Restricted Access

[Alfred Kaufmann]

I set up Home Premium on a senior's laptop and she happy with
everything except when the laptop starts up it gives her some message
about her security and then tells her the firewall has restricted
access and she doesn't like getting that message. Her Internet
connection was setup under Windows XP Home and it uses a secure
connection to a wireless modem which requires a password. She uses a
trial version of Windows Onecare and it seems happy. So why is she
getting this message?

I really don't understand why she is worried about this message, she
is very very concerned about worms, viruses, etc., so maybe she
should be happy that access to her machine has been restricted.
Everything else works fine.

Ak

 

[Guest]

I set up Home Premium on a senior's laptop and she happy with

everything except when the laptop starts up it gives her some message
about her security and then tells her the firewall has restricted
access and she doesn't like getting that message. Her Internet
connection was setup under Windows XP Home and it uses a secure
connection to a wireless modem which requires a password. She uses a
trial version of Windows Onecare and it seems happy. So why is she
getting this message?

She's getting this message because the designers of OneCare thought that
every user would want to be notified that the firewall detected a network and
set the profile to match it, every time you connect to the network. If you
select to trust that network you will get a similar message twice (once that
you are on a restricted network, and once after the dog-slow process of
detecting which network you are on completes and it changes to a trusted
network). This is to be expected while you use OneCare (and is one reason why
I don't use it).

The only way to get rid of that message, and retain OneCare, is to manually
manage the firewall settings in OneCare, and I would HIGHLY recommend that
you do not go down that route.

You could also resolve the problem by getting rid of OneCare and just
installing a third-party AntiVirus program instead. You will lose the backup
and tuning features that OneCare gives you, but it means that in turn you can
use the built-in firewall, which is far better than the one in OneCare. If
you want to go down that route, check out Malke's page on AntiVirus programs
for Vista:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page5.html#AntivirusAntispyware

 

[Alfred Kaufmann]

She's getting this message because the designers of OneCare thought that
every user would want to be notified that the firewall detected a network and
set the profile to match it, every time you connect to the network. If you
select to trust that network you will get a similar message twice (once that
you are on a restricted network, and once after the dog-slow process of
detecting which network you are on completes and it changes to a trusted
network). This is to be expected while you use OneCare (and is one reason why
I don't use it).

Thanks, that is the information I wanted.

The only way to get rid of that message, and retain OneCare, is to manually
manage the firewall settings in OneCare, and I would HIGHLY recommend that
you do not go down that route.

She'll have to get used to the message.

You could also resolve the problem by getting rid of OneCare and just
installing a third-party AntiVirus program instead. You will lose the backup
and tuning features that OneCare gives you, but it means that in turn you can
use the built-in firewall, which is far better than the one in OneCare. If
you want to go down that route, check out Malke's page on AntiVirus programs
for Vista:
http://www.elephantboycomputers.com/page5.html#AntivirusAntispyware

She used to have Norton Anti-virus and Spyware Sweeper when it was
Window XP Home and I deleted those two programs before upgrading to
Vista. (They were about to expire anyways) I tried AVG but with
Windows Defender but decided to get the Onecare trial. Except for
these useless messages it works well. I don't care if it works
perfectly.

Maybe the Onecare programmers are listening and will include an option
to get rid of useless information messages. She thinks there is
something wrong with her machine that should be fixed.

Al

 

[Guest]

...the Onecare trial. Except for

these useless messages it works well. I don't care if it works
perfectly.

Maybe the Onecare programmers are listening and will include an option
to get rid of useless information messages. She thinks there is
something wrong with her machine that should be fixed.

For all my complaining about it, I have to say that OneCare does work pretty
well. I just dislike the firewall component. The rest of it I like. If you
don't mind the popups, it's a good program.