Hello to all in the Norton Community,
I am new to the community board here and having just installed Norton Internet Security 2010,
I can say that NIS2010 is, without a doubt, far superior to Mcafee which I had been using.
I would like to ask a few questions that have come up in the past week.
I have Windows XP, service pack 3 with AT&T's DSL internet service connected through a modem (no router). It's a standalone computer, not connected to any network.
I also have TuneUp Utilities 2010 installed, and the questions arise from recommended fixes by TU2010. It checked the computer for problem areas and showed 2 recommended fixes.
The first problem It came up with was 'Administrative Shares'. It recommends disabling the shares. I am not at all sure just what they are, and, if the are disabled, will it cause problems down the line(such as an unstable system)? NIS2010 seems to do quite a bit and I'm wondering if NIS2010 already protects against any intrusions or misuse of these shares. If they are disabled, would Norton's software/Antivirus support team still be able to access the computer remotely to help fix any problems? If these shares are disabled, how can the be enabled again if they are needed?
The second problem it found was a 'Possible Hacker Attack Vulnerability Point. Network Protection Against SYN Attacks Disabled' and recommends turning on protection. I believe it does that by creating or changing some registry entries under the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE keys.
Here again, I am wondering if NIS2010 already protects against such attacks (which I assume are denial of service attacks) If Norton is protecting against these 'Problems', do I still need to worry about them and go ahead with the fixes suggested?
Any information anyone can provide is greatly appreciated. I tried contacting TuneUp Utilities software support for any insight into these problems but have not received any credible response.
Looking forward to any information to help me understand this stuff.
Thanks very much,
Chuck