Internet Security

[Guest]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

Hi,

I always download Microsoft security patches immediately. SP2 was installed
a long time ago. I pay a yearly subscription for Norton Internet Security,
too. It's Norton Internet Security I'm asking about today.

Whenever I connect my machine to an internet site, I get a blizzard of
security threat warnings from Norton Internet Security. Most are marked
"moderate risk" or "high risk" However, this is ridiculous. Norton Internet
Security warns me of moderate risk when it's connecting with its own server
to get periodic updates.

The fact is, I have no idea which of these warnings represent a threat, and
which are false alarms. It seems like most must be false alarms, because I'm
more likely to get a blizzard of them when I connect to a trustworthy site.
However, other warnings pop up from time to time whenever I'm connected to
the internet. Some of them seem to have something to do with the machine's
own maintenance, like checking with Microsoft for updates. Others... who
knows? . It seems like a malicious hacker could easily take advantage of the
fact that Norton Internet Security warnings are often incomprehensible.

How in the world to I distinguish false alarms from real threats? There must
be some rules of thumb. How reliable are the rules of thumb?

Thanks in advance.

Tim

 

[map]

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support (More info?)

In the configuration of Nortons firewall choose the option that goes
someting like
"do not notify me except for the most urgent threats" or wording similar
It sounds like you have it set to display everything which will drive you
batty!

--
Mike Pawlak



Sensitive New Age Thug wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I always download Microsoft security patches immediately. SP2 was
> installed a long time ago. I pay a yearly subscription for Norton
> Internet Security, too. It's Norton Internet Security I'm asking
> about today.
>
> Whenever I connect my machine to an internet site, I get a blizzard of
> security threat warnings from Norton Internet Security. Most are
> marked "moderate risk" or "high risk" However, this is ridiculous.
> Norton Internet Security warns me of moderate risk when it's
> connecting with its own server to get periodic updates.
>
> The fact is, I have no idea which of these warnings represent a
> threat, and which are false alarms. It seems like most must be false
> alarms, because I'm more likely to get a blizzard of them when I
> connect to a trustworthy site. However, other warnings pop up from
> time to time whenever I'm connected to the internet. Some of them
> seem to have something to do with the machine's own maintenance, like
> checking with Microsoft for updates. Others... who knows? . It seems
> like a malicious hacker could easily take advantage of the fact that
> Norton Internet Security warnings are often incomprehensible.
>
> How in the world to I distinguish false alarms from real threats?
> There must be some rules of thumb. How reliable are the rules of
> thumb?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>
> Tim