On virus patrol: NAV 2004 takes the guesswork out of PC protection.

Norton is one of the two big names in antivirus protection, so you probably won't be disappointed if you spend $49.95 for the company's stand-alone production, Norton AntiVirus 2004. The latest version hunts down adware and spyware (which sends your data to marketers, hackers, or a suspicious spouse without the use of a visible program). It also blows the whistle on keystroke logging programs, which record what you type. Although NAV works on Windows 98, ME, 2000, and XP, it will detect viruses in Windows 2000 and XP compressed file archives before the files are used.

Norton AntiVirus lets you scan anything--files, drives, memory, master boot records, for example-at any time. You can also enable auto protection, and NAV will ask you what to do if it finds a virus: Try to repair files, quarantine the flies, or deny access.

The Scan Progress page shows bow many files have been scanned but doesn't detail how many are left to scan or what percentage they represent. It does report the scanning time afterward, which is a helpful feature. Norton AntiVirus also includes script blocking and can scan for viruses in POP3 or SMTP e-mail (such as Outlook Express or Eudora) and in these instant messengers: AOL 4.7 and higher. MSN 4.6 or 4.7. and Yahoo 5.0 or higher. (www.symantec.com; $49.95)