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Norton AntiVirus

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Norton AntiVirus

Norton AntiVirus is a proprietary software anti-virus and anti-malware product founded by Peter Norton, developed and distributed by Symantec (now Gen Digital) since 1990 as part of its Norton family of computer security products. It uses signatures and heuristics to identify viruses. Other features included in it are e-mail spam filtering and phishing protection.

Symantec distributes the product as a download, a box copy, and as OEM software. Norton AntiVirus held a 13% US retail market share for security suites as of 2025. When combined with the Gen Digital family, the firm held a 27% market share.

Norton AntiVirus runs on Microsoft Windows, Linux, and macOS, with the related product Norton Mobile Security running on Android and iOS.

In May 1989, Symantec launched Symantec Antivirus for the Macintosh (SAM). SAM 2.0, released March 1990, incorporated technology allowing users to easily update SAM to intercept and eliminate new viruses, including many that didn't exist at the time of the program's release.

In August 1990 Symantec acquired Peter Norton Computing from Peter Norton. Norton and his company developed various DOS utilities including the Norton Utilities, which did not include antivirus features. Symantec continued the development of acquired technologies. The technologies are marketed under the name of "Norton", with the tagline "from Symantec". Norton's crossed-arm pose, a registered U.S. trademark, was traditionally featured on Norton product packaging. However, his pose was later moved to the spine of the packaging, and eventually dropped altogether.

With the 1998 version 5.0 update, SAM was renamed Norton AntiVirus (NAV) for Macintosh.

By early 1991, U.S. computers were invaded by hundreds of foreign virus strains and corporate PC infection was becoming a serious problem. Symantec's Norton Group launched Norton AntiVirus 1.0 (NAV) for PC and compatible computers. Ads for the product, with suggested retail $129, featured Norton in his crossed-arm pose, wearing a pink shirt and surgical mask covering his nose and mouth.

The original Norton Antivirus 1.0 did not repair infected files or boot sectors.[citation needed] This was fixed when version 1.5 was released in June 1991, along with the addition of the option of installing multiple scan levels of the Norton Antivirus Intercept (later renamed to Norton Antivirus Auto-Protect starting off with Norton Antivirus 3.0 released in September 1993.

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