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Norton preps remote antivirus for home

Symantec is in the process of switching on a web-based console called Manage.Norton.com, which will allow home users to remotely administer Norton products installed on other machines.
Written by Michael Lee, Contributor

Symantec is in the process of switching on a web-based console called Manage.Norton.com, which will allow home users to remotely administer Norton products installed on other machines.

The company was unable to fully demonstrate the product at an information session yesterday, but claims that users will be able to remotely log-in to computers and view the desktop of machines that have Norton software installed, and are associated with their Norton account.

Norton consumer spokesperson for Asia Pacific David Hall said it would allow users to quickly provide help to family friends for simple errors encountered when browsing the internet, such as JavaScript or 404 error messages.

Using the Manage.Norton.com console, users are also able to remotely check antivirus status and enable or disable the service as required. Additionally, Hall said that users will be able to administer licences, including the ability to revoke licences on machines that may have been stolen or sold, freeing them up to be used on another computer.

Hall said that the feature would soon be rolling out to its Norton 2012 beta users. The full product is expected to be released in September.

Remote management of antivirus software has been featured in other antivirus software packages before, including enterprise versions of Kaspersky Antivirus, AVG Antivirus, Sophos Endpoint Security and Control, and Symantec's older Symantec Antivirus product, but rarely for home users.

Hall also confirmed that Symantec would soon be ending the beta period on its Norton Mobile Security product for Android devices as production has just started on the full product. A few copies of the full product have been sighted in the wild, which will allow users to set up anti-theft and anti-malware measures, call and SMS blocking and browsing protection.

Additionally, users can assign up to five contacts who can remotely locate, wipe or lock devices via SMS messages, combined with a password. The beta is still available on the Android Marketplace, and provides support for Android 1.6 and higher. However, the full product's minimum requirement lists Android 2.0 and higher.

Symantec has released the mobile security application at $49.95 for a two-year licence.

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