I think I've figured this out. The problem is that when I got rid of Norton, I had a firewall -- i.e., the one that comes with Windows XP -- that blocks unwanted incoming stuff, but doesn't block unwanted exports of information.
On top of that, Norton (virus that it is) had insinuated itself into the firewall control panel so that it warned me of this one-sided protection by telling me that its anti-worm program was needed. (If Norton is a virus, so is Windows. So it's a virus within a virus.) So what I did was to install a free firewall (by COMODO) that blocks both unwanted imports and unwanted exports. The only problem is that you have to teach it which information is desired. (It objected to Firefox the first time.) I turned off Windows' built-in firewall, so that I should get no more of the Norton warnings. On 3/26/07, Jim Devine <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
thanks. I'll get to it when I'm at home with the Norton-infected PC. I already use AVG, which seems like an excellent program. On 3/26/07, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > Jim Devine wrote: > > On 3/25/07, ravi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > >> By message do you mean one of those transient pop-up windows? > > > > it's very transient. If I click on it, as it tells me to do, I go to > > the Windows security center. > > > > Perhaps then the message is not from Norton at all? Windows XP (and I am > sure future versions) come with a built-in manager for firewall, > security ,etc. It is possible that Norton registered itself with this > manager as the anti-virus solution, and now that Norton is gone, Windows > is trying to helpfully keep warning you that it knows of no virus > manager on your system. You should be able to find the Windows Security > system (there is an icon usually in the "system tray" that you can click > on, and if not, you may find it in Start->Settings->Control Panel). Once > there hopefully there is an option to not worry about the lack of a > anti-virus component. Speaking of which, I hope you are not planning on > running a Windows system without some form of AV software? There are at > least two good free programs available (search for AVG and ClamAV). > > I am not a Windows person, and in fact no longer even have the one old > box that I used to dual boot to Windows just so I can figure out what is > going on in the Windows world. So please take my advice with a large > spoon of salt. > > --ravi > -- Jim Devine / "The first derivative is the last refuge of a scoundrel." -- C. P. Kindleberger
-- Jim Devine / "Segui il tuo corso, e lascia dir le genti." (Go your own way and let people talk.) -- Karl, paraphrasing Dante.
