Unable to access the internet

I spent 93 minutes struggling to determine why the Firefox browser on my HP laptop can not access the Internet without disabling the "smart firewall". This leaves my laptop without the protections for which I paid. Several times I followed the directions on the Norton to no avail. Will I be forced to uninstall Norton? If so, once that is done how will I go about reinstalling the Norton package? Thank you...? I am at a loss....