Quick Kill - Instantly stopping all network traffic

Is there a way to assign the Network Settings>Smart Firewall>Block All Network Traffic selection to a key on the keyboard? Perhaps assigned to an "F" key, or to a personally chosen key combination?

 

It would be VERY handy to type CntlBN or something like that to instantly kill all network traffic.

 

Is there any way to do this?

RWS

No but you could pull the plug or turn off the wireless device. 

 

This has been asked for countless times in the past 2 years; Symantec will not put this option back on Norton products for whatever reason.  Sorry; I agree that this would make a very nice addition to helping the user be able to have a "panic button" over the network and feel more in control of their own system.

Well, that sucks.

If countless people are asking for it - some intelligent implementation of it - and not getting it, then what gives?

Does any other Internet security software have sucha a feature? If so I'll go for it.

R

You can do it quickly with a mouse.

In the control panel\ network connections, drag your network adapter to desktop to make a shortcut.

then leave it on the desktop or put in the quick launch.  You can then either right click and select disable or open it and click the disable button.

 

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the suggestion; indeed, I already have that on my desktop.

Problem is that it takes time to  grab the mouse, precisely locate it on the shortcut, clicking, selecting and follow through to get it all to happen.

In my case I don't want that time lag. I want a 1-shot bang on the keyboard to cease activity.

Sounds simple to me in theory, to set up a custom keystroke to Quick Kill all traffic. I'm no computer whiz by any stretch, so maybe setting this up is more complicated than I realize.

R

Hi Rws,

 

I have not tried this myself but you might be interested in the following.

 

The following link illustrates a command which is supposed to be able to disable your network interface.

 

http://forum.sysinternals.com/topic9483.html

 

The following Microsoft article has information related to programming function keys but this appears to be related to Microsoft mouse/keyboard devices.

 

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/237179

 

If your mouse/keyboard driver supports the ability to record macros then you should be able to program a macro that would execute the commands illustrated at the first link I provided which in theory should shut down your network interface and hence stop all network traffic.

 

I am sure there are 3rd party programs which can program keyboard function key macros as well which you can search around for.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Best wishes.

Allen


rws wrote:

Well, that sucks.

If countless people are asking for it - some intelligent implementation of it - and not getting it, then what gives?

Does any other Internet security software have sucha a feature? If so I'll go for it.

R


FWIW The reaason given by Norton for not putting it back in is that time and again there would be complaints from users that their Internet Service had been broken .... and it turned out they had unwittingly activated the block.

 

Doing support here and elsewhere I can understand this happening -- BTDT although not with that feature.

 

Hugh


rws wrote:

Hi Dave,

Thanks for the suggestion; indeed, I already have that on my desktop.

Problem is that it takes time to  grab the mouse, precisely locate it on the shortcut, clicking, selecting and follow through to get it all to happen.

In my case I don't want that time lag. I want a 1-shot bang on the keyboard to cease activity.

Sounds simple to me in theory, to set up a custom keystroke to Quick Kill all traffic. I'm no computer whiz by any stretch, so maybe setting this up is more complicated than I realize.

R


Would you settle for 7 keystrokes to takedown the connection?

 

I'm using Vista and I'm using a wireless connection. To make the Network Connection shortcut accessible from the keyboard, do as DaveH suggested and add the shortcut to the Quick Launch toolbar. The Quick Launch toolbar is accessible using the Windows key and a number key (across the top of your keyboard) to select the application you want to run. In my case, I've created a shortcut to 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\ncpa.cpl' at the beginning (position 1) of the Quick Launch toolbar.

 

To takedown my wireless connection using the keyboard:

 

  1. Press the Windows key and 1. This opens the 'Network Connections' shortcut created above.
  2. Press Right Arrow to select the wireless connection.
  3. Press Context Menu (the key between Alt and Ctrl to the right of the spacebar).
  4. Press O to select 'Connect/Disconnect'.
  5. Press Enter to disconnect from the selected network.
  6. Press Enter again to confirm. The PC is now disconnected from the network.

Follow the procedure above to reconnect to the wireless network.

 

It's ironic that the 'Block all Network Traffic' feature has gone from being completely accessible to difficult, or impossible to access if you are using a Standard User account. dbrisendine's simple solution here would have catered for both novice and experienced users alike...

 

 


elsewhere wrote:
It's ironic that the 'Block all Network Traffic' feature has gone from being completely accessible to difficult, or impossible to access if you are using a Standard User account. dbrisendine's simple solution here would have catered for both novice and experienced users alike...

While the "Block all Network Traffic" button is more hidden than it used to be, a Standard User can access it in Norton 2010 products by turning on "Non-Admins Access to Settings" in the Product Security section of the Miscellaneous Settings.  This setting, which is not available in earlier products, allows Limited Users full access to the controls in Norton's settings.  The traffic block button is still not easy to get to, but at least you don't have to log into another account now to use it.

