It features a device-resident, anti-virus scanning engine that works in the background protecting your Palm data from multiple sources of infection, including HotSync®, infrared and Internet download.

Maintaining updated virus definitions for handheld devices and PCs requires no user intervention with Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition. The product checks for new virus definitions whenever the user is online, automating this critical task. Virus definitions are downloaded in the background, without interrupting work. As a result, business professionals can be sure that their systems are never vulnerable or at risk of infection. Virus definitions for Symantec AntiVirus for Palm OS are kept up-to-date automatically via HotSync®, eliminating the need for time-intensive manual efforts. Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition includes one year of free virus definition updates.

Pricing and Availability
Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition is now available for preorder at http://ca.symantecstore.com for the estimated retail price of Cdn $99.95. Current users of Symantec software as well as competitive products can take advantage of a $45.00 mail-in rebate when they upgrade to Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition. Customers can purchase Norton AntiVirus 2002 Professional Edition from various retail locations, Symantec's online store at http://ca.symantecstore.com and at other online retailers by the end of December.

About Symantec
Symantec, the world leader in Internet security technology, provides a broad range of content and network security software and appliance solutions to individuals, enterprises and service providers. The company is a leading provider of client, gateway and server security solutions for virus protection, firewall and virtual private network, vulnerability management, intrusion detection, Internet content and e-mail filtering, remote management technologies and security services to enterprises and service providers around the world. Symantec's Norton brand of consumer security products is a leader in worldwide retail sales and industry awards. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has worldwide operations in 37 countries. For more information, please visit www.symantec.com.

Symantec's Canadian operations are headquartered in Toronto with offices in Montreal, Ottawa, Calgary and Vancouver. For more information on Symantec products or current promotions, contact the Canadian office at (416) 441-3676 or access Symantec's Canadian Web site at www.symantec.ca. Symantec is an active member of the Canadian Alliance Against Software Theft (CAAST).

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FORWARD LOOKING STATEMENT: This press release contains forward-looking statements, including statements regarding anticipated activities and results, that involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause our actual results, levels of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from results expressed or implied by this press release. Such risk factors include, among others: the risks that current global adverse economic conditions and reduced spending will continue or worsen; currency exchange fluctuations will adversely affect our results; the continuing integration of Symantec and AXENT will not be successful; the difficulty of developing and marketing products that compete effectively with others; new security threats and other economic, business, competitive and/or regulatory factors affecting Symantec's business generally. Actual results may differ materially from those contained in the forward-looking statements in this press release. Additional information concerning these and other risk factors is contained in the Risk Factors sections of the Company's previously filed Form 10-K for the year ending March 30, 2001 and the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended June 30, 2001.