Tuesday, 12 October 2004 09:23 EST

CUPERTINO, Calif. – Oct. 11, 2004 - Symantec Corp. (Nasdaq: SYMC), the global leader in information security, today announced that PC Magazine has named Norton Ghost 9.0 Editors' Choice. In a comprehensive review of the product, which appears in the Oct. 19, 2004, issue of the publication, PC Magazine called Norton Ghost 9.0 "the essential tool for rescuing a complete system." The publication also noted that Norton Ghost 9.0 "belongs in every serious PC user's toolbox."

"Virus and worm attacks, failed program installations, problematic software updates, hardware failures, and accidental deletions can all spell digital disaster for consumers who haven't backed up their systems," said Don Kleinschnitz, vice president of product delivery, enterprise administration, Symantec Corp. "Norton Ghost 9.0 is a key line of defense against computer attacks and failures, providing a safe, efficient, and simple tool for protecting valuable data, as well as operating systems, applications, and personal settings and preferences."

Norton Ghost 9.0 offers users a reliable, quick, and easy way to back up system files, programs, settings, documents and other important data. Norton Ghost 9.0 is enhanced with Drive Image technology and is one of the most comprehensive solutions available for data storage and protection. As PC Magazine editors explained, with Norton Ghost 9.0, users can back up their entire computer in the background while continuing to work in Windows, as well as save their backup to virtually any media or drive, schedule automatic backups, and safely restore the entire system or just selected files.

Editors voiced their preference for Norton Ghost 9.0, adding that the utility received the Editors' Choice distinction thanks in part to its ability to put a Windows pre-boot environment on a startup disk, which enables users to get the same networking and hardware support on the emergency disk that they get inside Windows. Editors also singled out Norton Ghost's ability to mount an image file as a drive letter.

"Norton Ghost 9.0 Pros: Full and incremental full-disk backups, easily restored using bootable CD; can extract files from backup images; compatible with images created by older versions of Ghost and Drive Image," PC Magazine editors summarized. "Norton Ghost 9.0 Cons: None."

About Symantec
Symantec is the global leader in information security providing a broad range of software, appliances and services designed to help individuals, small and mid-sized businesses, and large enterprises secure and manage their IT infrastructure. Symantec's Norton brand of products is the worldwide leader in consumer security and problem-solving solutions. Headquartered in Cupertino, Calif., Symantec has operations in more than 35 countries. More information is available at www.symantec.com.