Search /
Docfinder:
Advanced search  |  Help  |  Site map
RESEARCH CENTERS
SITE RESOURCES
Click for Layer 8! No, really, click NOW!
Networking for Small Business
TODAY'S NEWS
• Android, Apple Own 80% of Global Smartphone Market; Microsoft's Share, 2.2%
• Proposed New York Legislation Would Ban Anonymous Online Comments
• Supercomputer to connect to 400PB of storage via Ethernet
• Sales of unused IPv4 addresses gathering steam
• Customizable cloud SLAs on the way, researchers predict
• Google chairman pledges to fund Raspberry Pi availability in U.K. schools
• Obama orders agencies to optimize Web content for mobile
• Are CEOs getting the social media thing?
• Managing Mobile Mania
• Google's Android did not infringe Oracle patents, jury finds
• HP to trim 27,000 jobs as part of restructuring program
• VMware acquires desktop management company Wanova
• Privacy advocates fear CISPA
• Groups launch gigabit-per-second broadband project
• Windows 8 touchscreen devices to be priced higher, Dell says
•


/
Send to a friend Feedback

Norton AntiVirus puts a lock on e-mail

Related linksToday's breaking news
Send to a friendFeedback

By Joris Evers
IDG News Service, 03/09/01

Users of Symantec's Norton AntiVirus software may have problems getting their e-mail when the program's e-mail filter fails to run properly.

The feature, designed to intercept malicious e-mail messages before they land in the user's inbox, is causing confusion among users and angering ISPs, according to computer troubleshooting Web site BugNet.

Norton AntiVirus Versions 7.0 and above contain a program called Poproxy. This program sits in between the user's e-mail client and the mail server run by the ISP. Incoming e-mail is routed through Proproxy for a security scan.

When Poproxy fails to run - perhaps because of a conflict with another system process - users get an error message saying: "The connection to the server has failed." When Norton AntiVirus is installed the e-mail client preferences are changed to connect to Poproxy instead of the service offered by the ISP.

Symantec admits customers have reported e-mail trouble, but the company does not regard this as a product flaw.

"Usually it is a configuration error or installation trouble, nothing that can't be resolved," said Chris Van der Grift, consumer product lead of Norton products at Symantec EMEA.

Van der Grift has no information on programs causing conflicts with Poproxy, but said there has been another cause blocking access to e-mail: unknowing users incorrectly disable the Poproxy program because they don't trust it.

"Overcautious customers tend to disable Poproxy manually in the Task Manager (accessed by hitting Control-Alt-Delete in Windows), others get weary of the program and decide to block it when their personal firewall reports that Poproxy is trying to connect to the Internet," Van der Grift said. "They don't realize that Poproxy is part of Norton AntiVirus."

Resetting the preferences in the e-mail client to the ISPs mail server will fix the problem, but will disable protection by Poproxy. However, according to Van der Grift, the system is still secure with Norton Auto-Protect enabled. This feature scans all files before they are run.

The IDG News Service is a Network World affiliate.

Related Links

 
NWFusion offers more than 40 FREE technology-specific email newsletters in key network technology areas such as NSM, VPNs, Convergence, Security and more.
Click here to sign up!
New Event - WANs: Optimizing Your Network Now.
Hear from the experts about the innovations that are already starting to shake up the WAN world. Free Network World Technology Tour and Expo in Dallas, San Francisco, Washington DC, and New York.
Attend FREE
Your FREE Network World subscription will also include breaking news and information on wireless, storage, infrastructure, carriers and SPs, enterprise applications, videoconferencing, plus product reviews, technology insiders, management surveys and technology updates - GET IT NOW.