Trek data review: January 2008

Tuesday, January 29, 2008

System requirements for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 and Symantec Network Access Control 11

Question/Issue:

The following are the minimum system requirements for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 and Symantec Network Access Control 11.

Solution:

Symantec Endpoint Protection

The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Symantec Endpoint Protection 11.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	400 MHz Intel Pentium III (1 GHz for Windows Vista)	1 GHz on x64 only with the following processors: Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support AMD 64-bit Opteron AMD 64-bit Athlon Note: Itanium is not supported.
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later Windows XP Home/Professional/Tablet PC Editions Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions Windows Vista (x86)	Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Windows Vista x64 Edition Note: The Symantec Endpoint Protection installation CD contains a 64-bit application.
Memory	256 MB of RAM	256 MB of RAM
Hard disk	600 MB	700 MB
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
Other requirements	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Terminal Server clients connecting to a computer with antivirus protection have the following additional requirements: Microsoft Terminal Server Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client Citrix Metaframe (ICA) client 1.8 or later if using Citrix Metaframe server on Terminal Server	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager, Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager Console, and embedded database
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install the Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 Manager and Console, and the embedded database.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	900 MHz Intel Pentium III	1 GHz on x64 only with the following processors: Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support AMD 64-bit Opteron AMD 64-bit Athlon Note: Itanium is not supported. The management components are 32-bit applications.
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions	Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Note: The management server, console, and embedded database are 32-bit applications.
Memory	1 GB RAM minimum (2-4 GB recommended)	1 GB RAM minimum (2-4 GB recommended)
Hard disk	4 GB for the server plus an additional 4 GB for the database	4 GB for the server plus an additional 4 GB for the database
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
Other requirements	Internet Information Services server 5.0 or later The server does not have to be running, but it must be enabled. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Static IP address Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)	Internet Information Services server 5.0 or later The server does not have to be running, but it must be enabled. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Static IP address Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)

Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager and Console
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 Manager and Console without the embedded database.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	600 MHz Intel Pentium III	1 GHz on x64 only with the following processors: Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support AMD 64-bit Opteron AMD 64-bit Athlon Note: Itanium is not supported. The management server and console are 32-bit applications.
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions	Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Note: The management server and console are 32-bit applications.
Memory	512 MB of RAM minimum (1 GB recommended)	512 MB of RAM minimum (1 GB recommended)
Hard disk	500 MB plus 100 MB for temp space	500 MB plus 100 MB for temp space
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
Other requirements	Internet Information Services server 5.0 or later The server does not have to be running, but it must be enabled. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Static IP address Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)	Internet Information Services server 5.0 or later The server does not have to be running, but it must be enabled. Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Static IP address Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)

Symantec Endpoint Protection Console
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 Console without the Manager or embedded database.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	600 MHz Intel Pentium III	1 GHz on x64 only with the following processors: Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support AMD 64-bit Opteron AMD 64-bit Athlon Note: Itanium is not supported. The management console is a 32-bit application.
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later Windows XP Professional with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions	Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Note: The management console is a 32-bit application
Memory	512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)	512 MB of RAM (1 GB recommended)
Hard disk	40 MB plus 100 MB for temp space	40 MB plus 100 MB for temp space
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
Other requirements	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Java Runtime Environment 1.4.2 (included)

Quarantine Console
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Quarantine Console.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	600 MHz Intel Pentium III	Not supported
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server Windows XP Professional Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions	Not supported
Memory	64 MB of RAM	Not supported
Hard disk	35 MB	Not supported
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Not supported
Other requirements	Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2 or later Microsoft Management Console (MMC) 1.2 or later If MMC is not already installed, you need 3 MB free disk space (10 MB during installation).	Not supported

Central Quarantine Server
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Central Quarantine Server.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	600 MHz Intel Pentium III	Not supported
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server Windows XP Professional Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions	Not supported
Memory	128 MB of RAM	Not supported
Hard disk	40 MB, 500 MB to 4 GB recommended for quarantined items, and a 250 MB swap file	Not supported
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Not supported
Other requirements	Internet Explorer 5.5 Service Pack 2 or later	Not supported

Symantec Network Access Control 11.
The following are the minimum requirements for computers on which you install Symantec Network Access Control 11.