 


elsewhere wrote:

Would you settle for 7 keystrokes to takedown the connection?

 

I'm using Vista and I'm using a wireless connection. To make the Network Connection shortcut accessible from the keyboard, do as DaveH suggested and add the shortcut to the Quick Launch toolbar. The Quick Launch toolbar is accessible using the Windows key and a number key (across the top of your keyboard) to select the application you want to run. In my case, I've created a shortcut to 'C:\WINDOWS\System32\ncpa.cpl' at the beginning (position 1) of the Quick Launch toolbar.

 

To takedown my wireless connection using the keyboard:

 

  1. Press the Windows key and 1. This opens the 'Network Connections' shortcut created above.
  2. Press Right Arrow to select the wireless connection.
  3. Press Context Menu (the key between Alt and Ctrl to the right of the spacebar).
  4. Press O to select 'Connect/Disconnect'.
  5. Press Enter to disconnect from the selected network.
  6. Press Enter again to confirm. The PC is now disconnected from the network.

Follow the procedure above to reconnect to the wireless network.

 

It's ironic that the 'Block all Network Traffic' feature has gone from being completely accessible to difficult, or impossible to access if you are using a Standard User account. dbrisendine's simple solution here would have catered for both novice and experienced users alike...

 


Sorry, I should have mentioned that. I use the same method to quick start a few things already.

In XP (never tried it in anything else) you don't need to rename or add a number to the front, the first letter will start the program unless you have other programs starting with the same letter.

 

But why not just drop the wireless adapter shortcut onto the start menu instead of the .cpl?

Rename it to start with number 2 if you want and then you can kill the connection with only 4 keystrokes.

winkey+2, tab, enter

 

If you could find a command to do it you could just make a batch file and run it with 2 keystrokes

 

Dave

Thanks SendOfJive.

 

I suppose I've only considered the "Non-Admins Access to Settings" feature useful in situations where the user is the only person using the PC. Once you introduce multiple Standard Users, say in a family situation, then this setting becomes a security risk because any Standard User can now start changing the program's settings. I know you can password protect the settings but ultimately, we're almost back to where we started if we have to type in a password before we can access the "Block all Network Traffic" setting. Ideally, it would be better if NIS allowed you to choose which Standard Users had non-admin access to settings. Something for a future release, perhaps?

 


DaveH wrote:
[...]

Sorry, I should have mentioned that. I use the same method to quick start a few things already.

In XP (never tried it in anything else) you don't need to rename or add a number to the front, the first letter will start the program unless you have other programs starting with the same letter.

 

But why not just drop the wireless adapter shortcut onto the start menu instead of the .cpl?

Rename it to start with number 2 if you want and then you can kill the connection with only 4 keystrokes.

winkey+2, tab, enter

 

If you could find a command to do it you could just make a batch file and run it with 2 keystrokes

 

Dave


Hi Dave

 

I'm not renaming/adding a number to the shortcut name either. The number that I referred to represents the position of the application I wanted to run, relative to the left hand edge of the Quick Launch toolbar. So say I have 3 applications on the Quick Launch toolbar and looking at the icons, left to right, they are 'My Network shortcut' (mentioned above), Internet Explorer 8 and MS Excel. The relative position of the applications will be:

 

  1. My Network shortcut
  2. Internet Explorer 8
  3. MS Excel

So pressing Windows key + 2 will launch Internet Explorer 8. If I move IE8 to the start of the Quick Launch toolbar ie position 1, then Windows key + 1 will now open IE8. It makes it easy to use the shortcut keys - if you want to run the 3rd application from the left-hand side of the Quick Launch toolbar, then the Windows key + 3 keyboard shortcut will run it.

 

The reason I'm using the .cpl shortcut instead of a shortcut to the wireless adapter is that I'm using a Standard User account (non-admin) and this method presents additional options that allow me to connect or disconnect from the wireless network without being prompted to enter an Administrator's password in order to proceed with the action.  


elsewhere wrote:

Thanks SendOfJive.

 

I suppose I've only considered the "Non-Admins Access to Settings" feature useful in situations where the user is the only person using the PC. Once you introduce multiple Standard Users, say in a family situation, then this setting becomes a security risk because any Standard User can now start changing the program's settings. I know you can password protect the settings but ultimately, we're almost back to where we started if we have to type in a password before we can access the "Block all Network Traffic" setting. Ideally, it would be better if NIS allowed you to choose which Standard Users had non-admin access to settings. Something for a future release, perhaps?

 


Hi Elsewhere,

 

That is an excellent idea. :smileyhappy: I would suggest that you post this in the Ideas Forum.

 

http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Product-Ideas/idb-p/NIS_Suggestions

 

Best wishes.

Allen

Hi elsewhere,

 

I concur with AllenM.  You make a good point.