I've problems with connecting to my mailserver since I installed NIS2009. I'm using thunderbird from Windows Vista 32.
The problem is not always there, but sometimes when I'm clicking the get-mail button I receive the error:
Could not connect to server mail.chello.nl; the connection was refused.
My provider tells me that all looks fine on server-side and that most of the time the problem has something to do with the combination of mail-program and antivirus/firewall software.
I did stop all functionality within NIS2009 by switching of all items on the start-screen. But the problem still arises then.
My provider told me that it is not possible to switch off NIS200x entirely, there will always be something left doing something which can still give the problem. Can anyone confirm this and tell how I can test if NIS2009 is the problem?
Within NIS2009 I did change the automatically setting for Thunderbird to "changed" and there I accept all communications, in/out, all computers, all communication, all protocals. But this didn't solve the problem either. Sorry but maybe I did not use the correct English terms because I have a dutch version.
Can you try the steps given below and check for the issue?
1. In the Thunderbird menu bar, click Tools > Account Settings….The Account Settings window will appear.
2. Click Server Settings below the account name. The items on the right side of the window will change depending on what category you pick from the list to the left.
The problem now has disappeared again. As soon it poppes up again I do the check you mentioned, although I don't understand this solution because scanning of mail will only start (I hope) if there is mail to scan. Also when there is no mail (which I can check via web-mail) the problem still arises. To me it looks like there is something going wrong at connect-time.
rvlaming - your problem sounds similar to something I'm experienceing with Windows Mail on Vista Home Premium. Email works for awhile just fine, then all of a sudden I get the same error you describe - cannot connect to server. If I reboot the PC, then I'm immediately able to read my mail again - for awhile. Does rebooting fix your problem temporarily as well?
I suspect that we're seeing the same Norton problem despite using different email clients. If you find a solution that works, please keep me informed, and I will do the same for you. Thanks
Subject line says it all; ever since I ugraded to NIS 2009 I will get intermittent errors from Windows Mail on Vista 32 Home Premium; basically it is unable to connect to the Mail server and either get or send email messages. I have to reboot the PC, and then email works (for awhile) - I come back later and same problem. As I said, this was working fine with NIS 2008 before I upgraded to 2009, but the problem immediately started with the upgrade (no other changes on the PC recently - just Norton).
Personally I'm getting really fed up with Norton products in the past year or 2. Their quality has sunk WAY down - I have 3 PC's in my house (1 Vista, 2 XP pro) and have not been able to install or upgrade any Norton product on any of those PCs without at least one really annoying problem. I've uninstalled, re-installed, reconfigured, etc. more times than I care to mention - I've probably wasted 15-20 hours of my precious time just trying to get Norton products to work in the past year or so. (And forget about trying to get help from Tech Support - that is the most frustrating of all). What happened? Norton used to make good reliable products and provide good support? I'm really getting fed up - to the point that I am now convinced that once my subscription runs out I'm dumping Norton and switching to MacAfee or one of the other products. In the meantime, I need a fix NOW for this email problem. It makes NO SENSE that I need to reboot my PC just to read email. C'mon Symantec/Norton - get your act together and give us better quality!!!!!
There is a patch in the works.Windows Live mail is not the only way to check your mail. You can use web based email or use the suggestions that Reese mentioned till the patch is released.
The reason your getting no email from your web based is cause Windows Live mail is your default. All your mail is going there first. Make your web based email your default for now.
Thanks for your response that this is a known issue for which a patch is (hopefully) forthcoming. However, I don't understand your last response:
The reason your getting no email from your web based is cause Windows Live mail is your default. All your mail is going there first. Make your web based email your default for now.
I'm not trying to use webmail or LiveMail at all; the reason I'm getting no email (from Windows Mail) is because Norton has produced yet another defective, shoddy product.
Reese_anschultz: re: your message:
rvlaming, this sounds like it might be related to an issue that we're aware of. If you disable Internet->Email/Message Scanning, does the problem go away? You may have to restart your system to make the setting fix the problem.
So let me get this straight - the primary reason I paid so much money for Norton Internet Security is to protect my PC from viruses, and the primary means by which a virus can get on my PC is via email, and now you want me to disable email scanning and basically expose my PC to whatever is out there while you just sit there and be "aware" of this issue? Do you really work for Symantec (as a senior quality assurance manager, no less) or are you a shill from one of their competitors? I mean, I can't believe this answer. Actually, I can believe it - because this is the kind of non-responsive, non-caring "support" I've been getting from Symantec the past couple of years. So you're "aware" of this issue - does that mean a patch really is forthcoming (as per Dieselman) or are you just expecting us to cope with the problem or find ridiculous workarounds? Hey - I have another solution to propose - maybe I should switch from Norton to another antivirus program - that should work better, shouldn't it?
Obviously the answer I'm expecting to hear from you is: Yes, this is a known problem; yes we're working on a fix; we should have that fix by xx/yy/zzzz (hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks); and, we will contact you directly when the fix is available (and hopefully provide a simple patch, not some convoluted scheme like having to download some tool to remove everything and then reinstall everything and then reconfigure everything, and then dance around a sacred fire and sing hymns to the gods until my PC starts working again).
