I have a problem similar to what some other N360 users have been reporting, and which seems to have started just about the time that N360 v5 came down onto my PC.
Up until about two weeks ago, my Vista x64 could see all the other computers on the LAN (a Vista x64 laptop, a WinXP, a Win98SE, and a Win98). Now it can only see itself, although the other computers can see each other, no problem.
I had actually tried the instructions about turning on Full Trust before seeing them referenced in another thread. Turned all computers to Full Trust, but my PC still cannot see them. When I first changed the computers to Full Trust in the firewall settings, it did see them for a while, but after a later reboot I was back to square one.
I don't know what else to do. I've checked all the network adapter and router settings, re-checked file and drive shares, fiddled with the N360 firewall rules -- nothing seems to make any difference.
This is frustrating. I move files to and from my various computers frequently, and it's MUCH better to just shoot the file over than to have to plug in a thumb drive, copy the file to it, then plug the thumb drive on the target PC and copy the file into it from the thumb drive. Plus there's the irony that it's my most powerful computer that now has the least amount of functionality on the LAN.
Hope we can come up with a solution that works. Any ideas are welcome.
I went in to change the trust level under Local Area Connection to Full, but I’d already done that. The odd thing (maybe), though, is that when I put a check mark next to Trust Control (rather than Local Area Connection), nothing was listed in the right panel and every option was grayed out except for the [+] button. All it said in the right panel was, “There are no devices in Trust Control.”
What does that mean, or what does it do? The computers already show up (and are reported as having Full Trust) when I uncheck Trust Control and check Local Area Connection.
As you suggested, I unplugged the router, plugged it back in, and rebooted. Further, I disabled the N360 firewall for 15 mintues and told the PC to check out the network. It still sees only itself.
Next I went into the Services and also enabled Universal Plug and play (UPnP) so that I could click on Network Discovery in the Network and Sharing Center. That didn't make any difference, either. The other services that Windows Help says need to be enabled in order for Network Discovery to work -- dnscache, fdrespub, and ssdpsrv -- are also running, FWIW.
Trust Control is the area where devices that you have added manually are listed. Local Area Connection shows devices that Norton has detected on the network automatically.
One thing you might try is to rebuild your network. Disconnect all the peripheral devices and PCs. Open the Network Security Map and make sure that Remote Monitoring is turned OFF. Next, close the Network Security Map (this must be closed prior to the next step). Then, in the main Norton window, go to Network Settings > Network Security Map and click Purge [+]. Now reconnect your devices. The Network Security Map should recognize them automatically as you connect them.
I just tried everything you recommended (thank you). I disconnected the other PCs on the network by turning off the network switch (not the same as the router). Then I opened and closed the network security map as you said, purged it (all the PCs disappared from view), and finally plugged the power back into the switch.
The other PCs came back into N360's view, but Windows is still not finding them -- only the same computer I'm working on, just like before we tried this. This wasn't happening before version 5 got downloaded and installed. Meanwhile, I have enabled UPnP in the hope that that would fix the problem, but no dice... and I've heard a ton of bad thingsabout leaving UPnP enabled.
I'm confident that there's no malware on my PC: I checked it with (a) N360, (b) NPE rootkit scan, (c) Norton's online scanner, (d) Windows Defender, (e) the Eset NOD online scanner, (f) F-Secure's EasyClean, (g) Microsoft's new Safety Scanner, (h) the Malicious Software Removal Tool, and (i) Avira AntiVir which comes bundled with the Ultimate Boot CD -- and none of them found any evil code. (The last one is especially significant because the UBCD boots Linux (or is it BSD), so AntiVir can catch rootkits and other stuff that hides from Windows.)
Guess we need to look for a different solution to the problem.
If it didn't work with the firewall turned off, expecially if you did a reboot after turning it off, then I don't think any settings are going to help. Something must have gone bad in the update or something else caused a conflict.
I think the next step is removing 360 and re-establishing the network connections and then directly installing the new version. I'm just unsure if the Norton removal tool will be necessary after the uninstall.
I was afraid of that! Is there a comprehensive list of instructions to follow -- I want to be able to recreate my settings after uninstalling+reinstalling; I'm also using Norton Online Backup, and I'd hate to have to rebuild that list of files.
