Extreme slowness in IE7 using Norton phishing filter(?)

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You might want to disable IE7’s phishing filter.

Thank you for your reply.

 

Unfortunately, disabling the phishing filter in IE7 did not solve the problem (at least not for some users that tried it, it could help for some version of NIS or version of IE7 maybe).

 

I tried contacting the Norton Helpdesk (chat), but the person was not very helpful and promised to send some 'firewall rules' that would fix the problem but failed to explain why, and I never received his e-mail.

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I managed to pinpoint the exact problem using a copy of NIS2008. The problem lies in the use of an <iframe src="javascript&colonfalse" ...> tag which is used to lay a menu over select boxes etc in IE. My guess is now that these calls take pretty long (a few seconds) and because we have several menu items we put the tags on, this adds up to more than a minute of waiting -- but I'll have to verify my findings tomorrow.

 

Now, how to contact Norton tech guys about this problem? :)

Message Edited by marijn on 10-13-2008 08:48 PM
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Have you tried allowing IE7 through the firewall? You need to make sure that it is set on allow, not auto, custom, or block. Have you also tried other browsers?

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Thanks. I tried now, but it didn't fix the problem.

 

I have made an isolated proof of concept of the problem, along with some extra information: http://www.marijnspeelman.nl/norton/nortonslow-poc.html

 

Would be nice if anyone using the affected versions (check the link or read my message) could test it. Especially an Symantec employee! :)

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We've got the same problem.  Started on 10/7.   Heavy javascript with javescript:false.

 

Disabling the Phishing filter through MSIE add ons does resolve it -- but we're not crazy about telling our customers to disable a security option on their PC!  We need Norton to correct!

 

What changed on 10/6 or 10/7?  Liveupdate push?

 

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Great, thought I was going crazy :) I checked the Live Updates log and tried disabling some of the signatures that were added or updated, but I couldn't find the one that caused the problem.

 

Because we now 'fixed' / worked around it and it took quite some time to debug (since when, what version, what pages, what software, OS, helpdesk contact, etc, ) all this, I don't want to invest more time in this than necessary. I really think Symantec should investigate and fix this bug. Could you verify that my PoC also locks up your browser?

Message Edited by marijn on 10-15-2008 05:16 PM
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Hello,

 

Since about 6 october quite of few of our website visitors (we received about 150 complaints in a day), complained about very slow response times (from 60 up to 300 seconds) and unresponsiveness of our website in IE7. Of course we first investigated if this could a server-side or maybe Javascript problem, but now it seems that it's related to some Norton products.

 

When the phishing filter is turned OFF, many people have normal response times again, and when turned on, the problems are back. On the other hand, there are also people where this change doesn't have any effect.

 

Both Vista and Windows XP (SP2, SP3) seem to be affected, as well as NIS2008 and Norton 360. We're still in the process of gathering more information and trying to find some sort of pattern (visitors could accidently give us incorrect information, which makes it more difficult of course). The slowness only occurs in IE7, Firefox or Google Chrome are normal for example. What is also strange, is they only have this problem on our website.

 

I tried to replicate this issue by installing Norton 360 and using IE7 + Norton Phishing filter, but for me everthing is normal / fast. I also noticed another topic here with a similar problem description: http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=nis_feedback&thread.id=11317 I already gave the advice to someone to upgrade to NIS2009 (from NIS2008) to see if that fixes the problem, but I didn't receive any response yet and as the problem also occurs with people using Norton 360 this won't be the solution.

 

Does anyone have a clue of what's going on here? Were there maybe any updates earlier this week on the phishing filter?

 

Any help is greatly appreciated!

 

Marijn 

Found the same issue in different machines and willing if Norton had any roadmap for it. Please at least tell us you are planning on it.

Thanks


kb2008 wrote:

We've got the same problem.  Started on 10/7.   Heavy javascript with javescript:false.

 

Disabling the Phishing filter through MSIE add ons does resolve it -- but we're not crazy about telling our customers to disable a security option on their PC!  We need Norton to correct!

 

What changed on 10/6 or 10/7?  Liveupdate push?

 


Disabling the IE phishing filter helps? In that case it is Microsoft to blame. Since IE is a closed source project, your best bet is contacting Microsoft. 

I think he’s talking about the Norton phishing filter add-on. This must be a problem with Norton, check my proof of concept. Upgrading Norton or disabling the add-on (Norton Confidential, coIEplg.dll) solves it, but that’s not good advice to customers.

Yep - disabling the Norton add-on that corrects it.

 

Because of its extreme slowness I have given up using N360 Phishing filter.

I downloaded the free McAfee Site Advisor which is much quicker.

 

When these forums indicate that the N360 V2 phishing filter is at least a quick as McAfee Site Advisor then I will start using it. 

We've had this problem too, reported from different users of a few of our websites - extremely slow loading of javascript menus in IE7 only. Took a while to identify that the common factor is IE7 and Norton Internet Security. Can be solved at the user end if the user disables the Norton confidential browser helper add-on in IE7. But that doesn't help all the other users! A lot of people have Norton IS.

