I have a Dell Dimension 8200 computer with windows XP Pro (SP2), NAV 2006, ZAPRO, and BoClean installed.

I have the opportunity to upgrade to NAV 2007 and would like any comments both negative and positive as to whether I should upgrade to NAV 2007. Thanks for any information, Sam.

From what I have been able to find out, in ver.2007 the entire program has been rewritten including the scan engine. It is a great improvement over any previous version of Norton. Less resource usage less false positives and better detection. And the liveupdate has also been overhauled. It is almost like having a complete different product.

bigc

Thanks very much for your reply, Sam.

All that "improvement" sounds good, eh? Well, beware.

NAV 2007 installs an inbound-only firewall ***without giving you notice or an opt-out.*** There is absolutely no wording on the retail box or in the printed manual that this program contains or will install a firewall. If you run ZoneAlarm (like I do) or other firewalls, the Norton installation program will tell you it is "incompatible" and ask you to uninstall it. It DOES NOT tell you that it will install its own firewall. You are just left with the impression that when you go onto the internet to get your updates, you'll be doing it with no firewall. Yep, that sounds like real professional security procedures to me!

I IGNORED the "incompatibility" warning anyway, just to see if it was all a bluff to get me to buy an upgraded Norton product for more money, and NAV 2007 installed without a hitch. The problem came when installing the 28megs of updates (hours by a dialup connection). Three attempts to do this hung. I finally isolated "FWcfg.exe" as a Symantec Corporation piece of software that was hanging up the entire works. This is the firewall folks, which you didn't know you were going to get whether you liked it or not. The only way to stop the hang was do a hard reset on the computer (dangerous if anything is reading or writing from your hard drive --- thanks for the "safety" Symantec!)

Well, on the third try, by default I waited out the hang while making some notes, and lo and behold, LiveUpdate finally gave up on "FWcfg.exe" after about ten minutes and installed the remaining updates. For now, NAV 2007 and ZoneAlarm appear to be running alright, but I fear what will happen with the next "update" cycle. More hassles?

If I were you, I'd just pay for an extra year's subscription to NAV 2006 and avoid the hassle I was put through with the 2007 version. If you run a good firewall and stay away from malware-choked websites, you're not likely to be boarded by malware. If you run a dial-up connection, the hackers and bot-nets will bypass you as too slow for their quick-n-dirty thievery.

FWIW, the NAV 2007 main window has a big tab for "Norton Protection Center" which mentions a firewall under two tabs, but it is completely ambiguous about whether NAV 2007 contains one or not, and it gives you absolutely no configuration options I could find, or any way to shut it off. (A lot of programs warn you to shut off your firewall before installation, lest it screw up your new software --- how do you do that, if you can't shut off this Norton thing???)

As for me, I consider the attempted "secret" installation of a firewall without verbal notice on the box, manual or installation program to be the **epitome** of malware, and that from a bunch of people who should know better. If NAV 2008 does this, I will no longer be Norton customer. Sorry, I don't support subterfuge. If I had wanted to purchase a Norton Firewall product, I would have looked for one that **explicitly** said it installed a firewall. All I care about is the anti-virus capability. I have other software to handle the other security functions.

Good luck! As always these days, buyer beware.

Unfortunately, it seems another company that once had a good reputation has ducked to sneaky ways to get you to buy their firewall, or uninstall somebody else's software you've already paid for. Biznizz? ugh.

did you ever try to completely remove Norton from a PC?
lots of work involved.
if you want to try a free product;
try the free version of AVG by GRISOFT for as long as you like.

http://www.grisoft.com/doc/products-avg-anti-virus-free-edition/us/crp/0

...

