The issue of losing network connectivity (Symantec Outbound Connect V4 Callout) has not been resolved in NIS2011. Other posts on this issue can be found at:
http://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Internet-Security-Norton/NIS-and-Firewall/m-p/255097#U255097
As stated in those posts, the only solution is to: Turn off automatic LiveUpdate. However, leaving Pulse Updates turned on is working ok for me.
The issue started in July 2010 while using NIS 2010. My estimate is: The issue, appears to me, to be related to the enhancements to the Norton Intrusion Prevention System. (IPS). Whis is referenced in Windows Network Diagnostics when your connection can not be renewed.
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Windows Network Diagnostics
Windows confirmed that “Primary DNS Server” is currently online, but is not responding to connection attempts at this time.
This usually means that a firewall is running somewhere between the two computers and is blocking ‘domain’. Windows has confirmed that Windows Firewall on this computer is correctly configured to allow this connection. However, a remote firewall might be blocking your connection.
The following policy might need to be adjusted to allow Windows to connect.
Policy Provider Symantec IPS Provider
Filter Name Symantec Outbound conned V4 Callout
If the policy provider identified is Windows Firewall, click for information about adjusting Windows Firewall settings. If a different policy provider has been identified, check the provider’s documentation on how to adjust the policy settings.
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Attempts to reset the network adapter wil not resolve the issue. At this point, only a reboot of the pc will solve it.
If I had to guess, it looks to me that when Automatic LiveUpdate runs NIS blocks network access to allow for the updates to be made to the system. Possibly the design is to prevent tampering or network vulnerabilities. These are the udpates I received the last time I manually ran LiveUpdae.
Norton 2011 Iron Revocation list
Norton 2011 IPS Definitions
Norton 2011 Iron Whitelist
Norton 2011 Virus Definitions
Norton Activity Map Data
Norton Safe Web Statistics
Norton 2011 Behavior And Security Heuristics
Norton 2011 Anti Spam Definitions
Norton 2011 Web Protection Definitions
Norton Pulse Updates
They all ran successfully. Then I lost my network connection and had to reboot to resolve it.
The issue has been stated to impact Vista SP1 and SP2 and XP. In my determination, the router used makes no difference based on the comments in the other posts and my experience. I have an XP-SP3 system that does not use NIS. It does not have this issue and will remain connected while my Vista SP1 system will fail. I'm not aware of any impact to Windows 7 systems, based on discussions with friends who use NIS 2010/2011.
My hope is Norton can find and resolve this issue in the IPS Engine. Again, in the meantime: Turn off Automatic LiveUpdate and leave Pulse Updates on. Then when it works best, Run LiveUpdate manually and reboot shortly thereafter.
One final comment: I believe the issue is larger than a few isolated cases. In my experience most end users will just reboot since that solves the issue. It takes too much time for them to investigate the issue let alone report it. After all, it took me 6 months to get to this point.