So let me get this straight - the primary reason I paid so much money for Norton Internet Security is to protect my PC from viruses, and the primary means by which a virus can get on my PC is via email, and now you want me to disable email scanning and basically expose my PC to whatever is out there while you just sit there and be "aware" of this issue? Do you really work for Symantec (as a senior quality assurance manager, no less) or are you a shill from one of their competitors? I mean, I can't believe this answer. Actually, I can believe it - because this is the kind of non-responsive, non-caring "support" I've been getting from Symantec the past couple of years. So you're "aware" of this issue - does that mean a patch really is forthcoming (as per Dieselman) or are you just expecting us to cope with the problem or find ridiculous workarounds? Hey - I have another solution to propose - maybe I should switch from Norton to another antivirus program - that should work better, shouldn't it?
Obviously the answer I'm expecting to hear from you is: Yes, this is a known problem; yes we're working on a fix; we should have that fix by xx/yy/zzzz (hopefully sometime in the next couple of weeks); and, we will contact you directly when the fix is available (and hopefully provide a simple patch, not some convoluted scheme like having to download some tool to remove everything and then reinstall everything and then reconfigure everything, and then dance around a sacred fire and sing hymns to the gods until my PC starts working again).
afigura, I understand your frustration.
I did suggest disabling e-mail scanning. This will help to determine if the problem you are encountering is the same problem that we are aware of or if you are experiencing a different issue. I only suggested this because disabling e-mail scanning does not leave you unprotected. With e-mail scanning disabled, you still continue to be protected by the real-time protection, SONAR and a number of other protection technologies. Real-time protection will not allow any known virus to get written to your disk. By disabling e-mail scanning, the only real risk that you have is of forwarding unscanned, infected mails to your friends and associates.
If disabling the e-mail scanning solves the problem, we are aware of the issue and are working urgently to release a fix. As soon as the fix has been thuroughly tested and the deployment of that fix via LiveUpdate has been confirmed to be safe and reliable, we'll make it available.
Message Edited by reese_anschultz on 11-03-2008 02:43 PM
Message Edited by reese_anschultz on 11-03-2008 02:44 PM
Afigura thank you for you feedback. I can understand your frustation as my frustration is also increasing. Now I have new problems where the other computers on the Lan doesn't show up within the explorer although I can see them within NIS2009 itself. I'm investigating the forums to check if this is also related to NIS2009.
Reese also thank you for your feedback. Unfortunately the problem didn't appear again when I was connected. My wife did have the problems but she is not able to do the stuff you asked. When I was home all worked fine again.
Reese - thank you for your followup explanation; I'm relieved that I'm not putting my PC at jeopardy by turning off email scanning. I've had it off for a full day now and have not seen the problem re-occor. I'd like to watch for a few more days to make sure, but it looks like my problem is indeed the "known" problem that you suspected - i.e., turning off email scanning seems to have eliminated the "cannot connect to server" messages from Windows Mail.
I apologize for my original flaming, sarcastic response. I have spent many many hours debugging problems with NIS the past couple of years and you're right - I am very frustrated. When I instaled NIS 2008, it crippled the Norton System Works 2006 that had been working fine on my system for 2 years, and worse, it totally destroyed my old installation of Ghost - to the point where I had to completely uninstall it. (My biggest frustration there was that Symantec basically said "oh well" - no replacement, I would have to pay for an upgrade - which is ludicrous that installing one program would break another - especially one from the same company. This still smells like a bait and switch type scam to me - "here install this great new program - oh and we forgot to tell you, after you do so you're going to need to fork over more dinero to upgrade this other program (and wait'll see what that breaks!)"... And - now I know why the program is called "Ghost" - spirits from the old program still haunt my system - every time I run Live Update it complains that it's unable to update Ghost - well, duh, that's because I uninstalled it. Sorry - the sarcasm is returning...)
So as you can see, I'm not a very satisfied customer of Symantec right now - so whatever you can do to fix the current problem(s) and restore my faith in what once was a very strong and reliable suite of products, I would greatly appreciate.
rvlaming - as you can see from my previous response, Reese's suggestion so far seems to work. Although I have to say the jury is still out until we get the final, official patch to fix the problem for real.
Sorry to hear about your new set of issues - it's been a long and winding road recently dealing with Symantec/Norton - hopefully both of us see some resolution to our problems in the near future - hang in there and let me know how things work out.
rvlaming, I’m glad to hear that the problem has been solved for you for the immediate future. There was probably something in your mailbox that was tripping up the scanner during download. Now that you’ve downloaded that, it shouldn’t be tripping up the scanning any longer.
Maybe I do not understand you right, but my understanding was that Symantec is working on a permanent solution to this problem.
I thought disabling the email-scan and then enabling it again was a temporary solution. You are talking about downloading but I didn't download something or got rid of something in my mailbox...
Maybe I do not understand you right, but my understanding was that Symantec is working on a permanent solution to this problem.
I thought disabling the email-scan and then enabling it again was a temporary solution. You are talking about downloading but I didn't download something or got rid of something in my mailbox...
Yes, a permanent solution will be available very soon.
I actually never suggested re-enabling the scanning. You did download some e-mail while you had the scanning disabled. That removed the problem file from the server so that future downloads, with scanning enabled, won't have problems. Without the aforementioned fix, though, the problem could come back due to other problem e-mails showing up.
Ok, indeed you didn't mention to re-enable the email-scanning again.
But...
My wife again got the problem and I disabled email-scanning then restarted and opened Thunderbird. The problem wasn't there anymore but there was no mail downloaded. Thunderbird checked the mail correctly, connection was not refused (which was the actual problem) but there was no mail waiting....
So your statement that a mail was downloaded doesn't hold in this situation although the problem disappeared....
Maybe this information is important to you working on the solution...
