Main meetings
February Main Meeting 2009
This month saw the welcome return of David Hall, Consumer Product Marketing Manager from Symantec. He presented the latest updates on the ever changing threats from cyber criminals and how Symantec’s 360 and Norton Utilities have taken up the challenge.
The days of a simple e-mail from some ex diplomat in Nigeria trying to con us out of our cash now seems rather tame in comparison with the sophistication of today’s threats.
This level of attack quickly developed into the creation of malicious web sites and what came to be known as phishing, the attempt to deceive people into logging on to criminal sites by looking like your bank’s web sites.
This is a simple virus or worm, quickly elevated into spyware reporting on your details.
A Simple virus or worm quickly elevated into spyware reporting on your details.
As companies like Norton developed programs and strategies to fight these attacks, and the public became more sophisticated in avoiding spam e-mails, the criminals developed new ways to attack legitimate site.
This “You Tube” site looks real!
Norton 360 however identified a hack that would download a malicious java script.
Now Norton 360 Version 3 builds upon the technological advances in Norton Internet Security 2009 (NIS 2009). Having the same software base as NIS 2009, it has the same anti-virus and firewall but adds backup software, Norton Safe Web and some PC tune-up software.
Symantec designs their software on the principle of:
1 Minute load
10 kb of memory and
100 megabytes of hard disk space
One of the ways Norton has achieved this is to test your computer and identify all the known files. Norton then investigates only those files that have been added to your computer or whose signature has changed, indicating that the file may have been attacked
David then spoke about the new Norton Utilities which has been totally redesigned from the original version. Built on the utilities and clean-up software from PC Tools, an Australian company Symantec have acquired, Norton can now launch faster and greatly decrease boot up times.
by monitoring the health of the system.
The new Utilities include
A Startup Manager & Services Manager - Manages programs configured to
run at system startup.
-- Registry Cleaner - Cleans the registry of unnecessary entries created
during the installation, de-installation and normal work on the PC.
-- Registry Defragmenter - Analyzes the registry for errors and rebuilds
it completely from scratch if needed. Defragments and corrects any
structural errors.
-- Disk Cleaner - Scrubs the hard disk of temporary files, Internet
cookies, and other junk data.
-- Performance Test - Benchmarks a PC using a variety of different speed
tests and compares the results before and after changes.
The Raffle
Symantec and David, ever generous to the Club, donated three copies of Norton Utilities for our raffle.
and this months winners were
Frank Bowman; John Burton; Dennis Campanella
PS
After the meeting David indicated that Norton 360 V3 would be available in the next few weeks, at which time copies could be made available to members. Stay tuned for details
Find out more at
http://www.symantec.com/norton/beta/overview.jsp?pvid=n3603beta
More details at
http://www.symantec.com/norton/norton-utilities
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