ok...... upon today's startup, i was greeted with a prompt from Windows Firewall, asking if i wanted to allow a program access.
curious, i went to Windows Firewall settings.
it still said "These settings are being managed by Norton".
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm
look again, and NO programs have internet access, even Chrome!
frustrated, i start running all the troubleshooting programs, including calling my ISP, inquiring if there's an outage.
no anomalies.
so Norton Security Deluxe must be the culprit, by process of elimination.
fine.
uninstall, restart......
this part's very frustrating. every bootup i'm prompted to install Norton Internet Security - the product i had way back when (this time i stupidly clicked ok, as i thought it was prompting me to reinstall NSD had to wait a half hour for it to finish installing, uninstall and another reboot).
there's nothing in my startup programs.
delving deeper, i spotted NIS-ESD in C:\Users\Public\Downloads\Norton\{NISREMEXE-SHPD-FSD5183} (and a few other files).
would deleting that file rectify that (or the entire folder)?
entire day.
ruined. 