Re: Firewall / Spyware problem

Antivirus programs often don't detect and remove spyware as they are usually
looking for viruses, worms, and trojans. In any event make sure that you are
using the latest definitions for whatever you scan with and also try
scanning in Safe Mode if the spyware can not seem to be removed in normal
mode. If you have not tried it yet AdAware SE and Ewido are pretty good at
dealing with that which often escape antivirus programs. There are free
utilities from SysInternals [now part of Microsoft] such as Process Explorer
and Autoruns that help give you more ideas on what a process is, where it is
being started from [service or logon] and maybe even be able to disable or
delete it.

If the web servers can be pinged then the problem is probably that the
Norton Firewall is not allowing DNS which uses port 53 UDP outbound for name
resolution traffic. You could try entering the IP address of the website in
the address bar to see if that works [which will not always work due to the
way the website is set up]. If it does work then it almost certainly is a
problem with DNS traffic not being allowed. Offhand I am not sure how you
would configure to allow DNS traffic but I am sure there is an option
somewhere in the settings and there are Symantec forums you can post in if
you need further advice on that or try referring to the online help for the
firewall. I personally try to avoid the use of such firewalls and instead
rely on the Windows Firewall [when available on the operating system as it
is in XP Pro] and the perimeter firewall/internet router for firewall
protection.

Steve


"Dave Hardenbrook" <> wrote in message
news:6omEg.8200$ nk.net...
> I'm working on an office PC running WinXP Pro and which connects to the
> Internet through a Ethernet LAN. The virus/spyware protection is Norton
> Secuity Center. Problem: The user is unable to access Web pages through
> either IE or Firefox (web servers *can* be Ping-ed successfully) unless
> Norton Firewall is turned off. I've tried to add IE and Firefox to the
> allowed programs list for Norton Firewall, but to no avail. When I
> examined the system yesterday I discovered two other apparent problems
> with the system that I thought might be pertinent to the Firewall issue:
>
> 1. Windows Restore doesn't work -- If I attempt to restore the system to a
> restore point, I get an error after the reboot saying, "Incomplete
> Restore -- No changes made".
>
> 2. The system is constantly running a process (even in Safe Mode) called
> "RLVKNLG.EXE", which based on my Google-searching is apparently a
> Spyware/Trojan Horse called "Relevant Knowledge", though Norton refuses to
> recognize it, much less delete it.
>
>
> Does anyone have any ideas/suggestions?
>
> --
> Dave

Steven L Umbach