Norton

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

I've recently been advised via these newsgroups to ditch most aspects of
Systemworks (possibly excluding the AV) and use win XP's own utilities, as
well as other free anti spyware and anti adware programs.
Can someone also please advise on Norton Internet security Professional?
Should I be using this? If I don't, what will protect me from whatever it
does????
Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

Norton Internet Security's main components are an antivirus program, an
antispam program, and a firewall. The Norton antivirus program is
excellent, and you won't go wrong using it. The antispam program is very
good, although maybe not the very best one you can get.

As third party firewalls go, Norton's is very good as well. The biggest
difference between the Norton firewall and the Windows firewall is that the
Windows firewall blocks only inbound communications (e.g. from the Interent
to your computer) other than those in response to something you do (e.g.
download e-mail or search the web), while Norton will also block suspicious
outbound communications (e.g. from your computer to the Internet, initiated
by crudware such as a Trojan or worm or spyware). As such, the Norton
firewall is more secure than the Windows firewall.

However, the additional security that comes with NIS comes at the cost of a
hit on performance and other problems, some of which I experienced myself
when using Norton and some I have read about over the Internet. [Note: In
fairness, some people report that they have not noticed such problems.]
Moreover, Symantec products are notoriously difficult to uninstall if you
later decide to switch to another vendor, such as Trend Micro or Computer
Associates.

If you educate yourself on how to keep rogue crudware off your system in the
first place, keep Windows XP up to date with regular updates (including SP2),
and also regularly use a good standalone antivirus program and good
antispyware software, you don't need to sacrifice performance or risk other
problems by resorting to intrusive third party software like NIS. I
currently use the Trend Micro standalone antivirus program (a compoment of
Trend Micro 2005 -- you don't have to install the firewall or other
components with the antivirus program), the Windows SP2 firewall, and the
Microsoft Beta spyware program, and have had no crudware problems to speak
of. For extra assurance if you want it, I would also suggest Ad Aware SE,
which you can download for free at www.lavasoft.de.

Ken





"Geoff A." wrote:

> I've recently been advised via these newsgroups to ditch most aspects of
> Systemworks (possibly excluding the AV) and use win XP's own utilities, as
> well as other free anti spyware and anti adware programs.
> Can someone also please advise on Norton Internet security Professional?
> Should I be using this? If I don't, what will protect me from whatever it
> does????
> Thanks.
>
>
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

I have the regular version of Norton's Internet Security [NOT the
Professional Version] and highly recommend use of the Anti-Virus portion
plus the Firewall. I do not use the parental control portion [do not need
such] or the Anti-Spam programs since every such program I have attempted
use of [Norton's plus more others than I care to mention] created more
problems
than I considered them to be worth.
Gene K
"Geoff A." <geoffashton@DELETEdsl.pipex.com> wrote in message
news:OIp7pYPEFHA.624@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> I've recently been advised via these newsgroups to ditch most aspects of
> Systemworks (possibly excluding the AV) and use win XP's own utilities, as
> well as other free anti spyware and anti adware programs.
> Can someone also please advise on Norton Internet security Professional?
> Should I be using this? If I don't, what will protect me from whatever it
> does????
> Thanks.
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

"Ken Gardner" wrote:

> > As third party firewalls go, Norton's is very good as well. The biggest
> difference between the Norton firewall and the Windows firewall is that the
> Windows firewall blocks only inbound communications (e.g. from the Interent
> to your computer) other than those in response to something you do (e.g.
> download e-mail or search the web), while Norton will also block suspicious
> outbound communications (e.g. from your computer to the Internet, initiated
> by crudware such as a Trojan or worm or spyware). As such, the Norton
> firewall is more secure than the Windows firewall.
>
> > Ken
>
>
>
>
>
>
I have a problem specifically because of the blocking of outbound
communication. Norton classifies these attempts as high, medium or low risk,
and recommends permitting or blocking accordingly. My problem is that I have
no way of knowing if these attempts are legitimate and can only go on the
firewall's recommendation. I may be blocking something which is okay or even
beneficial to my system, such as updates, and I haven't a clue. I have
Norton virus protection with automatic update, and scan regularly for viruses
anyway, and of course the firewall would block anything untoward trying to
get into the computer. Theoretically I suppose this means that there is
nothing on my system which is dangerous and therefore I should allow any
outbound access - but I don't quite dare. The ones that turn up most
frequently are all in WINDOWS/System 32 and the one that's been driving me
crazy with repeated attempts is vmss.exe - anyone have any ideas?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.security_admin (More info?)

"Anniebeth" wrote:

> I have a problem specifically because of the blocking of outbound
> communication. Norton classifies these attempts as high, medium or low risk,
> and recommends permitting or blocking accordingly. My problem is that I have
> no way of knowing if these attempts are legitimate and can only go on the
> firewall's recommendation. I may be blocking something which is okay or even
> beneficial to my system, such as updates, and I haven't a clue.

I have had this problem with Norton as well, not to mention Zone Alarm.
These programs don't do a great job of telling you exactly whey they classify
the risks the way they do. Moreover, their recommendations are probably
more conservative than you need, with the result that you sometimes end up
blocking perfectly legitimate programs. As for the really bad stuff that
does somehow get on your machine, I have read -- although I haven't
experienced it first hand -- that some of it is capable of getting past these
firewalls and "phoning home," so even then there is no guarantee that they
will do what they are supposed to do.

My view is that if the problem is rogue crudware getting on your machine and
then "phoning home," using a third party firewall is a bit like locking your
front door after the criminals have already infiltrated your house. The best
solution is not to let the crud get on your machine in the first place.
There are lots of ways to do this, the best of which is keeping antivirus
software and Windows XP fully up to date (including SP2) and educating
yourself on how to avoid crudware. The good news here is that virtually all
crudware gets on your machine because of bad choices you made to download it
(or open e-mail attachments, or click on suspect popups). So don't make
these bad choices! Learn how to avoid making bad choices. Other
preventative measures include a good antispyware program (which is hard to
find, I know, but the Microsoft Beta is the best one I've tried and I've
tried several). I would also recommend Ad-Aware SE, and others have
recommended Spybot (which I used to use until I discovered the MS beta).

>I have Norton virus protection with automatic update, and scan regularly for
> viruses anyway, and of course the firewall would block anything untoward trying
> to get into the computer. Theoretically I suppose this means that there is
> nothing on my system which is dangerous and therefore I should allow any
> outbound access - but I don't quite dare. The ones that turn up most
> frequently are all in WINDOWS/System 32 and the one that's been driving me
> crazy with repeated attempts is vmss.exe - anyone have any ideas?

Here is what I found with a quick Google search. Looks like you should
remove it, but read the link and decide for yourself.

http://www.liutilities.com/products/wintaskspro/processlibrary/vmss/

Incidentally, I suspect that if you had used Ad-Aware SE (free download at
www.lavasoft.de) and updated and ran it, it would have caught this one and
removed it. But here is a case where a third party firewall actually did
its job. If you don't feel confident in your ability to keep adware of
spyware off your machine, Norton is probably a better solution than the
Windows firewall, notwithstanding everything I said above.

Ken