Component	32-bit	64-bit
Processor	550 MHz Intel Pentium II (1 GHz for Windows Vista)	1 GHz on x64 only with the following processors: Intel Xeon with Intel EM64T support Intel Pentium IV with EM64T support AMD 64-bit Opteron AMD 64-bit Athlon Note: Itanium is not supported.
Operating system	Windows 2000 Professional/Server/ Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later Windows XP Home/Professional Tablet PC Editions Windows Server 2003 Web/Standard/ Enterprise/Datacenter/Storage Editions Windows Vista (x86)	Windows XP Professional x64 Edition with Service Pack 1 or later Windows Server 2003 x64 Edition Windows Vista x86 Edition Note: The Symantec Network Access Control installation CD contains a 64-bit application.
Memory	256 MB of RAM minimum	256 MB of RAM minimum
Hard disk	300 MB	400 MB
Display	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor	Super VGA (1024 x 768) or higher resolution video adapter and monitor
Other requirements	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later Terminal Server clients connecting to a computer with antivirus protection have the following additional requirements: Microsoft Terminal Server Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) client Citrix Metaframe (ICA) client 1.8 or later if using Citrix Metaframe server on Terminal Server	Internet Explorer 6.0 or later

VMware support
Symantec software is supported in VMware environments. The following table shows the supported VMware configurations for Symantec Endpoint Protection 11 and Symantec Network Access Control 11.

Symantec software

VMware support

Symantec Endpoint Protection Manager, Console, and database components

The management server is supported on the following versions of VMware:

VMware WS 5.0 (workstation)
VMware GSX 3.2 (enterprise)
VMware ESX 2.5 (workstation)

The management server is supported on the following guest VMware operating systems:

Windows 2000 Professional/Server/Advanced Server with Service Pack 3 or later
Windows 2003 Server/Enterprise Server Web Edition
Windows 2003 Server Windows x64 Edition
Windows XP Home/Professional Edition
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Symantec Endpoint Protection and Symantec Network Access Control clients

The client components are supported on the following versions of VMware:

VMware WS 5.0 (workstation)
VMware GSX 3.2 (enterprise)
VMware ESX 2.5 (workstation)

The client components are supported on the following guest VMware operating systems:

Windows 2000 Professional/Server/Advanced Server
Windows 2003 Server/Enterprise Server Web Edition
Windows 2003 Server Windows x64 Edition
Windows XP Home/Professional Edition
Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

All Symantec products

symantec-ip.blogspot.com
symantec.blogspace.cc

Trend Micro's AntiVirus plus Anti-Spyware 2007

Trend Micro's AntiVirus plus Anti-Spyware 2007

Trend Micro's AntiVirus plus Anti-Spyware 2007 came in dead last in our "Virus Stoppers" antivirus roundup test of eight products. Its disappointing finish was primarily due to its lackluster performance at detecting malware samples: The program missed almost one in five samples, for a poor catch rate of 82 percent.

Trend Micro did somewhat better at proactively detecting unknown malware using one-month-old signature files, but even here, its 43 percent detection rate was the third-worst showing. Coupled with a relatively expensive $40 price tag and no renewal discount, Trend Micro's performance leaves much to be desired.
On the plus side, the program installed smoothly, was easy to use, and includes good default settings for the average person, such as an automatically scheduled full-system scan. The software provides a user-configurable scheduled scan and checks for definition updates every 3 hours. These defaults are a snap to change via an intuitive and smooth interface that will appeal to even the most nontechnical user.

One particularly useful feature scans for known Microsoft product vulnerabilities. If a machine is missing an important security patch, for example, the application guides the user to Microsoft's Windows Update site to download and apply the appropriate updates and patches.

Trend Micro's AntiVirus scans e-mail traffic over the POP3 and SMTP protocols, but unlike almost every other program we tested (except for Grisoft AVG 7.5 Anti-Virus Professional Edition), it does not scan HTML traffic. Also, Trend Micro's product stands alone in being unable to launch a manual file scan through a right-click within Windows Explorer, a weakness that the company says it will remedy in future updates. And the application's antispyware protection has an annoying habit of labeling tracking cookies as dangerous spyware.

We tested the Vista version of TrendMicro AntiVirus plus Anti-Spyware 2007 for our "Virus Stoppers" roundup. An XP version of the software is also available.

-- Ryan Naraine

by http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,130912/article.html

All Trend Micro products