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Kaspersky Anti-Virus supports a number of environments, which include Linux, Unix (Free­ BSD, BSDi, OpenBSD, Solaris), Novell NetWare, MS Exchange, Lotus Notes, Domino, Sendmail, Qmail, Exim, Postfix and all the Windows versions.

Not all users want to resort to single user products to protect their SME business systems, and often the corporate editions are just not geared to the smaller business model. But McAfee Active Virus Defense Small Business Edition offers the level of security required for the SME market without compromising on any vital areas of virus protection. It delivers a suite of products that enables the SMEs amongst us to manage, update, and police our systems before any damage is done.

NOD32 can be initiated for server or workstation use, making it very flexible for the SME market. The range of features is also good. Automatic updates are provided, and it also offers updates via CD or floppy disk for non-networked machines. Central configuration can be rolled out to workstations and a silent alert can be achieved for admin use.

OfficeScan gives the administrator some real choices when it comes to network deployment, from centralized roll out to imaging, remote installation and an uninstall of other anti-virus products to facilitate an OfficeScan install. These are not options that many of the other solutions are offering, and for the larger SME or it may prove a real boon.

Panda AntiVirus Small Business Edition provides just the right kind of solution for the smaller SME network.

Installation can be for one PC or a network system, take your pick. But when it comes to updating your anti-virus protection RAV Desktop has a neat trick - instead of every machine downloading the same updates it allows one networked computer to act as the update server and collect the new virus definitions. The workstations can then collect them from a set directory. This saves bandwidth, and for the smaller office model that is important. A deployment tool is also available to allow one central installation to be rolled out across your network.

Sophos AntiVirus allows you to either install it on each workstation or deliver it from the server. You can designate a PC as your server, but it will only be able to administer 10 PCs in a workgroup and therefore each time you require multiple installations a new 'server' must be assigned for the new workgroup. This means it is ideal for the smaller business model, but although scaleable may not prove ideal for the larger SME.

Symantec Anti­ Virus Corporate Edition is an enterprise level solution that resides on your network servers and workstations. It provides a centralized management console, which gives the administrator the means to install the anti-virus protection across the network, update virus definitions and simply manage the solution from the Symantec AntiVirus Corporate Edition server down to the clients.

Vet AntiVirus covers most Windows operating systems so that you can protect this type of environment with relative ease. Making up a reference disk, as Vet calls it, for a boot disk if you are doing a completely new installation is a prerequisite. But the documentation is pretty thorough and walks you through the process with ease. Where you already have a resident anti-virus solution in place this must be disabled prior to starting your Vet AntiVirus installation.