Updating Virus Definitions on Norton Antivirus: Why You Need to and How to Do So

If you have a computer, you probably know that there is a great deal of evil software on the internet, just waiting to send it to computer hell. Knowing this, and being an intelligent human being, you probably have some sort of software installed to prevent this from happening. There is a good chance that this software is Norton Antivirus. If this is the case, read on to learn how to keep your computer free of the aforementioned evil software.

Norton Antivirus is probably the most popular antivirus program for home users on the market. It starts with your machine, and protects your computer from viruses and other malware by scanning your computer's memory, hard disk, incoming email messages and material downloaded from the web for viruses. When it finds a virus infected file, it attempts to fix it, either by removing the virus from the file, isolating ("quarantining") the file to prevent the spread of infection, or deleting the file. By doing so, it greatly improves your computer's odds of continued well being.

This approach works well, but only if Norton is able to identify the virus. To this end, it needs your help. When Norton Antivirus scans for viruses, it is essentially comparing the files on your computer with the information in its dictionary of viruses. It compares your files with every known virus, and springs into action if they match. The trick here, of course, is that of new viruses.

Although it is certainly possible for a virus that's been around for a few years to screw up your computer, odds are that the danger will come from a new virus. New viruses, upon their release, spread quickly because computers cannot recognize them as viruses. Norton can scan a file containing a nasty virus, but unless that virus is already in the dictionary, it will notice nothing. To this end, you must regularly update your virus definitions.

Virus definitions are continuously compiled by a team of software engineers at Symantec, the company which created Norton Antivirus. These people constantly search the internet for new viruses, and upon discovering them, compile the information Norton needs to detect and stop them. Every week or so, a file containing all these new virus definitions is released, available in a format to be automatically downloaded by your computer.

To keep your computer free from new threats, it is important to keep your virus definitions up to date. To do this, you will first need to subscribe, usually for around $30 per year. If you have not yet done this, Norton will prompt you to do so when you go to update.

If you have the automatic updater installed, your computer will prompt you to update your definitions automatically. Every week or so it will pop up a box, asking whether you want to download the latest updates. Just push okay, and Norton will do the rest. If the auto updater is not installed, simply open Norton by clicking the icon in the system tray, and push the update button.