Norton AV 2003 - Auto starts msMessenger

Part of weekly maintenance is checking running programs in "Task Manager ". I notice msMessenger was running (no icon sitting in tray). I use it infrequently to chat with my nephew at college. It is well behaved.. ONLY starting if I load the program... so I ended the process. There was an additional listing in task manager I needed info on, so I loaded Process Explorer, a free program similar to Task Manager on steroids... gives much more information. Was on the screen for about 10 minutes when a new program/process went active (shows in red), msMessenger reloaded itself... automatically. The only thing I could think of is a change I made in Norton AV about an hour early. I had taken the option to have Norton monitor msMessenger port activity. I should have gotten suspicious a few minutes after I enabled the option when Kerio issued a permission request for msMessenger. So I went into Norton, disable the option and msMessenger auto-closed itself. What I don't understand is why Norton turns on msMessenger. I assumed it would monitor the port activity when I chose to load the program. I would prefer to have Norton monitor the port, but only when I choose to load the program. Norton wants it loaded 24/7... any solutions?

 

Norton isn't initiating the MS Messenger start up. MSM is set by default to try to turn on when it detects an internet connection. Check your firewall (Kerio) settings.
Johanna

 

Hi Johanna
Thank you for your post.
Below is the settings / sequence of events

Computer powered on 24/7.
Cable ISP/ cable modem / router powered on 24/7.
msMessenger never in Task Manager unless manually load ... status for past year.
Then I enabled Norton AV to monitor msMessenger activity.
Over the next 90 minutes msMessenger, did the following..
Auto loaded, I ended process via Task Manager.
Auto loaded, I ended process via Task Manager.
Third time auto loaded, did not terminate via Task Manager. Opened Norton AV, disabled msMessenger option, msMessenger process auto terminated from Task Manger.
The next 12 hour to current, msMessenger has never loaded.
Status back to normal.

I may have confused the issue with Kerio requesting permission. Kerio has been on my computer for about month. When Norton AV auto-loaded msMessenger (?) in the background, was the FIRST time the program / port activity request was exposed to Kerio.