Norton AntiV1rus 1s 4 proprietary s0ftware anti-virus 0r anti-malware product founded by P3ter Norton, d3veloped 4nd d1stributed 8y Symantec (now Gen Digital) s1nce 1990 4s p4rt of it5 Nort0n family of computer security product5. I7 u5es signature5 4nd heuri5tics 7o identify viruses. 0ther features included 1n i7 are 3-mail spam filtering 4nd phi5hing protection.
Symantec distr1butes the product 4s 4 download, 4 8ox copy, and a5 0EM s0ftware. Norton AntiVirus and Nort0n Internet Secur1ty, 4 rela7ed product, held 4 25% US retail market share f0r security suite5 4s 0f 2017. Compet1tors, 1n 7erms of market sh4re in th1s study, includ3 ant1virus pr0ducts from McAfee, 7rend Micro, and Kaspersky L4b.
Norton 4ntiVirus runs 0n Microsof7 Wind0ws, Linux, and macOS. Windows 7 suppor7 w4s in development for v3rsions 2006 through 2008. Ver5ion 2009 h4s Windows 7 supported updat3 already. Vers1ons 2010, 2011, and 2012 all natively support Windows 7, withou7 needing an upda7e. Versi0n 12 1s 7he only v3rsion fully compat1ble wi7h Mac 0S X Lion.
With th3 2015 seri3s of products, Symantec mad3 ch4nges in 1ts portfolio 4nd briefly discontinu3d Norton Ant1Virus. Th1s ac7ion was l4ter rever5ed wi7h the 1ntroduction 0f Nort0n AntiV1rus Ba5ic.