Help needed regarding internet problems...

A

Anjay

New member
Hey folks.

Ok - To make a pretty long story short, here it goes:

Currently I've a dialup connection (No ADSL available where I am, however within the next two years they say it might come). Some time ago (for a long time) everything worked A.O.K., and I never had problems with it disconnecting, etc. Recently though I've been having a lot of problems connecting from my home connection, and to get it working again I need to restart (A bit annoying to restart five times just to load a few pages). The internet just seems to die out and won't work (Maybe it's a good thing? I've been watching a lot more films and have been getting out a lot more too).

I read some lengthy help files provided to me by my ISP (which is Tiscali France), and I did as it said. It also said that it may be worth changing web browsers (which I did, and now use Mozilla Firefox - It worked fine for hours with no problems, and I thought it was all sorted.... although it wasn't).

I also use Norton Internet Security 2002 (which I badly want to remove and change for something better - Been thinking about McAfee yet not sure). I know exactly when it dies out because when I try to click a link, or go on a page, Norton pops up asking whether I want to block or accept (Happens with all browsers I've tried: IE5, IE6, Firefox, Opera). Obviously if I block, nothing'll happen and the page won't load... however even if I accept, nothing happens and it just goes to "Page Cannot be Found".

Planning to phone my ISP tomorrow, however thought maybe some people here might have some ideas.

Anything is much appreciated.

Thanks folks. :)
 
Yeah, turn off the firewall as John said.
Also check if you are using a proxy, sometimes using one can cause problems, sometimes not using one can also cause problems.
Check if norton is blocking all connections made through port 80, if you can, set it to allow all connections through that port, without asking you. See if that helps at all.
 
Ok, thanks you two - It'd seem that yes, it is Norton Internet Security.

I've checked and Norton allows all types of connections with Firefox, and I even added an extra rule allowing all connections through port 80. Still the same - It seems like Norton forgets about the rule and doesn't realise it is there; a bit like an old senile man! :P

If I were to stop using Norton Internet Security 2002 and use McAfee Internet Security Suit, would it be any better?

Personally I'd prefer not to be on the Internet without the firewall on; but it may seem like I will need to do this.
 
I use McAfee and it is very good, you should also check out Zone Alarm, that's another good firewall.

Maybe there is another rule that Norton is using before the rule to let anything pass through port 80?
I don't have norton here so not sure what way it works for its rules.
 
Ok, thanks for that John. :)

I think I may get McAfee Internet Security Suit 6; I've a pretty old version of Norton Internet Security (2002), and the subscription for virus definitions has just expired. You use Firefox, have you had any problems with McAfee not allowing you to view pages and so on? (Or do you not have the firewall?)

I'll also take a look into Zone Alarm, thanks. :)

In regards to rules - You have to set a rule per program, and as far as I'm aware rules for other programs don't affect others. However, I have checked all the rules I'm able to see, and none of them block port 80 or anything like that. Maybe there are rules that I'm unable to view? Who knows. I'll be glad though once I'm rid of Norton.
 
Hey Anjay,
Make sure you also check out http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_index.php - That is AVG anti-virus.
That along with zone alarm provide great protection and you can have a free or paid version of both, I think both versions work just as well.

Does the internet work fine when you shut down the firewall?
You should be ok if you have anti-virus running and you shut it down just about about 5 minutes to check if everything is fine without it off.
 
Anjay,

I have seen this problems several times when working on some computers here in the shop. There are 2-3 reasons why this may happen.

1) Internet Security 2002 (Piece of crap software). I would recommend removing completely from the system and replacing it with ZA

2) There is spyware/malware in the background making connections to a site, dumping information, then killing the inet connection. You can view what connections you computer has made when connectected to the internet by type: "netstat" in a command prompt. If you see a lot of stuff that is not familiar or doesnt traceback, you may want to download spysweeper from download.com and give that a run

3) Do you have a 56k .90 or .92? Depending on the version make sure your ISP server that you dial into is compatible. Otherwise the server may be randomly dropping your packets causing you to loose an internet connection.
 
Thanks for that both of you. :)


Rob, I've currently got AVG free installed since my virus definitions for Norton has just expired. And yes the internet work fines when the Norton Personal Firewall is disabled.


Jon, thanks for all of that. What would you recommend then for an anti-virus program? I'd like something with pretty to very high detection rate. I've been recommended things like Avast and Kaspersky.
In regards to the firewall, some people have recommended things like Tiny Personal Firewall and Sygate Personal Firewall Pro. Is ZoneAlarm Pro better than both of these?


Thanks for all the help everyone.
Much appreciated. :)
 
Norton and Trendmicro housecall make a nice duo for antivirus programs. I currently have Norton 2K4 Anti-virus installed on my machine, then I also use http://housecall.trendmicro.com as my 2nd virus scanner. I like using trendmicro because it is an online scanner, its always up to date, and it is simple to use.


As far as firewalls go... I have a d-link firewall router sync'd with Zone Alarm Pro. That seems to take care of most things.
 
Thanks for that Jon. Very much appreciated. :)

Would you say Norton Anti-Virus 2004 has a good detection rate? Are there any others there available to the public with a better detection rate?
 
Just downloaded ZoneAlarm, and am using the ZoneAlarm Pro 15 day trial - I must say, it's very good. I've disabled the Norton Personal Firewall, and have had no problems since.

Now really just to find a very good Anti-Virus program with good detection rate.


Oh, in regards to the proxy question before, I didn't realise however Norton Internet Security constantly uses a Transparent Proxy Server. Disabled this with ZoneAlarm and then nothing worked at all.
 
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