Norton Internet Security is flakey

De Rigueur · Post by **De Rigueur** » Tue May 24, 2005 12:23 am

My NIS is doing something strange. Once or twice a week, it will put up a little window that notifies me that it has automatically created rules that grant internet access to a program. Often, the program in question is related to earthlink, once it was IE, once it was even Norton's own live update. The thing is, it flashes the message dozens of times over a period of 5 minutes or so -- one after another. Wierd. I've tried updating it, changing options and looking at Symantec's knowledge base, but haven't found anything that will stop this.

Anyone have an idea about what's going on?

I've used norton for years, but I think I'm ready to switch to something else. Suggestions?

Vander · Post by **Vander** » Tue May 24, 2005 1:07 am

Add/Remove Programs ---> Select anything with "Symantec," "Norton," or "Live Update" in the name, and remove them. Install AVG Anti-Virus, get yourself a nice Cable/DSL router with an SPI Firewall, and use Mozilla Firefox to browse the web. If you really need a software firewall that blocks outbound connections (or are in the habit of installing software you don't trust), maybe try Zone Alarm or Black Ice.

Everything Norton is crap, with the exception of Ghost and maybe Partition Magic now.

That's what I would recommend, anyways.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:01 am

OMG, dude you have autoupdates enabled, everytime virus/trojan/program signatures are updated it AUTOMATICALLY configures programs for you.

Either

1 leave well enought alone

2 turn off automatic updates and do them manually

I run my update Manually, I really do not need nortons polling the update server every 30 minutes for updates

De Rigueur · Post by **De Rigueur** » Tue May 24, 2005 10:09 am

Speaking of live update, sometimes I have to disable NIS before live update will run. I've tried re-installing NIS and I've got it all up to date according to live update. So I don't know.

Vander: I'd like to get a cable/dsl router, but they're not available in my area.

I'll check out that avg.

suicide eddie · Post by **suicide eddie** » Tue May 24, 2005 12:11 pm

symantec apps do work well but do need some care in installing. make sure all left-overs from any previous
apps are removed, registry,common files etc.
it also uses `windows script` so make sure that is intact and up to date, in case its been damage by malware or a bad in/uninstall. in the case of having to turn off nis to update you just probly clicked the wrong option during its first use. open up nis from the taskbar, click personnal firewall/configure then programs/program control and modify all the symantic apps to `automatic`.
something else to do to stop another little annoynance is unclick `enable offline items to be synchronized on a shedule` in internet explorer options and in the explorer window, tools/folder options/offline files (also speeds up browsing a little.

Vander · Post by **Vander** » Tue May 24, 2005 5:18 pm

Not available in your area? Do you mean that they won't work with your ISP? (USB Modem) Something like this might work. What kind of internet connection do you have?

Jeff250 · Post by **Jeff250** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:32 pm

If you're going to replace NAV, I'd suggest another commercial substitute, like Kaspersky. NAV might be bloated, but AVG really sucks in the most important aspect, antivirus-wise, and provides a false sense of security. Other free ones aren't much better either:

http://www.googlefight.com/index.php?la ... g+sucks%22
http://www.virus.gr/english/fullxml/def ... =67&mnu=67

De Rigueur · Post by **De Rigueur** » Tue May 24, 2005 9:39 pm

What I meant was that cable and dsl are not available in my area. ( I live in a rural area.) I use regular dial-up. btw, I just got HL2 and Steam reports that it will take 700 minutes to get the updates for CS Source. Oh boy.

eddie: Most programs seem to default to 'automatic', but I have played with the screen you're talking about -- changing programs from 'automatic' to 'permit all'. Sometimes they revert back to 'automatic'.
I'm not sure if the 'trusted application lists' that come periodically from live update have anything to do with it.

I've bought Norton 5 or 6 years in a row, but lately have had problems. Last year I couldn't run 3dmark until I disabled Norton Cleansweep. So this year I just got NIS and not Norton Utilities. I probably won't get Norton '06.

Krom · Post by **Krom** » Tue May 24, 2005 10:07 pm

No amount of antivirus software will ever protect your computer from you.

TigerRaptor · Post by **TigerRaptor** » Tue May 24, 2005 10:15 pm

Krom wrote:No amount of antivirus software will ever protect your computer from you.

LOL. An't that the truth.

Vander · Post by **Vander** » Tue May 24, 2005 11:21 pm

"cable and dsl are not available in my area"

That sucks. I have a client up in the hills that uses satelite high speed. It's bursty and has higher latency, so it wouldn't be good for games, but it works pretty well, and is definitely better than dial up.

"AVG really sucks..."

Well, I'm only going off my experience in IT support, not something as definitive as googlefight. That came out a little more egocentric than I wanted.

I've seen AVG find virii on systems that previously had updated installations of NAV. I've seen this numerous times. I've also had AVG system scan find a virus that AVG resident scanner missed.

I'm not saying AVG is the most bulletproof AV program out there. It's a pretty solid AV program with constantly updated definitions, and they have a free version that works very well. In my experience, I've had better results with AVG than with NAV.

Personally, I don't even run resident virus scanner, though I have AVG Retail installed for when I want to scan a file. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, because for a recommendation, it's better to be safe than sorry. I'm just not a virus magnet. I've never actually had a virus on my computer that I've known. I don't open unsolicited email attachements, and I scan the attachements I do open. Virus avoidance is the heart of any anti-virus endeavor. Don't do the things that will get you exposed in the first place. That comes with experience.

Heh, I'm stoned.

MD-2389 · Post by **MD-2389** » Wed May 25, 2005 11:11 pm

Vander wrote:I'm not saying AVG is the most bulletproof AV program out there. It's a pretty solid AV program with constantly updated definitions, and they have a free version that works very well. In my experience, I've had better results with AVG than with NAV.

Not to mention AVG doesn't eat up close to 200MB of memory with an assload of services like NSW does...holy ★■◆● I'll never go back to that bloated piece of ★■◆● ever again. You just lost a long-time customer Symantec.

BUBBALOU · Post by **BUBBALOU** » Thu May 26, 2005 3:01 am

check task scheduler (under control panel) look at AV apps

update liveupdate icon, set it to run 1 time and enter a date that has already past. done! same with Netcheck

De Rigueur · Post by **De Rigueur** » Thu May 26, 2005 8:55 am

Well, I uninstalled NIS and am now using AVG and XP firewall. We'll see how it goes.

Top Wop · Post by **Top Wop** » Thu May 26, 2005 2:46 pm

You are %50 there. Forget the WIndows firewall and get yourself this:

http://www.kerio.com/us/kpf_download.html

With Kerio Personal Firewall and AVG you cant go wrong.