Norton SystemWorks/Personal Firewall 2004 and Windows XP with Service Pack 2

Symantec's Windows XP Service Pack 2 information center


If you have Norton SystemWorks 2004 or Norton SystemWorks Professional 2004 then you should go to Symantec's download page and obtain the updates for it.

The following applies to all Symantec products that use LiveUpdate when installed on a PC with Windows XP with Service Pack 2:

After installing the Symantec product, do not let it run LiveUpdate upon completion or upon rebooting. Instead, turn off the LiveUpdate option (in Anti-Virus, Ghost, Password Manager, Personal Firewall, etc...) and instead - download and install the current version of LiveUpdate:

http://www.symantec.com/techsupp/files/lu/lu.html

When you install the new LiveUpdate it will automatically uninstall the old version of itself for you.  After installing it, run LiveUpdate successively (several reboots may be needed) until there are no more updates to install.  Then, you may go back and turn on the LiveUpdate options as needed.
 

Avoiding the X error status in Norton products

When booting the PC, if the desktop is allowed to load too soon then it seems that Norton may issue an error status of an 'X' within a red circle for one or more of its components - as if to say " I am not ready yet! ".

When booting a desktop PC, wait until just after the floppy drive is accessed for the second time BEFORE entering the user password and clicking on OK (or the user icon) to load the desktop.

When booting a notebook (or desktop without a floppy drive), watch the hard drive light. Wait for the hard drive to become idle, then enter the user password and click on OK (or the user icon) to load the desktop.

If the PC is set up to bypass the login and load the desktop then this won't help.

Why wait to load the desktop? It would seem that the Norton products are most happy when the majority of the services that run in the background have loaded - before the desktop appears. Also LiveUpdate wants internet access within approximately 5 seconds of Norton's icon appearing on the system tray.

Waiting about 20 - 30 seconds is a pain, but it seems to work.
 

IIS (Internet Information Services) and Norton Personal Firewall 2004

When Windows XP SP2 starts, it loads many services in the background. When Norton Personal Firewall is installed it needs to create rules for all of the functions that it monitors. If a service is running before NPF creates a rule for it then NPF may create a conflict with that service when it is used. In the case of the below IIS Admin example, it won't let the service be stopped because it does not have a rule for it.

The below procedure applies to any services (Windows, or 3rd party) that are loaded at system start-up and NPF does not yet have a rule for it.

IIS Admin example:

If you installed Norton Personal Firewall 2004 after installing Windows XP Service Pack 2 AND you have IIS running, do the following:

  1. In the Norton Personal Firewall options, set the "Start Norton Personal Firewall" option to: Manual.

  2. Save any open files, close all applications and restart the PC.

  3. After the PC has rebooted and you are back at the desktop, click on Start -> Run, enter the command: services.msc and click OK.

  4. Scroll down to the IIS Admin, right-click on it and select Stop. If you see a box like this, click on Yes:



    Wait until the other services and IIS Admin have stopped, then continue.
     

  5. Right-click on the Norton Personal Firewall icon found on the tray and select Enable.

  6. In the Services window, scroll down to the IIS Admin, right-click on it and select Start. NPF will display a notify message in the lower right or display a box that requests you to select the appropriate action that NPF will perform for the service.

  7. Repeat step 6 for the other services that were stopped along with IIS Admin.

  8. In the Norton Personal Firewall options, set the "Start Norton Personal Firewall" option to: 'at system Startup'.

Home Slipstream XP SP2 Wireless and XP Dell Bluetooth 2.0

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Disclaimer: The information contained on this web page may be used at your own risk. The author of this web page makes no claims or warranties to the accuracy of the information provided or the results from its use on any computer.

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links updated on: 30 May 2006