Symantec Anti-Virus Corporate Edition

The Computer Center has installed the new antivirus software called “Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition 8.1.” The new Symantec CE 8.1 has many new and improved features from the Norton CE 7.x that Jefferson Lab users have been using. One of the most improved features is the ability to group computers and assign them different antivirus software use policies.

The old Norton CE 7.x has only one policy and was very cumbersome sometimes. For example, users could not disable realtime protection under old Norton while they were taking data because the policy prohibited them. Also, they could not update virus definitions themselves; they had to wait for the virus definition server. Although those were often useful policies, they did not fit every machine. Laptops might need slightly different policies because they are moved around often, and data crunching machines need different policies because they don’t want to be slow downed by realtime protection. Because of these issues, many users were forced to use an unmanaged version of Norton CE instead of a managed version.

When a machine was installed with the managed version of Norton CE, the Computer Center could check to see if that machine has the latest virus definition and the last scan date. It also could check to locate infected machines, to run emergency scans and to see if the software is working properly. The problem with the unmanaged version is that Computer Center staff cannot monitor this version. There were several instances when machines with an unmanaged version got infected by viruses because either the virus definition were too old or the software was not working correctly.

The new Symantec CE solves this problem for us by introducing flexible group policies. Currently, we have created three policies for the new software. The first policy is the default policy, which states that the realtime protection is always on, users cannot alter live update schedule, and a full scan of hard drives occurs every Tuesday night. The second policy is for mobile computers; it states that the realtime protection is always on, users can alter live update schedules, and the weekly full scan is scheduled but will not be forced to run if the scheduled scan is missed. The third policy is for test stand computers or mission critical machines, which cannot be interrupted or slowed down by virus scanning. It states that it will run realtime protection by default, but users can disable it if needed. Users will need to initiate virus definition downloads and periodically scan their hard drives.

By default, all systems operate in the default policy. Users can request to be in the second or third group policy by sending email to the helpdesk (helpdesk@jlab.org) or by calling x7155 between 1:30 - 4:30 PM, Monday thru Friday. To verify that your computer has the 8.1 version, click on the yellow shield in the lower, right-hand corner. If you don’t have this version, please contact the help desk as soon as possible

This document is maintained by {helpdesk@jlab.org}