Why was my computer better before Norton Internet Security?

This will be long:

In early July I installed Norton Internet Security 2006. My 2005 was just ready to expire and obviously I wanted to update. As soon as I installed the problems began...

First with Outlook...my e-mails would't come in, after uninstalling and reinstalling I managed to fix that problem.

At my home office I am always plugged in to a cable modem and router and have no problems. When I travel (which I do a lot) and plug in using dial up...more problems begin.

In Mid-August I brought my laptop to my house upstate new york and dialed up. I got online but could not send and recieve e-mails from Outlook.

When I tested my computer back at my home office in NYC it froze up everytime I tried to Dial up. I had a technician come in and she managed to clear up my computer and allow me to sign on via dial up in NYC. By disabling everything except Norton Anti-Virus.

This past weekend I brought my laptop to my apartment in Florida and could not dial up! My computer froze and was useless much like what intially happened in the city.

When I can back to NY and tested again (dial up) everything worked fine!

Why is my Dial up being so crazy.
is it worth it for me to uninstall Norton internet security and just ger Anti Virus?

Anyone have a similar problem?
It just seems so weird!

HELP!

Meghann,

It's really tough to say what would be causing your problem, especially since you're moving around a lot and aren't always in a controlled environment. Perhaps someone else on these forums has had the same problems and can answer you.

What I would say is -- and this is no knock on Norton -- is that you can find a number of excellent free programs that, when combined, can cover most security holes. If you want to try a free antiviral product to see how it compares, I'd highly reccomend AVG Free. Although the free version doesn't send you updates as fast as the for-pay version, I used it for a couple of years and never got a virus.

Just my two cents.

I can't say I have a great deal of experience with Norton Security, but recently I was working a rollout at a major hospital and we were given a laptop to use for logging into Dell's online management tool. We were told by the director of IT to simply disable Norton Security when accessing the internet. I was surprised when he said that was what he did when using his office computer.

You might enable Window's firewall (I'm assuming you're running XP) when you shut down Norton's security on the dialup connection. That should do fine for you.