notepad2 bypasses Norton Smart Firewall?

I've been using  notpad2.exe on Windows Xp for months. But starting today Norton is reporting "C:\Program Files\notepad2\Notepad2.exe  is preparing to access the internet".

 

Being shocked by this, I used the Norton Smart Firewall to block C:\Program Files\notepad2\Notepad2.exe.

In spite of this, I still get notifications that "C:\Program Files\notepad2\Notepad2.exe is preparing to access the internet".

 

The question is: how can it still access the internet?

 

And how serious is this? Do I need to go through and change all passwords and user names written in any text file on the computer?