Symantec last week announced its first anti-virus software for Palm Pilot operating system and Microsoft PocketPC-based handhelds, making it possible for businesses to centrally manage the devices' anti-virus configurations and updates.

Expected next week, Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds Corporate Edition is designed to protect Palm OS and PocketPC-based handheld devices against viruses, worms and Trojans.

Once the software is installed on the user's desktop PC, the anti-virus software is sent to the handheld during synchronization with the PC, or over a wireless LAN or infrared connection. The handhelds can be kept up to date with the latest signatures for new viruses or worms via automated updates through the desktop synchronization process. Another means for updating directly to the handheld will be over the Internet wirelessly through what Symantec calls its LiveUpdate Wireless service.

"Symantec AntiVirus for Handhelds Corporate Edition works under the Symantec enterprise security architecture in terms of logging events," says Laura Garcia-Manrique, Symantec's group product manager. This means the event and configuration manager for the handhelds is the same as that used for other Symantec anti-virus products so that centralized alerting, logging and reporting is possible.

"And the manager can configure each handheld, for example, by preventing the user from turning off the AutoProtect real-time scanning," Garcia-Manrique says. The anti-virus software for handhelds costs as much as $27 or as little as $10, depending on volume.

Symantec is competing against Computer Associates, Network Associates and Trend Micro, among others, with business-oriented anti-virus software for handheld devices.

For remote users, Symantec this week also will unwrap Norton AntiVirus 2004, the next version of its desktop anti-virus software. The 2004 edition adds the means to not only detect and stop worms and viruses, but also other dangers and annoyances that include spyware, adware, dialers and "joke programs" that might be downloaded from the Internet or sent as an attachment.

"We're not going to capture them all," says Kelly Martin, senior product manager at Symantec. But Symantec is analyzing the most prevalent and mettlesome spyware and adware, among other junk, to include signatures that users can activate if they want to exclude it.