I'm running Norton Internet Security 2006 (9.1.1.7) with Internet Explorer 7 (7.0.5730.11) and Windows XP Media Center Edition (version 5.1).
On Sunday, my computer was struck by the swp2009 demo (i.e.. Spyware Protect 2009) virus, which runs a fake virus scan and then prompts you to buy its cleanup tool. I knew immediately that it was a virus and the first thing I did was use the Block Traffic option from the Norton I.S. menu to make sure my computer did not become infiltrated. The virus stopped me from bringing up the task menu to end the rogue program, so I had to cut power to the computer.
The good news is that I was able to manually locate the virus and remove it, so that now I can reboot and the fake virus scan no longer pops up. Here is the problem: while the computer is booting/loading, I briefly have Internet access, especially when the Norton toolbar icon is yellow and indicates that it is loading the program. However, as soon as the icon becomes green with the check mark that indicates Norton's status is Good, I immediately lose the ability to access the Internet. It's as if my Internet requests are being misdirected and I always end up with a Page will not display screen.
If I check the Norton menu, the Block Traffic item is no longer activated, but Norton appears to be blocking or redirecting traffic anyway. Because I made the decision to Block Traffic during the virus infection, my decision seems to have become part of my profile. For some reason, my Live Update can still connect, however.
Also, I created a new user profile on my computer and logged in under the new identity in order to see if I could get connectivity. After Norton I.S. completely loads for the new user account, I suddenly have no problem accessing the Internet. Thus, the problem seems isolated to the user profile that was originally hit by the virus.
I would prefer not to continue using two separate user profiles on my computer - one for just Internet access and the other for everything else, so I'm hoping someone out there has a solution to clean up my original profile so Norton will not continue to Block Traffic upon loading.
If you're curious why I maintain my Norton Internet Security subscription, but have not updated the program from Internet Security 2006, its because I'm reluctant to change something that seemed to be working fine and I heard the later versions take even longer to load.
Thank you in advance to anyone who can help me out.