Norton Personal Firewall vs Windows XP

XP has a buit in firewall. It is much better to use that than try o use a 3rd party firewall (as most will have compatibility issues with XP).

To enable XPs firewall:

START > My Network Places > View Network Connections

Then right click on the connection you want to firewall and click properties, click on the advanced tab and check the box.

Norton Personal Firewall vs XP
Thanks Craven. I did as you instructed.

I'm looking forward to learning a lot of new things with XP - this was just the beginning.

I never even thought to ask. Thanks, Tomkitten.

NO PROBLEMS WITH NORTON FIREWALL AND WINDOWS XP
Tomkitten - No suggestions to help you, but I wanted to let you know that I've never had any trouble running these two "items" together. The one and only problem I've discovered MAY be with the Firewall ... and it may not be: I can't post on the Message Board Interactions at Spark Notes. Since I'm "all over" the Net without this glitch, I'm inclined to think the problem is theirs. Their support team doesn't answer any email EVER! Some of the public at large there have been trying to lend me assistance. Mostly, I just come here or go elsewhere. Keep us posted on what's going on with you and your computer setup. :-) - Charli [/color]

Windows XP vs Norton Firewall
I have to give great credit to Symantec. Although it was complicated because I couldn't just open a book and get referred to page 22 or 300 or whatever, they did walk me through the process of properly getting rid of the all the Norton stuff, new and old, and reinstalling.

I say it's a nuisance, because each time they refer you to a new step it's apt to include a further referral to some other document altogether, and you wind up with a heck of a lot of printouts. My printer was working overtime on this. But that's computers, I guess.

However, things seem to be back on track, and I suspect the problem wasn't with XP at all, but with something I accidentally deleted while checking out a list of stuff, dubious and otherwise, that came up on a list of Ad-Aware or Spybot finds.

MAYBE ...
Tomkitten - This is a huge MAYBE, because there's always so much going on at this establishment and on these computers. But, I THINK I probably had to delete the XP VirusScan program ... TRELLIX? Can't even be positive that's the name of it. However, I'm sure I did something like that. There was still software telephone help from Sony at that time. The support person said, "Oh, you don't need Symantec; what's in the machine is fine." Me: "Thanks anyway; we prefer to have Symantec installed." I'm fairly sure that's how the whole scenario went. Well, as you know, you get the updates and every few days/weeks Symantec traps a "baddie." Back in the dark ages - several years ago - Symantec did a "perfect" job of clearing out "Pretty Park" virus that infected the software here. For some reason, we seem to be one of those among the targets, so we run the virus program, spybots, and firewall constantly. 'Tis a-wearying! Good wishes! :-) Charli

P.S. Runs lots of filters in the email, too. Even so, there is an additional huge amount of spam at our ISP's web mail site: At least 60 a day. I know it's less than 3 days since I checked and there were 184 pieces of garbage tonight to delete!!! :-) :-) :-) [/color]

IMO using Norton for antivirus protection is a very good idea, but using them for a firewall is not (on XP).

Howdy Kraven:

Sorry, but I am going to disagree with you BIG time.. XP's firewall stinks plain and simple.. Go to www.grc.com and run their scanner.. It goes through XP like a hot knife through butter.

I have been using the Norton firewall ever since I had broadband migrating from Win98SE to XP and have never had a lick of trouble with it.

Just make sure XP's firewall is disabled.

Murray

HI Murray! Welcome to A2K!

Murray,

The automated attacks that Sheilds Up performs is just one slice of the pie.

Howdy Phoenix:

Thanks for the welcome. !!

Murray

I just ran all the shields up tests. XP's firewall passed every single one with flying colors.

21
FTP
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

23
Telnet
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

25
SMTP
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

79
Finger
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

80
HTTP
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

110
POP3
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

113
IDENT
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

135
RPC
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

139
Net
BIOS
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

143
IMAP
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

443
HTTPS
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

445
MSFT
DS
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

5000
UPnP
Stealth! There is NO EVIDENCE WHATSOEVER that a port (or even any computer) exists at this IP address!

XP Firewall
Craven:

Don't want to burst your bubble, but did you run the LeakTest as well??

As per GRC.com..

The Windows XP built-in firewall:

The rate of LeakTest downloads jumped significantly on October 25th, 2001, presumably due to the release of Windows XP on that date.

It is understandable that new Internet savvy users of Windows XP, who are aware of our work here at grc.com, would be curious to learn about their new system and its Internet defenses.

Just so you know, WinXP's built-in firewall does not attempt to manage or restrict outbound connections at all. It appears to be a useful firewall for hiding the machine from the Internet (it has "stealth mode" unsolicited packet handling), but you will still need to use a good third-party personal firewall if you wish to manage and control outbound connections from your system.

Murray

Valid point, but I never have a problem with outbound connections. I'm more worried about inbound. The only way outbound can possibly be unwanted (in my case) is if a virus turns my system into a mail server to spread the virus. I don't install anything that "phones home" unless I am aware of it.

Preferences
Everybody has their own preferences. I prefer to know what is going in and out. Others may not.

Nice to know we do have the choice though isn't it !!

Murray

Yup, preferences are always good. Do you know if Norton's firewall runs with as big of a footprint as Zone Alarm? I'm often tempted to call Zone Alarm bloatware.

XP firewall vs Norton
I'm intrigues by the various - and strng - opinions here. From these responses and from other sources I've come to the conclusion that feelings are pretty equally divided.

Norton
Craven:

If it is anything like their AV program or SystemWorks, then I would have to say at least as big..

Murray