Windows Firewall & Norton Internet Security Firewall

[Guest]

I have been running Norton Internet Security for years. Since the last
Windows Update, at boot, I get "Your Norton Firewall is switched off, click
here to solve the problem". Clicking takes me to the Windows firewall dialog.
I can choose to activate the windows firewall, if not, Norton is activated.
If I do not click the first message norton comes on after ca 15 seconds.
Does anyone know if Microsoft is really letting the pants down on my
computer for 15 seconds when it boots, i.e no firewall activated? This would
mean that one cannot have the network cable connected to the computer when
booting without risking being hacked. Since I am happy with Norton I have set
the Microsoft Firewall to "off", still the above happens.

 

[JP Breton]

What is your question?.

JP

 

[Guest]

Windows Firewall (WFW) in XP SP2 has this "startup firewall policy" that only
allows essential initial network traffic such as DHCP and DNS. This will be
deactivated where the WFW configuration is applied as soon as the WFW service
is fully started. Norton or any other third party firewall should behave the
same (check with your vendor).

Do let us know if this helps. Thanks!