Norton 360 version 21.1.0.18 interrupts network communication

I have two computers, a laptop and a desktop.  The desktop has Win 8.1 Pro 64 bit, and the laptop has Win 8 Pro 64 bit.  Both have Norton 360.  They are networked through a wireless router (desktop is wired and the laptop communicates wirelessly).  They are both on the Homegroup, and I have synchronization software that synchronizes select folders and files between the two.  They both also backup to a Network Attached Storage (NAS) on the network.  Things were working until last night when I upgraded both machines to Norton 360 version 21.1.0.18.  The upgrade went smoothly on both machines, and then I shut down for the night.

 

This morning when I turned on both machines, neither machine would communicate with the other over the network.  Running the network troubleshooter gives essentially the same message on both (the message below is from the desktop HP-POLITO-3):

 

file and print sharing resource (hp-polito-4) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts

The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 445, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

So, I disabled Norton Smart Firewall on both computers and refreshed the Network folder in File Explorer on each.  Both commuters immediately recognized the other computer.  On the laptop I could open the shared folders on the desktop, but on the Desktop, I could not open the laptop shared folders.  Running the troubleshooter on the desktop yielded the following error message.

 

Windows can't find "\\HP-POLITO-4\IPC$"

Verify that you typed the name correctly, and then try again.

Windows can't find "\\HP-POLITO-4\IPC$". The name might be misspelled.

 

 

 

 

Note that I did not search specifically for this folder, and there is no folder named IPC$ on the laptop (or the desktop) that I can find.  I re-enabled the Smart Firewall and everything stayed the same (laptop sees and can access the desktop shared files and the desktop sees the laptop but cannot access any of its shared files).

 

Rebooted both machines, and they came up in the same way that they shut down:  the laptop came up ok and can see and access both computers on the network.  The desktop cannot see the laptop.  I then disabled Smart Firewall on the desktop and refreshed the network on the desktop.  No change.  Re-enabled the desktop firewall.  Disabled Smart Firewall on the laptop and again refreshed the desktop.  It then saw the laptop but could not access files on the laptop.  Network Diagnostics give this port 445 message again:

 

file and print sharing resource (hp-polito-4) is online but isn't responding to connection attempts

The remote computer isn’t responding to connections on port 445, possibly due to firewall or security policy settings, or because it might be temporarily unavailable. Windows couldn’t find any problems with the firewall on your computer. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Both computers can see and access the NAS with no problem.  The settings in 360 are the same as before the update (to the best of my recollection).

 

I've had this (the port 445 message) happen before occassionally (when both machines were running Win 8), and I never could fix it.  It just healed itself after some period of time.  It always happened when there was some network disruption (e.g. I took the laptop on travel, and then reconnected to the network when I got home).  I never related it to Norton 360 before, though.

 

So, what is happening here?  All of the network sharing settings are the same as before updating Norton 360.  I've looked for information regarding port 445, but I have found nothing that is meaningful to me or that seems applicable.  There is clearly some link with 360, but I can't see what it is.

 

Any help will be appreciated.

Hi jpolito

Try this navigate to Network security map, under Network details select the device on the drop down menu, click on Network details on the window that opens, click on edit for Trust level and set both computers to full trust, ok your way out and restart the computers.

 

If it’s already set to full trust select trust,  ok your way out and restart the computers.   Sometimes things get stuck so moving the options around may help.

 

Remember to set the trust level back to your requirements.

 

 

ATB

 

intesec

Thanks for the suggestion.  I already insured that both computers were set to Shared (I did have to change the settings on the laptop, because the desktop was not shown as shared).  It did not help.  But today it fixed itself (again!) about an hour ago.  I don't know why.

 

If (actually When) it happens again, I'll try setting them to full trust and see if that works.

 

Thanks again.

 

Joe