Making Windows Security Center Recognize Your Antivirus Program

While the Security Center in Service Pack 2 does a good job of ensuring you're protected from many various threats, it currently does not recognize Symantec AntiVirus 8.1. If you are running Symantec AntiVirus 8.1 or a previous version, you will receive a pop-up warning (illustrated below). We strongly encourage you to upgrade to Symantec AntiVirus 10.0.1 (available on our Software Download Site) to ensure optimal security on your machine, as well as have it recognized by the Security Center in Windows SP2.

Security Balloon

If, for some reason, you are unable to upgrade to the latest version of Symantec AntiVirus, you have the option to disable the warnings from the Security Center. To disable these warnings, please follow the steps below.

Go to the Security Center in the Control Panel by either clicking on the pop-up balloon warning (shown above) or by selecting Start | Control Panel | Security Center.
In the Security Center, you will be notified that Windows was not able to find your antivirus software.
Click on the Recommendations button to view the Recommendations screen. Place a checkmark in the box next to "I have an antivirus program that I'll monitor myself."
Windows is now aware that you have an antivirus program installed and it will stop displaying the warning to install one.

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Last Updated: 04/24/2008