In response to the last two posts. First off, The firewall in Norton Internet Security is a two way firewall. I have used Norton for many years and every version of their firewall monitors in and out bound traffic.Oh and you should have known better than to try and install a firewall when you already have one activly installed already.Firewalls do not play nicely together. as as the the post concerning Uninstalling Norton. It sounds as if you have never had norton2007 installed because it uninstalls very well. I will agree that some of the earlier versions were a real pain to completely remove.But that has changed in 2007.


bigc

Per posts by Pan_Irish and bigc73542,

Yep, I did have to uninstall Norton Internet Security 2005 once from my laptop because the Symantec website and email support told me to do so. (An LU error showed up after an update attempt, and apparently the update corrupted the program so badly the only thing to do was uninstall it, and then reinstall it, along with hours of downloads. Actually I had to do this whole song and dance **twice,** now that I look at my logbook. Took me about 12 hours! Left a bad taste in my mouth, but I figured, if it happens just once, I'll let it slide . . . )

You are correct, it took a lot of work to clean out the Norton "remains" of NIS 2005 installed to various folders. (I'm glad to hear NAV 2007 has better manners.)

I had some other hassles with NIS 2005 on my laptop, but they aren't germane here. At least with it, you could **shut off** the Norton firewall if you wanted to use Windows or ZoneAlarm. (Okay, I'm weird, I prefer ZoneAlarm --- it has consistently gotten high ratings for years, and I'm used to it!)

I would expect that **Norton Internet Security** would have a two-way firewall. Norton **Anti-Virus** 2007 is another matter!

First, NAV2007 doesn't inform you that it contains a firewall. No notice whatever is on the retail box, or in the printed manual, or even the CD's PDF version of the manual. I read 'em all. It isn't even in the license if I recall correctly. And you aren't asked if you want to install it or not during the installation procedure.

The first thing I got regarding firewalls of any kind during the NAV 2007 installation procedure was that NAV 2007 was "incompatible" with ZoneAlarm, and it said ZoneAlarm should be uninstalled. --- which left me asking "Now what? If I do this, what's next when I go to get NAV updates to finish installation? Run with no firewall? Like I'm an idiot or something?" and there no available answers from NAV's installer. It doesn't bother to tell you it will install its own firewall, or give you the option to not install it at all.

I simply chose to IGNORE the uninstall option, after which I got a dialog box asking me if I wanted to proceed to install NAV 2007 without uninstalling ZoneAlarm? I clicked "yes," after shutting ZoneAlarm *off* for the period of time I was not connected to the internet during the installation procedure.

Second, once I got NAV 2007 running after a reboot and notification that the installation was successful, the app's main window has a very large tab labeled "Norton Protection Center." This mentions an inbound [only] firewall under "Basic PC Security." Clicking on the green check by the "Inbound Firewall" didn't give me any information about what this specifically is as far as NAV 2007 is concerned, whether it's in the NAV 2007 product, Windows XP, or in a third-party app. (I know what a one-way firewall is, and my first reaction was "who in their right mind wants a one-way firewall?") There is no configuration information or even a line about a firewall in the smaller NAV tab in the NAV 2007 window. I checked through every configuration option. Nothing about **anybody's"" firewall product. (This may be because Symantec's mysteriously named "FWcfg.exe" gave up trying to install itself after hanging my computer three times. The only way I found out about it was through SysInternal's "Process Explorer.") If you look under the next line on this Protection Center tab, "Connecting to the Internet," it will have a line with a green check by it for "Advanced Firewall." If you click on this, you will be sent to a Symantec webpage which briefly discusses what a two-way does (for newbies), but there is no mention whether NAV 2007 contains one. No brand names are mentioned, not even Norton's. So the user is left with a really ambiguous puzzle. Even within the NAV 2007 windows I'm left wondering, do I have a one-way or two-way firewall now?? Does NAV 2007 "talk" to other people's firewalls or not? If so, which kind? One-way, two-way or both? Weird. Not even the file name "FWcfg.exe" which I interpreted to stand for "Fire Wall Configuration [utility]" is clear whether it will configure its own firewall, or that in another Norton Product, or maybe even a third party firewall (not ZoneAlarm).

The installation basically bypassed telling me anything about what appears to be to be a"stealth firewall" in NAV 2007. These days I don't install **anything** that doesn't declare itself openly, I don't care who it claims to come from.

I am well aware you should not attempt to run two firewalls at the same time. It's not necessary, and you can or will get the conflicts bigc73542 warns about.

