what exactly is Smart Firewall?? should i enable Windows Firewall as well??? I'm a beginner sorry that my question is so elementary.
Only one firewall should be operating on your system. The Norton firewall is a much better one than Windows. The Windows firewall should be turned off by default when Norton is loaded.
The Smart firewall allows necessary programs to access the internet, but refuses to allow unauthorized traffic in or out. It runs ver well on automatic, and makes all the necessary decisions without you having to respond to constant alerts or questions.
thanks for the warm welcome. lol.
i'm using windows Vista Home Premium Serivce Pack 1 64- bit
Norton Internet Security 2009
what exactly is Smart Firewall?? should i enable Windows Firewall as well??? I'm a beginner sorry that my question is so elementary.
Smart Firewall is the thing of the future, Frankly.
Although alot of users (my friends included) find that NIS Smart Firewall really lousy. They preferred to be IN CONTROL of the Firewall and feels that using SMART FIREWALLS are really useless.
Personally, I have used COMODO Firewall but I really hate the POP UPS. I am not a techie, therefore, cannot understand what the informaiton on the POP UPS are. Moreover, I do not have the time and resource to configure the Firewall.
NIS firewall, I believe is really one of the best, if not the best. It does it all automatically, or it lets user configure.
None of the other Firewalls can offer such features. Top notch for NIS Firewall.
Just hope that Norton's Firewall will remain SMART forever.
Thank you
Sea_Monster wrote:
Although alot of users (my friends included) find that NIS Smart Firewall really lousy. They preferred to be IN CONTROL of the Firewall and feels that using SMART FIREWALLS are really useless.
What was it about the NIS firewall that your friends found lousy, the fact that it controls all inbound and outbound traffic without assaulting the user with endless popups, or the fact that it keeps your computer stealthed on the internet, thereby rendering your PC invisible to hackers? Or maybe they were put off by the fact that it is fully configurable, allowing power users to create their own custom firewall rules. Your friends should check out Neil Rubenkings review at PC Mag, and tell them to pay particular attention to the firewall part. PC Mag
Actually the thing is
For normal pc user or even an above average one, smart firewall is gud enuf.
But for a user who is really into tweaking and that kind of stuff, smart firewall is not suitable, he needs a firewall which he can control. He knows the program he started, and that program is connecting via diff ports and diff threads.
With manual firewall he can switch on or off to his likings.
But smart firewall follow general rules and tries to give non harmful connections access.
So in a way if u r not tweaker, smart firewall is more than enuf :)
In the Settings info, Smar Firewall uses SONAR. Since SONAR on my machines (and others in these forums) gives too many false positives and requires reboots for these High Threat false positives, I have SONAR turned Off in the Computer section.
Since turning Off Smart Firewall turns on continual warnings of lack of protection, I have selected to Ignore Smart Firewall under Network, since I have good reason to believe that SONAR is not mature yet, especially for people developing their own applications.
It seems that Ignore is not the same as turning off Smart Firewall. Can you explain the difference?
Thanks.
Lester
Sonar is to predict new viruses, so ignoring it will not block firewall from performing its functions.
Firewall is separate and sonar is different.
Sonar 1.0 was real bad as it couldn't detect a thing, on that basis sonar 2.0 is good. To me aggressive sonar is better than prev one. Moreover, we can retore the file immediately if we feel its ok.
BTW smart firewall has no linking to sonar.
(1)
If SONAR decides a file is a High Threat you **cannot** "restore the file immediately" as you state. This is it's biggest drawback. In this case, unlike a Low Threat which you describe, the file is labeled Unresolved, and only on the next reboot is it placed in Quarantine from which it can be restored if you wish. That file will not be available during this reboot & login unless you do this. Other people have posted the same.
(2)
Click on your tray icon to pull up the NIS 2010 window. Place the mouse over the "i" in the line of "Smart Firewall". Can you read this? It clearly says "Using Norton SONAR technology, ..."
(3)
Now, back to my question: It seems that Ignore is not the same as turning off Smart Firewall. Can you explain the difference?
Lester
Wrt (3): After some experimentation, it seems that clicking "i" to ignore simply turns off montioring, but does not affect the settings per se of that item.
For example, I have to shut of SONAR under Computer Settings since it gives too many false positives at High Threat, and SONAR High Threat does not permit any user intervention until after a reboot. When this is turned off, NIS signals that the computer is insecure and places a red x in the tray icon. If I also check its "i" to Ignore then the red x and insecure message go away.
Lester
Yuna
Welcome
Have you downloaded the latest updates for your Norton software?
Is there any more information in the error message that might give us a clue as to what is causing the risk?
Do you have any other security programs installed?
Sorry, I can't provide more help at this point
Hi Yuna,
Welcome to the Norton Community.
Please tell us your version of NIS which you can find in Support > About. Also what version of Windows and SP (service pack) do you have and is it 32 or 64 bit?
As dickevans asked, if you have any other security software installed now and/or at the time you installed NIS please let us know.
Best wishes.
Allen
I am fully aware of how Comodo works. The installer is still the same. The antivirus comes prepacked with the firewall. All you need to do is enable it. If you look in the installer folder you will see it.
I have played around with every single security product out there. Comodo Internet Security and the firewall are both the same download. Both the same file size. All you need to do is go into add/remove programs and change the features. Even the firewall still has HIP, Behavior blocker and a sandbox. So you may run into conflicts with Norton's Sonar.
The NS Firewall is one of the best. It has proven to be resilient against exploits and disabling attacks.
"You won't get any confusing popup queries from Norton's intelligent firewall. It automatically configures network and Internet permissions for known good programs, destroys known bad programs, and monitors the behavior of unknowns. If an unknown program tries to misuse its network connection, Norton's behavior-based detection kicks in to stop it.
The firewall is tough; I couldn't find any way that a malware coder could disable it programmatically. It's also the best I've seen at blocking exploits—network-based attacks that try to subvert security holes in the operating system, browsers, or popular programs."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2488738,00.asp
"The firewall also resisted all my attempts to disable it using techniques available to malware coders. It doesn't expose any significant settings in the Registry. I tried terminating its two processes using Task Manager, to no avail. And I couldn't disable its one Windows service...
...I hit the test system with 30-odd exploits generated by the CORE Impact penetration tool. In absolutely every case, Norton stopped the attack at the network level, before it ever reached the browser. Hardly any firewalls manage this feat."
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2469519,00.asp
True, but with Comodo i have complete control over programs access to the internet. Thanks for the info. ^-^
I’m Using Win10 64-bit home. I got it at a good deal, and didnt know it came with a firewall. Is there a way to reinstall without the firewall? When i looked around i didn’t see just a plain Norton AV. Would my key work if i downgraded to just Norton AV?
I am assuming your OS version is Win7+. In Win7+ OS, only one firewall can have control. If you install Norton product containing firewall, then Norton firewall takes that control. You need to uninstall the product completely to release the ownership taken by Norton firewall. Just turning off Norton's firewall will not release the ownership.