Message from Norton re. unknown service starting on Mac

Hi Suzy2014.

This is a little bit of a tangent, but I see you say in your post that; 'Unfortunately I cannot paste a copy of what I see in this form.'

Try using the 'Grab App,' which has always been on all Apple computers, look for a pair of scissors in the app's logo in your 'launchpad' if it is not in your 'Dock' already. Open Grab then go to 'capture' and then 'selection,' then mouse or track-pad to the top left of area of your screen you want to copy then while holding down mouse or pad and drag to the bottom right, as you release a copy of the framed area will appear in screen. To easily save the Grabbed copy, just close the copies window with the red top left close button and a save / don't save box will appear, give the Grabbed copy a name and save it to your desk top, I personally save them as JPEGs, but that's you call. It takes a little practice to get it right.

I run Norton and it's the biggest slow me down bug on my Mac...

I purchased Norton a few years ago after an email virus got into my contacts list on my Mac and then sent its self out again to all my contacts. People in my contacts running anti virus software filtered this bug email out and the ones who were not it did the same thing to their contacts list and so on, stinker...

I've been using Macs since 2000 and this was the only bug that ever got through when I did not have Norton running; and this bug seemed to not affect / infect the computer itself it was just a one off, but a pain...

In four year of having Norton running on my Mac it has only netted one virus before it got into my Mac, but one !?¿

Anyway, 'have fun with the Grab App...' (See example of Grab below.)

I suggest that you uninstall Norton. Norton is known to cause problems with Mac OS X and provide no known benefits in return.

If your Mac is behind a router then their is no need to run any sort of Firewall protect on it.

Besides rather then paying an exorbitant amount for the Norton Firewall, there is the free one that Apple provided with OS X that is probably better any way.

As I said earlier get rid of all the crapware from Symantec. It is probably the cause of all of your problems.

In today's crazy world it is better to be safe than sorry, too many people have nothing better to do than install harmful SW on one's computer...

Exactly. Just like you've done with that Norton's app. Really, search these forums for commentary on Norton's products.

IMHO it is far safer to get rid of Norton then since it is not capable of doing anything good on the Mac.

Hi Suzy2014 - I know t's an old post so hopefully this will help future users. I see this thread has had over 5000 views - I thought I'd try and add some clarity.

Going to your original question regarding 'what to do'. NS (Norton Security) software is informing you that a program on your machine is attempting to access the outside world. The problem is, is that the program in question (like almost most of them) has got a snazzy/recognisable name, so it's difficult to make an informed decision at this point. NS needs telling what you want it to do now, and for the future. Next steps;

• Forgetting the port information that has been provided, make a note of the application information, for example; '/usr/libexec/sharingd'
• Search the internet for '/usr/libexec/sharingd' (the details of application) and see what results are returned. The returned results will often have answers from the Norton forum. At this point if comments relate to something you recognise - Apple Sharing, or Dropbox etc. Then you can make a better decision.
• At this point, before clicking [save], there is a checkbox stating to "Always take this action". If you click this before [Save], then the answer you have given will be applied to this service overtime it attempts to go outside (from your network). This decision you have made is referred to Blacklisting or Whitelisting - Blacklist means it has created a rule in NS that it is never allowed, Whitelisting creates a rule where it is allowed out.

NS is basically doing it's job, but when t's initially installed or new software has been installed on the machine, it just needs telling what to do.

in the above example, my research revealed a OSX AirDrop service.

If the above helps anyone by solving the problem or gets you closer by elimination, please mark 'this helped me' and add a comment, or ask a further question - I'll try and help.

Regards, RMPF7

As I stated in the post before the latest one that you just posted, I find it to be much safer on Macs to avoid everything from Symantec and Norton. They are all very dangerous to the running of a Mac.

Also your comment of "If the above helps anyone by solving the problem or gets you closer by elimination, please mark 'this helped me' and add a comment, or ask a further question - I'll try and help." is a violation of the TOU.

Suzy2014 wrote:

Thank you. I just had a chat w. Norton support and they established that the Mac is trying to get an update for an application that wasn't updated since I have the computer. After I selected "allow", the alert disappeared and an update was applied. BTW, through Comcast Norton is free. In today's crazy world it is better to be safe than sorry, too many people have nothing better to do than install harmful SW on one's computer...

But you're not safe at all with Norton, you just think you are.

Sorry all, off topic. Allan, how is offering help a breach? - Seriously, are you not allowed to help? Please explain/

Read TOU

Yes, it is a breach, just don't do it.

I'm finding this fascinating. I've just scanned through the terms. Which section should I read again properly?

The bit where it says, "just don't do it'

"4. Interference with the Site" and "2. Do not ask for points."