My beef is that there is nothing on the NAV 2007 retail box, the printed manual, or even the CD's PDF version of the manual stating that NAV 2007 contains a firewall and will install it. Is this ethical? From what I read in the internet security press (such as PC Magazine or eWeek) one of the definitions of malware, adware, spyware and so forth is that it installs itself without notice, or doesn't give you plainly worded options, or tricks you into installing something behind your back, while you think it's giving you a specific function you want. I'm no lawyer, and I don't know about you, but I think that's a no-no on Symantec's part!!

I'm taking time I don't really have to post this, because I don't have time to read a zillion things about every piece of software I buy before I install it. I tend to stick with companies that have a good reputation, and with which I have had few hassles with their products. Like most wary but trusting consumers I count on the law, some basic marketing honesty and interest in good PR for large, well-known companies like Symantec to publish the contents of their applications on their marketing stuff--- boxes, manuals, and so forth. (It's called "full disclosure.") Symantec didn't do this with NAV 2007 in any plain way I could see! I have used Norton stuff since the early 1990s, and I've owned computers since 1987, so I am reasonably familiar with how computers and a lot of common apps work. In my experience, Norton got egg on its face with this one.

I posted a request for help with Symantec email support's webpage. I'd like to know if the files for this NAV 2007 firewall can be safely deleted from c:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\Firewall. (The firewall apparently is NOT installed as far as I can tell.) I'd like to know whether there is some specific uninstall procedure to follow to get this off my system --- I don't want sneakware on my computer, Symantec's or anyone else's. It's a real ethical issue with (as if you can't tell by now!). I'd also like to know if this thing is going to attempt to install itself again in the future behind my back as part of some "update."

I suppose Symantec will tell us it was merely trying to get computer ingnoramuses to install some kind of firewall, even if they had to do it behind newbies' backs. TechRepublic and other websites are replete with stories about people with computers slowed to a crawl by unbelievable amounts of malware because the poor owners were too overwhelmed by computer complexities or misunderstood sales pitches they had swallowed whole. They thought they were "protected" because they had anti-virus software (with a 30-day license!) or that somehow "everything had been taken care of." Yeah, well . . . road to hell is paved with good intentions.

I just hope my posts helps anyone else who may have run into this problem with NAV 2007, saves you a few precious hours of unnecessary grief. Sorry for the long post. Some people hate that, but God is in the details, not breezy 20-second msgs these days!

All best!

Geez it can be a problem writing long posts!

I need to clear up a possible misunderstanding, lest I confuse others with what I just wrote! The NAV 2007 I discussed was installed on my *desktop* computer, replacing NAV 2005. I did not attempt to install NAV 2007 on my laptop. I completely got rid of NIS 2005 on my laptop and installed NAV 2006 when subscription renewal came around. NAV 2006 plays nice with ZoneAlarm on my laptop. No hassles.

Re installing NAV 2007 on my desktop, by the way, I read the manuals carefully, both printed and PDF. Neither they nor the installation program asks you to *uninstall* any earlier Norton products before attempting to install NAV 2007. Most good software will tell you explicitly to uninstall older versions if it is necessary prior to upgrading. Well, I figured, maybe Symantec has figured a way to save us a bunch of time and headaches uninstalling earlier products, for which real clean-up has proven to be a real hassle. The NAV 2007 install program neatly deleted the NAV 2005 files (I watched it in Windows Explorer), and installed the new stuff with no hitches. Nice.

Best!

Very much appreciate the detailed information, Sam.

No way to completely remove all traces of Norton Protection Centre crap and still run the antivirus.

No options for how to deal with normal viruses. It will clean them for you. If you just want to be notified, that's too bad!

I have loaded Norton 2007 onto 3 clean installed XP pc's over the lat 3 days and all of them have had processor lock ups caused by fwcfg.exe

The problem has nothing to do with previous copies of Norton. The live updates do appear to be fixing the problem but the pc doesnt stay stable long enough to finish the first 21mb update. I would suggest that norton put a priority on the update that fixes the cpu hungry fwcfg by giving it its own specfic small update. Doing a hard reset while doing updates is not a pleasurable experience but with no back or cancel options there is no other option.

Hopefully this remains a serious problem for Norton and people move away from them. They have caused me severe grief in the past. Ever tried ghosting a pc with norton back up on it?? Thatll be an extra £20 on your repair cost madam.