Norton 360

[ShinyThings]

Hello.  I'm taking NSS 5.2.0.13 for a test spin on Win7 Home Premium and have some questions about its firewall functionality...

- Based on a) the Windows firewall settings are is being managed by... message which I don't see with another vendor's firewall, and b) what I think is a Windows Firewall prompt asking me to select the type of network when I change connections, I'm thinking that NSS is a management layer which controls/utilizes Windows Firewall.  Is that the case?  

- Is there a way to temporarily disable the NSS firewall, gain back full control over the Windows Firewall, run some tests with Windows Firewall perhaps tweaking a few of its rules, then once I'm done re-activate the NSS firewall and have it behave as it did before?

- What is the difference between Protected and Restricted?  The Restricted descriptions says "The devices that are on Restricted network cannot communicate with your computer. However, you can still use the network to browse Web sites, send email messages, or transmit other communications.".  Does the later setting try to restrict communications to only essential boxes on the subnet such as DHCP server, gateway, DNS servers?

- Is there a reliable means of configuring a default network trust level so that regardless of what the machine is connected to there will be NO prompts and the trust level will remain Protected (or Restricted if I am so inclined)?

- How does one create a trust level specific rule?  I walked through creating a traffic rule and didn't see an option to specify "Shared Network" or "Restricted Network" etc.  

Thanks for your time.

[SUBASH_PRABU Symantec Employee]

Hi Shiny

     Welcome and Cool Questions you got there. 

Windows Firewall will give you basic protection in the absence of a firewall program in the computer(backup force). As soon as you install NIS/N360/NSS the firewall section in your computer will be taken over by the Firewall in them. And Norton Uses their own firewall to give protection. And the prompt you get when you connect to a different network is from windows network and sharing center, you' get the prompt so that the windows can alter the file sharing, Network Discovery,etc settings according to the Network type(HOME/WORK/Public).

Yes you can disable the NSS Firewall temporarily, by doing a right click on the System Tray icon and select Disable Smart Firewall then select a time duration. Once youRe-enable the NSS firewall, the Windows Firewall will get turned off and taken-over by NSS Firewall.

Protected = The Inbound and Outbound is possible, Eventhough the Inbound is allowed the contents will be monitored for threats. By default Protected Status will be applied to a Network, if the user didn't gave any status.

Restricted = The Inbound(access to the data in your Computer/Sharing) is not at all possible from the device which is classified as Restricted.

You can Edit/Change the Trust Levels in the Network Security Map(NSS-->Tasks-->Check Network Security Map). You can manually add a Network and give a desired Status for it or you can edit an existing Networks Status to a desired Level. To change a Networks status to Protected change the option in the left to Trust Control and then edit the Trust level to give it a protected status.

[SendOfJive Norton Fighter]

Hi ShinyThings,

Windows 7 automatically cedes firewall management to any installed third-party firewall program, such as Norton.  As long as Norton, or another firewall, is installed, the Window Firewall will be disabled - even if you turn off the Norton Firewall.  This is a Windows feature to prevent issues that can arise from having two firewalls running.  Until you uninstall Norton, the Windows Firewall will not be accessible to you.

The Network Security Map Trust Levels determine what traffic from devices on your Local Area Network will be allowed into your computer.  By default, if you have File and Printer Sharing enabled when you install Norton, the Network Trust Level will be "Shared," which configures the firewall to allow file sharing while maintaining other firewall rules.  If you do not use sharing, the Network Trust Level will be "Protected," which applies all of the same firewall rules to network traffic as are applied to traffic from the internet.  "Full Trust" allows all traffic, and "Restricted" blocks all communication from other devices on the LAN.

In the Network Security Map you can set the Network Trust Level to whatever you feel is appropriate, and devices added to your network will inherit that trust level.  You can also change the Trust Level of each device by selecting it in the map and editing its Trust Level.  So you can configure your network to allow sharing, yet still block all connections from a specific computer belonging to a reckless teenager, for example.

For management of local network traffic, it is much tidier to make your configurations in the Network Security Map rather than in the Norton Smart Firewall settings.  The Firewall should usually be left in its default state, and only modified when a specific issue needs to be addressed.

[ShinyThings]

Thanks for the info :)