Built-in Firewall Vs Norton Personal Firewall?

Hi,

I have Norton Personal Firewall 3.0 that I've been using for awhile.
I've just discovered that the program won't open anymore,
and infact hasn't been running for awhile.
Symantec has recommended uninstalling and then reinstalling to fix this.

But now I'm wondering if it's worth reinstalling the Norton Firewall?
Does it have any capabilities that the built-in Firewall with 10.3.9 doesn't?

I'd also like to be able to 'test' whichever firewall I'm using.
To somehow 'see' what attempts have been made on my computer, and check that the firewall's working, is this possible with either firewall?
Norton says it should throw up an alert whenever it blocks an attempted access, but this has never happened in the 2 years I've had it running.
This makes me think the Norton firewall wasn't working, even before the problem with it not opening.

I also can't remember what settings I had in the Norton firewall,
I've got an Airport Extreme connected to a Router, and also have a Squeezebox that connects wirelessly to stream music to my stereo.
How can I find out which ports I've currently got on/off etc when the Norton firewall won't open?

Many Thanks

G5, Mac OS X (10.3.9)

Posted on Apr 4, 2006 5:19 AM

Apr 8, 2006 6:44 PM in response to Callie

So, would I need to backup all my documents first?

You should always be backing up your data because hard drives have a tendency to fail suddenly.

Would a fresh install of Tiger wipe my whole harddrive?

Yes, that's what I mean by a fresh install it's really worth it for the speed and reliability.

1) Backup files to cd/dvd's and verify,

2) Hold c while booting from the Tiger install disk

3) Select Disk Utility from the menu and Erase with the option to Zero (Zeroing will check the drive for bad sectors and automatically map them off improving your writes to the drive)

4) Quit and install Tiger on the drive, go through the setup (no migration assistant, it's glitchy and copy protection fails requiring a reinstall)

5) Get online and completely update the OS, visit each of your drives makers sites and download and run their driver updates. (you need to update the drivers or you might lose data on the other drives when you connect them to your Mac)

6) Install iLife '06 and update (you'll have to buy that too unfortunatly)

7) Repair permissions in Disk Utility, set up the OS like you wish, install the programs you want (Tiger versions)

8) Copy your files from cd/dvd.

Things to remember:

A: Don't forget to copy your User/Library/Mail folder to cd/dvd. This will take care of all Mail related email files.

B: If you want to keep all of Safari's bookmarks/history then also copy the User/Library/Safari folder to disk.

C: Copy the User/Music/iTunes/iTunes Library and iTunes Music Library.xml files to disk as well.

D: You should already be backing up your iTunes Music folder anyway (music is organized in folders)

Now all you have to do is when you set up Tiger is to use the same User name and disk name as you did in Panther. Replace the above files in the same spot as there were on the Panther disk, then start iTunes (not before) and magically everything will be preserved. Your Safari bookmarks, your iTunes playlists and even the email boxes. Yo'll have to authorize the Mac to play your iTMS bought music of course.

When I get the Tiger install disc does it give me the option to either update or fresh install?

Yes you can go this route, but I do not recommend it.

1) Your going to have trouble later when you use Terminal and get instructions from someone because your not using the same shell. (Panther uses a older shell and it doesn't get updated when you use the upgrade route)

2) Any problems/exploits you had on Panther will be carried over.

3) The install will take longer and your performance will suffer, also the OS will be strewn all over the drive, making it harder for Mac OS X to get vital files. When you do a fresh install, everything is written to the fastest part of the drive all nice and together for optimal speed. (aka "hot band")

4) Any OS modifications, root level installs etc have a very high chance of breaking your update, requiring you to start all over again the right way.

I guess some trojans or spyware could be on my Mac.

That's always the possiblity, especially if you haven't done a fresh install after the URL Handler exploits of 10.3.4, for months we were completly vunerable.

Now if you got a spare blank external drive, you might want to consider cloning your present Panther drive to this drive. This way you can pick apart the Panther config when you wish in case you forgot to backup something. Also you'll have a safety net, you can hold option and boot from it and be right back on Panther if need be, come here for help.

It's also wise to clone your new Tiger install to another external drive because it will save your bacon one day. It's bootable, it's a exact copy and you can run what software you need to fix your primary boot drive. It's also good if a Mac OS X update is screwed up and you need to "go back" to a earlier version or to run some software that got broken in the update.

When you have a chance always take the time to Erase and Zero a new drive or one you plan to erase completely. You only need to do this once for each drive, it really increases the reliability of large data writes and reduces file corruption.

You can learn how to clone your boot drive by visiting Carbon Copy Cloners forums. Be sure to donate.