Matter of fact, it was a misfire with NOBU that convinced me there is nothing better to do than to try a reinstall. When I ran it this morning, it claimed that there wasn't enough space left to finish my backup, even though there darn well is
Hopefully one of them will do the trick. But I need to go through one more step before I can do this -- turns out that I have ZERO installations of N360 left, even though I have only ever installed it on TWO computers. So I will have to ask to get one of my installations back. I only discovered this because I went on my Norton account to look for my product key, and there was the display telling me I had no installations remaining. I would have been left without N360 for however long it took to get this straightened out.
What a royal pain in the @$$ this whole process is. (Pardon my French...)
You should be OK with the activations, Norton leaves behind something with your license and when you reinstall it should not count as another activation. It should know that the system already is authorized and activated.
I know it's a pain, but there are 2 ways to go about it and I can't tell you for sure if the easy way will work.
The easy way would be to uninstall 360 from the control panel and choose the option to "save all settings and data"
Then after rebooting, the network may come right back up the way it should.
Then you may just be able to re-install 360 v5 and have everything work.
The "not as easy" way would be to first backup your identity safe, uninstall it using the option to "remove everything"
reboot, run the norton removal tool, reboot again, re-establish your network and then reinstall 360 v5.
It's just impossible to say if you need a simple re-install or if you indeed need to do the complete removal and cleanup as well. Without knowing the exact cause of the problem, nobody could know for sure so most people might reccomend doing the full cleanup as an extra precaution.
Me however, would try it the easy way first and only do the full cleanup if it became necessary.
But I wouldn't try to re-install version 4, it's not a problem with the new version that is causing the problem, something in the update must have gone wrong.
If you find yourself needing to be online without 360 installed, please temporarily turn on the windows firewall.
Spurred on by the unpleasant prospect of uninstalling and reinstalling, I fiddled late into the night with the N360 firewall rules -- and I seem to have come up with something that works!
I modified the rule, "Default Block Windows File Sharing" (not the one that says "Shared Networks") from Block to Allow, and also unchecked it, then closed down N360 and opened the Windows network, keeping my fingers crossed. And lo and behold -- there popped up my network in its full glory!
In previous rounds, I'd paid no attention to this particular rule because it is listed below the "Default Allow Windows File Sharing (Shared Networks)" rule which is set as Allow, and my understanding of it is that the upper rule takes precedence over the lower rule. But I was hating so much the idea of having to uninstall and reinstall, that I decided to give it a shot, what the heck. And the change seems to have worked. Haven't turned off the PC to reboot, but after previous tries when the network came back it went away again even without a reboot. Still, rebooting will be the acid test I suppose.
Will report back one way or the other. Thanks for hanging in there with me.
You are correct that the "Default Allow" rule for Shared Networks will override the "Default Block" rule. Which begs the question, why isn't Norton seeing this as a shared network? It might be a good idea to check your network settings again to see if you can spot if something is misconfigured for sharing.
Just wanted to clarify that it was Windows on my Vista tower that wasn't seeing the network after installing N360 v5. Norton 360 itself always did see the network, no problem. So did the router and all the other PCs on the LAN. Let me know if that changes any tips or suggestions.
BTW, the network is still popping up right away when I click on "Network" in the start menu. Haven't gotten around to rebooting yet, as I have a bunch of IE windows open to get through first.
I wanted to report that I got a chance to reboot my system, and that everything's coming up roses again!
For now.
It's all very strange. I don't know why or how the problem cropped up in the first place, and I'm really not sure why or how it got fixed, or even if anything that I did contributed to the "solution." But since "it ain't broke" anymore, there's no need to "fix it."
Sometimes these mysterious things just happen. Last night my wife called down to my cave to complain that the DVR had suddenly lost all our recorded programs, that we only had like 7 minutes of each show left. So I started to navigate through the DVR menus to see if I could do something, never actually reset or adjusted anything -- and next thing you know all the recordings had come back. I looked like a wizard, but I'm afraid it was more the Wizard of Oz kind...
I'm glad it's working now and I hope it continues.
It's odd that temporarily turning off the firewall didn't help, but the main thing is that is working and hopefully whatever glitch was causing it will not come back.
If you every have any other problems or questions, you know where to find us.
