GRRR! Norton!

Or maybe SBC....

Published on July 27, 2005 By dharmagrl In Personal Computing

I have a problem with Norton, and I don't know how to fix it....I'm hoping that all the 'puter geeks here can give me some hints!

I have SBC DSL as my ISP. I also have Norton internet security. Recently (as in the last week) I can't send and recieve email via Outlook without first disabling Norton. SBC says it's Norton's fault, BUT....I haven't been able to play any Pogo games for the past week either, and Pogo says that's SBC's fault - which makes me wonder if it's really Norton that's the issue with my email problem.

I don't know what I'm doing, so I'm not comfortable going and tweaking Norton unassisted or unadvised. Can someone give me some advice or point me in the right direction?

(As a side note, my year contract with SBC is up next month, at which time I'm cancelling my account with them. They've pissed me off a few times, so they can shove their phone line AND their internet service up their ass.)

Thanks for your help!

Comments (Page 1)

Corky_O

on Jul 27, 2005

dharmagirl,

You might try setting NIS Firewall rules back to their default.

1 - Close all Norton windows.

2 - Program Files > Common Files > Symantec Shared folder, find the file "firewall.rul" - if it exists, send it to the recycle bin.

3 - Start NIS by double-clicking the system tray icon (or via Start Menu) - this will reset the defaults.

If you have Program Control set to Automatic, you can use the Program Scan (found by selecting Firewall in the Status & Settings pane) > configure option > Program Scan tab > Scan > follow prompts. This will find all programs with internet access capabilities and set rules for them.

The only other thing I can think of that would create a problem, would be some sort of conflict between the Norton Anti-Virus program and any Anti-Virus scanning software your e-mail provider is using.

You could safely test this by opening Norton Anti-Virus > Options > E-mail > deselect Scan out-going mail (I do not recommend deselecting Scan in-coming mail) > send a message to someone to test.

Note - there should also be an office plug-in in the Miscellaneous section of AV, which you could try diabling if other procedures fail.

That is it for me.

lifehappens

on Jul 27, 2005

Norton drove me crazy! It kept telling me that Hotmail was an "unsafe site" and I was finally fed up with it blocking stuff, so I disabled it completely. Sigh. I'm jsut not smart enough to fight the battle of anti-spam/viruses without going nuts in the process!

Corky_O

on Jul 27, 2005

Sorry - mistyped - use Program Control tab (typed Program Scan tab).

To qualify:

I use NIS 2003 Pro with all defaults on (with the exception of Productivity Control and Accounts, which is not installed by choice).

I run Outlook 2002 (Office XP), with service from Comcast.net - no e-mail issues during the 2 years of use.

Island Dog

on Jul 27, 2005

The best way to fix your problem is to uninstall Norton.

kona0197

on Jul 27, 2005

Easy solution: don't use Norton.

PoSmedley

on Jul 27, 2005

I have had my own problems with Norton. Most notably, it did not catch all the nasty virus' and such that snuck into my PC. I use AVG (which is free) and uninstalled Norton when I found Avast (also free). I have heard that Avast is a power hog...and when it is running an actual scan, it may be, (my PC isn't exactly made for power users), but both AVG and AVAST found stuff that Norton could not. In all the years I have used Norton, it has NEVER found anything that another virus program could not. I also found that AVG and Avast work well together, where Norton had all kinds of conflicts with other programs. (Avast has one small conflict with ZA, but it gives you the option to fix it). You do have to register with Avast, even if you are only using the free version, but it's worth the couple a minutes. Avast is also skinnable!

dharmagrl

on Jul 27, 2005

The best way to fix your problem is to uninstall Norton.

I'm thinking so, but then I'd be totally unprotected....

Danny Bassette

on Jul 27, 2005

Unprotected? Try something else then. I use AVG for virus scanning and Zone Alarm for firewall. Both have free versions, if pricing is an issue.

Fuzzy Logic

on Jul 27, 2005

The best way to fix your problem is to uninstall Norton.

If anyone manages to uninstall NIS without requiring a clean install afterwards let us know - it will be a world first!

NightTrainthedark

on Jul 27, 2005

If anyone manages to uninstall NIS without requiring a clean install afterwards let us know - it will be a world first!

Done it 3 times. Believe it or not, Norton's uninstall via your registry works pretty good.

Bichur

on Jul 27, 2005

Done it 3 times. Believe it or not, Norton's uninstall via your registry works pretty good.

I followed Norton's instruction to a tee.
Including using 3 of their uninstall tools when needed per their suggestion & editing, renaming, and deleting registry per their instructions for 4 1/2 days. This was early June - found out last week while reading the forum here, my BITS was destroyed and I had received no critical windows updates since the 1st Norton uninstall.

Sleeping Dragon

on Jul 27, 2005

I've done it also. No problems. Only one time, though, so maybe I got lucky.

Jafo

on Jul 27, 2005

Uninstalling Norton will not remove all of it...junk remains.

To give you an example of how 'lowly' I regard Norton....in June I renewed my sub...30 US ...in July it's deleted from my system...one 'issue' TOO many. BITS was the final straw.

Solution is to remove it [good luck] and run in its place...something like Zone Alarm and AVG....[I already had Zone Pro...so all that was needed was a freebie AVG and I save $30 a year...and no more 'issues'...a win-win situation].

Pity about that wasted sub.....wonder if the wife's machine could cope with it....

Erk.

on Jul 27, 2005

Yep, when Norton A-V went pear-shaped for me, I spent hours on the phone with tech support [some guy in India, I believe]. Apart from me not being able to understand what he was saying most of the time. The problem was never solved.

In the end, I uninstalled Norton ~which caused so many other problems I also had to do a fresh install of XP.

Now, like many others, I won't touch a Norton product ever again. I use the free version of AVG, and Zonealarm Pro. My system is far healthier as a result.

Sincerely hope you get the problems fixed though, Dharma.

Bichur

on Jul 27, 2005

Uninstalling Norton will not remove all of it...junk remains.

yeah, I'm still finding remnants - just found their deepsight extraction in 'services' when checking my BITS. Once I figure how to make it safely go away...

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