Norton Antivirus Version 5.

[whitebomber]

We currently run Norton Antivirus Version 5. I have been told by Symantec that it is no longer supported and hasn't been for some time. Also they state that no new defintion files are available either.

My question concerns the updates. We do in fact receive updates for this product. Which the person I'm speaking with at Symantec can't explain, he claims they should not be available.

I'm in the process of trying to evalute just how exposed the 2500 systems are, running this configuration. Can anyone shed any light on this? I know we need to upgrade but I'm trying to hold off until we move from NT to XP/2003 late this year or early next. If I can save a major rollout of the AV software it would be great.

Thanks.

 

[polymath5]

Did you talk to a technician at Symantec or a sales guy? I would be a bit worried if a Tech guy says you're not protected.

I don't see anywhere on the downloads page that NAV 5 is supported, though I do see downloads for version 4 for NT 3.51.

If you are sure that you are in fact updating to the latest definitions, then you should be OK. Off hand, I'm pretty sure there is a benign file you can download from Symantec that acts like a virus. It's used to test if your AV is working.

To be honest though, I don't know if I would want to find out the hard way. I understand about budgets and the time involved, but a virus outbreak can cost a lot more of both.







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Mens et Manus
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[KimberTech]

When you check the updated sig files after an update, do the version numbers change? The date in the properties?

I would seriously consider not waiting to update...you can't afford to have a major outbreak because you are using a software that may or may not be protecting you.

If it is no longer supported, you will at the very least NOT be getting the protection in a timely fashion, even if they are giving out sig files.

Good Luck!

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[PerryMc]

Hi,

As mentioned by others, first check the version number and date are changing when you update the virus definition files. If they are, restart one of your PCs after you've done the update. If you have to click on 'end task' to get it to go down then NAV v5 is probably not able to use those definitions properly and you are very likely to be open to attack by recent viruses. Try this on both a server and a workstation running NT.

I can understand wanting to hold off, but on a LAN your size, I think the security of up to date anti-virus software as well as definitions would outweigh the extra work involved.

Smile anyway,
Perry.

 

[wbg34]

As mentioned by others I would not wait for the upgrade. You can use the eicar test files to determine if you have any effective AV at all, But detecting eicar does not mean that you have the most up to date defs. You need to upgrade your AV to a supported version asap. Ask your sales rep whether or not the version that you are looking at will support win2003 when it comes out.