Firewall alert

[cemcd]

For the last month or two my machine (Tecra M5, 2 GHz, 2 GB Ram XPP sp3 fresh install about 6 months ago) gives a message that "Your computer might be at risk" during startup which goes away (and Firewall turns on) as it finishes loading. I spoke with NAV and uninstalled NAV and reinstalled (and updated to NAV 2010 at same time.) No change.

I have read that this could be related to start up programs and the order in which they load, which I've never had much luck adjusting other than unchecking in msconfig or using a third party software (and I didn't see any difference then.)

I have not been concerned until recently when one of the online programs I use upgraded and during one of the operations it locks up my browser about 1 time in 3 (IE 7 my machine runs slower on IE 8.) It does seem to behave properly if I've just run diskcleanup. This program is called Tempo 5 and it has very heavily java programed database quireies, etc.

Any thoughts?

[CCT]

In Control Panel call up Windows Firewall and under the Advanced tab do the reset. (restore defaults)

Any improvement?

[cemcd]

Nope.. still pops up during startup.

[CCT]

Are you using a Norton Firewall?

[slgrieb]

The transient message about your system being unprotected isn't really indicative of what's happening on the machine at startup. The core AV services for most Antivirus software are loading long before you get to the desktop, right along with video drivers, etc. Avira is one of the few exceptions I can think of. In effect most AV products behave just like Malware rootkits. That's why they can sometimes be difficult to uninstall.

I'd say the problem with Tempo is unrelated, and not evidence of a compromised computer. A lot of specialized software tends to be pretty flaky. I don't work with anyone who uses Tempo (we are talking about the MLS software, aren't we?); all my realtors use Paragon. Which has many quirks of it's own. I'd check with Tempo support for possible issues related to browser support or different versions of Java, etc.

[cemcd]

NAV 2010, Windows firewall does show active. NAV does install ahead of the transient message I get - at least according to the task bar indications.

I've been on the phone three time with Tempo (yes, MLS software) and they have asked me to chang various Internet options to no avail - reset to default and a few other tweaks. Since the machine has been so stable, I get nervous when over the phone support starts asking me to tweak things. Ironically, all works fine in Tempo except one routine, so at present I'm comfortable with just using another machine for that one scenario. Just want to make sure nothing is going astray with the HD...

Only other recent change is I've added BlackBerry Desktop, but a ton of realtors use that and I'd be surprised if that was an issue - I don't load it at startup, just when I want to sync to Outlook.

[CCT]

If Norton has a firewall, just turn the Windows one off and indicate you'll look after it.

edit: refer to this; http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...ew=nl_docid/pf

[slgrieb]

Could just be a conflict between some other piece of software on the computer and Tempo. You might open Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Event Viewer and see if any critical errors or warnings correspond to Tempo glitches. Sometimes, you can check these errors online with MS and get great diagnostic info; sometimes not. Still worth a look. Try running System File Checker.

[cemcd]

Thanks... I'll check.
One step at a time.

[Zonie]

I might add, some of my clients using Tempo were also having problems as well. The support here advised them to use Firefox for certain searches and functions within Tempo. Might be worth a try.

[cemcd]

I ran SFC and have tweaked a couple tasks out of start up and will have to wait and see... I've only had to go into edit once and it performed satisfactory then. I have not had time to check event errors, but until I have a lockup it may be academic and I did check it before and did not see anything speciifc I could follow up on.

Hmmm, Firefox - Tempo told us this version might be compatible with Firefox, but when it was installed they said not... might be worth a try if I continue to get the lockups. T4 was not compatible at all.

Thanks,