Norton Internet Security 2003

Norton Internet Security ships with a nifty little feature called privacy control. You can enter a portion of a piece of information you'd like to protect e.g. your email address and NIS will prompt you for permission any time that info tries to leave your computer.

In my case I have two email address listed with NIS. both of them end in srt.com and that is the information I have specified that I don't want leaving the system without my permission.

If I click on a piece of junk email in my in-box it prompts and let's me know that if the message is trying to harvest my email address and send it out to someone else. This part works as it as it should.

Here's the problem:

When I create an email obviously my email address of xxx@srt.com is attached to the message. So when I go to send that message it prompts me and tells me that my email address is trying to leave the computer. The problem is I have a box with a 'block' or 'permit' option. If I choose block - it does just that and deletes the email - If I choose permit it it brings the same block/permit window back. I sometimes have to choose permit six or seven times in a row before the message sends.

Now the the obvious solution is to just remove my 'srt.com' address from the information I don't want to leave the machine but the that leaves me open to all the junk mail that harvests addresses.

Anyone run into this before - symantec's website offers no help an I have searched google to no avail....

ICE

 

stop clicking on junk mail?

like the old joke

doc, it hurts when i go like this

don't go like that no more

 

If there is a way to select an item in windows without clicking or highligthing it I would like to know about it. I don't know of any other way to delete junk mail without selecting it and then hitting the delete key.

My point here was that NIS prompts me whenever xxx@srt.com tries to leave the computer - blocking it works fine - but permitting the information to leave requries selecting the same box on the same reappearing window 6 or 7 times in a row. I sure don't need to be asked three times about whether I want to permit the info never mind 7.

I'm using Outlook 2000 for email - preview pane is turned off.

So if I keep my email address out of the 'don't leave the computer without consent' list then I don't have to deal with the same window 6 or 7 times. However, it also doesn't let me know if my email addy is being dragged off (again) to some black hole of spam without my knowledge.

This problem did not exist in NIS 2002.

ICE

 

i use netscape's email client, messenger, and i always delete spam without opening it and inadvertently letting the spammer know i'm there. but we won't go into that now because you don't use netscape's email client.

the ms outlook boys and girls will have to pick up the discussion with you on that.

i do understand what you are saying about nis. i no longer use that firewall. but i used to, and honestly enjoyed that particular feature of entering bits of personal info that i didn't want to see leaving my puter... the last four digits of my ssn, last four digits of the credit card i use online, last four digits of phone number, address, etc. i thought it was a great tool.

i never did try to block spam like you are doing. perhaps you are trying to fit a round peg into a square hole by using it for a task that it was not designed to perform? i don't know.

back to not clicking on junk mail... i was not being flip. that is actually the very basic homegrown solution i have embraced for years now to keep a relatively tight lid on the incoming spam. i may, on a bad day, get a dozen spams. but more often it's closer to three. and i am very aggressive with my deletion trigger finger. it's great fun 86'ing a spammer's attempt to contact me...

almost as much fun as i get from informing the telemarketers who call that i would gladly get back to them if they would please give me their home phone number so i can call them back tomorrow night at 9 p.m. with my answer.



mark

 

Mark,

I'm not trying to block spam with the privacy control.

The privacy control alerts me whenever my email addy tries to leave the computer whether it's by incoming email our outgoing email.

My problem is not with spam trying to harvest my email - for that NIS works as it should and allows me to block the info from travelling back to someone else's server.

Where I'm hitting a brick wall is that when I send an email to someone my email address is embedded in that message as the sender. Norton catches that my address is leaving the computer but won't allow me to choose the 'permit' option without clicking on the dialog box 6 or seven times in a row. If I choose block NIS says it will delete the message.

Norton's "Tech Support" answer is that I should uncheck the 'email' option in the NIS settings for where it protects the info. Of course if I tell it not to look at email then it won't alert me when joe spammer's incoming email tries to get my address either.

I'm at wits end here - NIS is about to go out the freaking window.

The only reason I keep NIS is that I don't know of any other package that tracks personal info like Norton Does. I'll gladly dump NAV in favor of AVG but I'm not keen on that until I find something with a similar privacy feature similar to Norton. Got any suggestions?

I guess when you boil it down it's no that Norton isn't blocking the info it's that it won't let it through when I tell it to...



ICE

 

Okay, enough already.......

After fighting with NIS for the last 1 hour because auto protect would not start and getting 'cannont read subscription data' errors in addition to the frustration with the **** privacy settings it is now GONE...

Dowloaded AVG and Zone Alarm Pro - we'll see how that works out for a while - if successfull - all computers in the house will move to this setup...........

ICE

 

hey ICE

you state that you are

but in your first post on this thread you said

that would be where i got the idea that you were trying to block spam.

i saw this post on another forum and wondered if it might help....

perhaps it's all a moot point now that you have tossed NIS



mark

 

Mark,

Yeah, I dumped NIS a couple of nights ago - it just wasn't worth the hassle.

I don't get much junk mail but the one's I do get seem to want to 'dial home' with my email addresses - the dialing home was what I wanted to stop not the spam itself.

Of course blocking dialing home with my addy wouldn't let me send emails out without playing the click 7 times routine. I guess that NIS saw both as the same thing so now it's gone.

Thanks anyway!

ICE

 

there is something inherently satisfying about deleting an uncooperative program from one's hard drive.

sometimes, after living with the alternatives, we ask ourselves what the heck took us so long!

other times, we realize that the previous program may have had flaws but it was satisfactory in all other areas, and we go get it back.

btw, i had to remove NIS quite a long time ago when i discovered that it was severely limiting my cable modem's upload speed. the difference between when NIS was enabled and when i shut it down was remarkable.

i wish you well with your NIS-less future.



mark