Hi nikki605:
Sorry, my bad. The article here titled What New in Norton Internet Security 2012 has a section called Bandwidth Metering, but the NIS 2012 Product Manual (available for download here) refers to the feature as Metered Broadband Mode. I've been told this feature is also useful if you have a slow Internet connection with limited bandwidth (e.g., a home dial-up connection) and want to minimize the bandwidth consumed by the background idletime Norton tasks like Automatic LiveUpdates and Norton Community Watch.
The following instructions are adapted from the NIS 2012 Product Manual.
- In the Norton Internet Security main window, click Settings.
- In the Settings window, click the Network tab.
- In the left pane, click Network Security Settings.
- In the Metered Broadband Mode row, move the On/Off switch to the left to the On position.
- Click Configure. The Metered Network Settings window lists all the adapters that Norton Internet Security uses to connect to the Internet.
- Under the Policy column, click the drop-down list next to the adapter for which you want to set up a policy.
- Select one of the following - No Limit, Critical Updates Only or No Traffic (see Notes).
- Click Apply, and then click OK.
- In the Settings window, click OK.
Notes:
No Limit - Lets Norton Internet Security use the network bandwidth that is required to ensure complete protection.
Critical Updates Only - Lets Norton Internet Security access the Internet only to receive critical product updates or virus definitions. If you have a limited Internet connection, you can select the Critical Updates Only option to ensure protection from different security threats.
No Traffic - Lets you block Norton Internet Security from connecting to the Internet. If you choose this policy, Norton Internet Security cannot receive critical virus definitions and program updates, which can lead to potential dangers and virus attacks.
Further information on Critical Updates Only vs. No Traffic can be found in Symantec employee michaell's post here.
I'm still using NIS 2011 so I haven't had a chance to actually try out this new feature.
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Windows Vista Home Premium 32-bit SP2 * NIS 2011 v. 18.6.0.29 * IE 9.0 * Firefox 9.0.1
HP Pavilion dv6835ca, Intel Core2Duo CPU T5550 @ 1.83 GHz, 3.0 GB RAM, NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS
