Symantec swept the three antivirus awards for the second year in a row and dominated the antivirus client and antivirus server awards by capturing 55 percent and 51 percent of the vote, respectively, in those categories. On their Best Antivirus/Client Side ballots, voters said they liked the way Symantec's Norton AntiVirus works behind the scenes on client machines, describing it as "reliable, not noticeable," and saying that it "seems to be the least obtrusive."

New Norton AntiVirus features are expanded threat detection that alerts you to certain nonvirus threats such as spyware and keystroke-logging programs and scanning of compressed file archives before you open them. Norton AntiVirus scans both incoming and outgoing email messages and automatically removes viruses, worms, and Trojan horses. It detects and blocks viruses in Instant Messaging (IM) attachments and downloads new virus protection updates automatically. Worm blocking detects worms such as Nimda in outgoing mail. Script blocking defends against fast-moving script-based viruses such as ILoveYou. Worm and script blocking can detect new threats before virus protection updates are created for them.