Norton Firewall Messes Up I Explorer

[babyoh]

i am trapped into occasionally using int. explorer; i design alot of pages, and need to see how they look in different browsers.

Problem:
Symantec / Norton firewall causes my i explorer to NOT WORK - i get "Page Not Found" errors.

i can use norton firewall with the XP Firewall, but have gotten some nasty infections this way.

**** is there any safe was for me to change the norton firewall settings (right now, everything's full up, since i got so badly infected recently)

at 1 point, i tried another firewall -- but it had a "SHOOT OUT" with norton's anti-virus, which kept reporting it as an ALERT: VIRUS!

:rose:
any thoughts or help is appreciated.

PS. norton firewall works fine with opera, firefox, and netscape...

[Jason]

babyoh,

Don't know if you noticed my posting at this link?
If not, I suggest that you check out the last paragraph and that you deal with the issue when your computer is completely clean from all malicious stuff.

Another recommendation is never to use two softwarebased firewalls, or for that matter even two different antivirusprograms, at the same time as conflicts will occure and your safetysituation will be largely reduced.

A hardwarebased firewall works well along with a software solution, but the XP firewall isn't hardwarebased although the security level reminds much of one as it's only efficient enough (my opinion) on settings for incoming communications.

Jason ;)

[babyoh]

ok, where was i?...
:rose:
i couldn't get int explorer to show me ANYTHING, i get a PAGE NOT FOUND, only when norton sym's firewall is on, and only for explorer.

SO, THANKS, JASON, for your help. --
i went to  "Personal Firewall", "Programs" and deleted the settings for Internet Explorer. (there were TWO; both were set to AUTOMATIC. it said "We've decided this is Safe -yadda-yadda- Microsoft is a Safe Company - yadda-yadda.")

I NEVER set these things before, and it was interesting there were TWO on there.

QUESTION:
What's the SAFEST way for me to set EXPLORER now? -- should i MANUALLY set it, or will the Firewall do it on its own when i begin using it and going online via Explorer?
:rose:

THANKS, GUYS, FOR ALL THIS HELP   :gwave:

[Jason]

Thanks for your feedback babyoh :thumbsup:

I NEVER set these things before, and it was interesting there were TWO on there.

A default configuration that's supposed to fit most users is set up the first time the firewall is installed, i.e. if choosen by the user.
The reason you haven't seen this before is most certainly that you earlier accepted that suggestion given by the program.

There may be several posts for the same program if something have been changed by different users (i.e. accounts), the program has been upgraded, variable parameters has been added etc. I'm a bit annoyed myself over this behaviour in some situations but mostly it's practical for an advanced user.

QUESTION:
What's the SAFEST way for me to set EXPLORER now? -- should i MANUALLY set it, or will the Firewall do it on its own when i begin using it and going online via Explorer?

Theoretically the safest way would be to set all programs manually, but practically that means you'll have to take a lot of manual decisions along the way until most situations have been covered for a specific program.
If your not familiar with for instance how communications works, facts around IP-adresses, how different ports are used by specific programs etc. I suggest that you let Internet Explorer has it rules being updated automatically.

Jason ;)