Norton 360

[koopalive0303]

First of all, thanks to everyone who tried to help me.

I tried resetting Norton's firewall and click No when ask to disable Windows firewall then restart, but it didn't work. However, I did find out at the very first few seconds when I first get into windows desktop, Windows firewall was ON for probably 1 minute, then it was turned off, I'm guessing probably by Norton 360. This time Norton 360 did not prompt me with any message, and I didn't put a check mark on "Do not notify me again" box.

I see some people saying having both firewall on may cause problems? In the previous version of Norton before I updated, I DID have both firewall ON at the same time without any problem, and problems mean Norton's not turning off Windows firewall and I didn't suspect any program running weird. But could the new version cause some problem? maybe?

Someone said turn off Norton's firewall and keep Windows firewall on. That's true and I've actually thought about it also, but I think that kinda defeat the purpose of this product, so I'd like to have both firewall on.

Back to the original question: How can I keep both Norton 360 firewall and Windows Firewall ON, or How can I stop Norton from turning off Windows firewall?

between, I'm running Vista Home Premium.

[mumford68]

Sorry Dbrisendine and Koopalive0303,  I had misunderstood and thought it to be a school computer, after more reading I understand it to be a home computer connecting to the school's network.

Koop, I think the issue that Db was raising as it's my understanding that running more than one firewall program at a time can bring up issues such as one firewall closing a port whereas the other firewall might open it, for instance.  I don't think there would be much of any noticible problem with the running of any programs except for possibly slowing down the internet or security concerns.  However my technical background is well below any of the posters in this thread so I will leave it up to them! :)

Take care,

Mumford68

[koopalive0303]

Ohh, I've never thought about the problem that one firewall may close one port while the other opening it.   Thank you.

Seems like I should just keep Windows firewall on and turn off Norton's firwall for now then...

[dbrisendine Norton Fighter]

The problem you really have with running more than one firewall on a system is that they all have to have the same rules in each rule set and interpret them the same way and respond the same way.  A great example of this is the problem that happened recently with the Live Updates for 2009 products and the HTTP/1.1 problem.  Some devices were correct in handling HTTP/1.1 requests and responses and others said they handled them but were not fully compliant with the standard.  So you get this double sifting of requests and replies that may go great from Internet to A to B to PC (B mangles but enough gets through to be acceptable) but going the other way ( PC to B [mangled] to A [says "whoa not good" drops the whole thing] to Internet [just sits there cause never heard back].

There's a lot more to this than what I present here but I think you get the idea.  The ports being open / closed is one issue but the double filtering of protocols and the sometimes inconsistent (at least between different FW products) behavior makes for a disaster that usually happens (disasters wait for no one).

[koopalive0303]

I just realize, what about with Windows defender? Is it the same case as Windows firewall. Fow now, I have Norton's smart firewall turn off, because I need Windows firewall on to be able to connect to the Internet at my school.

Should I turn on Windows defender if I have Norton's smart firewall off?

[dbrisendine Norton Fighter]

Windows Defender is MS's anti-spyware and anti-malware software.  There are mixed feelings on this here.  Some people feel better having it on; some say it will interfere with Norton's protection.  I would say to turn it on (and see if it does not give any interference with Norton) in this case for several reasons. 

1)  You have a part of Norton's defensive shield disabled (due to circumstances beyond your control).

2)  Not sure how well Windows Firewall is going to fill the gap in the total system defense.

3)  Without the Firewall component on, WEB traffic is not scanned by Norton.  Files placed on the hard drive are scanned then.

So, with these in mind, turn on Windows Defender.  It will help in trying to secure your system.  Of course, the ideal situation is to have a fully functioning Norton suite but in this case you should be fine.  I'd would caution about using common sense with any security suite partially disabled; the actual best protection is your Brain.

If you need anything else, or have questions on my suggestions, feel free to come and ask anytime.

[koopalive0303]

Thanks a lot.

So I've turned off Norton's smart firewall already, but Norton is still turning off Windows firewall when I restart my computer, any idea why it is doing this???

[dbrisendine Norton Fighter]

Is Norton's firewall staying off all the time; I mean when you reboot the computer and check the firewall status it is off every time you check?

[koopalive0303]

Yes Norton's firewall is off all the time, and not only Windows firewall, Windows defender are turned off also when I restart my computer. Is it not suppose to act like this....@@"