 

I've asked Norton's support people but they just replied telling me how to disable phishing controls - pah! Disabling the Norton IE7 add-on is the only reliable way to fix it for users.

 

We need to know what's causing the conflict so it's not an issue for all users with Norton IS. The issue started about a month ago, so must be related to an update from Norton.

 

If Symantic tech support people are monitoring this forum, please advise whether you will be implementing a fix anytime soon??

I don't know the exact technical cause, but as said earlier, I do have a clear proof of concept of what piece of code is causing this:

http://www.marijnspeelman.nl/norton/nortonslow-poc.html

 

As workaround you could use javascript&colonabout:blank, but I read somewhere that this gives an error when using https:// in IE.

 

I don't see why this is something that can't be fixed by Norton, it used to work before.

This problem has existed for some time with norton confidential coIEPlg.dll.  I have IS 2008 and it prevents users from downloading email attachments when using Hotmail or Yahoo mail.  It causes a 30 second delay when accessing my online bank register, and the same 30 second delay when attempting to track a UPS number via pasting the tracking number in Google and then using the provided search link.

 

Everytime I have a problem I simply disable norton confidential in IE add-ons an the problem ceases.  Alternatively, I have used FireFox without any problems--thankfully Symantec does not install any addon in FireFox.

 

I have reported this problem numerous times to no avail.  Symantec always blames a conflict with other addons.  I have not found this to be the case.  The clear winner causing this problem is coIEPlg.dll. 

 

I have turned-off my automatic renewal and will look elsewhere when my subscription expires at the first of the year.  It is not only that the product is faulty, it is that Symantec fails to provide the level of service to justify my repeat business.  I was using another product prior to IS 2008 when I bought a new computer.  The trial seemed to work well so I simply purchased a copy, rather than uninstall which never eliminates all artifacts.

 

But now I plan to uninstall it and go back to what I was using before.

Update:  I was so annoyed by all the posts regarding performance issues with norton confidential IE add-on and Symantec's lack of interest that I moved on to a different product.  After doing some research I chose not to return to Trendmicro's suite but instead moved on to ESET Smart Security (includes their NOD32 antivirus product).  It seems a bit pricey but the stats presented were very impressive both in performance and endorsements.  Although  it has only been a couple of hours I believe Symantec has made the same mistake IBM made in failing to listen to users.  Compaq garnered from that mistake, and when Compaq felt it was too secure it lost out to Dell.  Users will typically stay with what they know except when what they know no longer works, or becomes overpriced.  Symantec has lost my business and it is totally on them.


gxh wrote:

This problem has existed for some time with norton confidential coIEPlg.dll.  I have IS 2008 and it prevents users from downloading email attachments when using Hotmail or Yahoo mail.  It causes a 30 second delay when accessing my online bank register, and the same 30 second delay when attempting to track a UPS number via pasting the tracking number in Google and then using the provided search link.

 

Everytime I have a problem I simply disable norton confidential in IE add-ons an the problem ceases.  Alternatively, I have used FireFox without any problems--thankfully Symantec does not install any addon in FireFox.

 

I have reported this problem numerous times to no avail.  Symantec always blames a conflict with other addons.  I have not found this to be the case.  The clear winner causing this problem is coIEPlg.dll. 

 

I have turned-off my automatic renewal and will look elsewhere when my subscription expires at the first of the year.  It is not only that the product is faulty, it is that Symantec fails to provide the level of service to justify my repeat business.  I was using another product prior to IS 2008 when I bought a new computer.  The trial seemed to work well so I simply purchased a copy, rather than uninstall which never eliminates all artifacts.

 

But now I plan to uninstall it and go back to what I was using before.


 

Hello ghx,

 

Did you try NIS 2009? NIS 2009 contained many bug fixes for the software, as well as performance improvements. The download is available here - http://www.norton.com/nis09

 

The User Forums are here not just to allow other to discuss the product, but also to allow us to listen directly to the customer and hear our customers concerns. These forums are not as much for Technical Suport (as most of us here are not in the Tech Support department), as much as it is to have a peer-to-peer discussion.

 

Let me know if the newer version solves your problem. As you may or may not know, current subscribers of NIS/NAV 2006 and above are allowed a free update to the 2009 products.

Fixing the problem for specific users is only a tiny part of the solution. As a web designer and website manager, how can I tell all my thousands of website visitors to turn off IE7 add-ons or upgrade their Norton software?

 

Many of these users won't bother to visit a forum like this - they'll just give up on viewing the websites that don't load properly. Not what I or my website clients want to hear.

 

Because the Norton IS add-on causes Javascript menus to get stuck or take 30-40 seconds to load, my only solution at the moment is to remove these menus on any site that has them. That takes time and money, and it means reducing usability for all the other users who aren't Norton customers. The annoying thing is all these sites were fine until a month ago. Now I'm faced with a lot of reworking to fix a problem caused by a third party that's out of my control.

 

Who can I contact in Symantec who can tell me whether there are any fixes planned, or what aspects of the add-on might cause problems with javascript? The customer tech support people seem to advise individual users only; I need a contact who understands the software itself so I can fix the broader problem.