Norton 360 v 2 - More problems - Disable the Network Address Check

Disable the Network Address Check
I use the hosts file to re-direct certain addresses, and therefor provide additional protection. Norton removes all that protection at a stroke.

Every time I re-install I have to remember how to do it, so here it is:

1: Run the check - and have it fix the 'problem'
'Tasks' ... 'Run Scans' ... 'Let me choose' ... click GO
deselect everything except Network Address Check
When the check has finished click 'More Info ...' it should say
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 1


2: Disable it
Now go to 'Settings' ... 'Security Inspector' and select the Network Address Tab. The hosts file should be in the 'Undo List'
Highlight it and click 'Restore Item to System'.
Repeat the scan above and get the messages:
Network Address Vulnerabilities Found : 1
Network Address Vulnerabilities Fixed : 0

Prevention is better than cure.

To get this added PROTECTION go to google and enter "mikes host file", or get Spybot Search & Destroy. In fact, get it anyway, its less trouble than Norton, and its only doing one job.

More Problems
The Norton Support person left Live Update running but unable to move forward. Eventually Windows complained that Norton was out of date, and the latest downloads were the very day he hadn't fixed the problem.
The error messages indicated a re-install. It is hardly worth looking really, that seems to be where all the error messages end up.
So I downloaded the Norton (partial) removal tool, ran it and re-installed. I think I have later virus definitions (it isn't easy to be sure), but live update doesn't apply all the updates.

Having adjusted the settings so I can see whats happening, running LUALL gives a list of updates to install. The offending Norton 360 Security updates can be deselected and the definitions applied.

LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied. Click here for more information on this error.

The link loads into Firefox, my default browser, but the upload of the error won't work there. Symantec only know about IE. So I copy the URL into IE and let it do the upload. It then goes and gets all that the support guys think they need, and fails to upload it. Or that's what happened last time.

The search string they suggest ( "360 2.0 keeps giving same liveupdate error") doesn't provide any hits!

So looking at the forum, there are some things to try:
1) Tamper update off

2)There is an updater available.

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/norton360.nsf/0/4065bc926ae628226525736a0070b3e9?OpenDocument

This downloads a program called PIUpdate.exe. After this the LULALL takes alittle longer, but the result is the same.

- still fails

3) http://service1.symantec.com/Support/sharedtech.nsf/docid/2005072716150213
There is an updater for Vista, this is what the support guy said he did last time. The document does not refer to Norton 360. I have run the updater for Vista anyway.

- still fails
I tried the re-register anyway - it succeeded.

For each of the above processes the start run for luall must be done twice. The first time always reports that another Live Update is in progress.
- still fails
and the failure is getting messier - the failure occurs quickly, but now live update goes on dioing something. IO occurs and the progress bar grows.

... ands further down the forums:

https://www-secure.symantec.com/norton/support/special/sa/frm/_result.jsp?said=lu_patch&productstyle=&prodid=

which gives:

LiveUpdate Failed Patch Identification

Identify failed LiveUpdate patches

Automated Task Completed Successfully.

LuComServer version : 3.4.1.238 Patch error(s) found : 1 Failing patch(es):1223330807jtun_gear0304.x00.full.zip.

It doesn't say it's fixed anything, and indeed it hasn't!
- still fails

5) So to http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071203070434EN the description and process I've seen and done. That leads to this http://www.symantec.com/norton/support/kb/web_view.jsp?wv_type=public_web&docurl=20071130124653EN the instructions to re-install Norton 360 v2. NOT HELPFUL.

So it is posted on the community, and we will see what happens http://community.norton.com/norton/board/message?board.id=Norton_360&message.id=7093

On the Edge - Richard Hammond

Weidenfiled & Nicolson
isbn 13 978 0 85327 5

When a national TV star has a serious accident in the course of his work it is BIG news. That is how things are these days. The viewer builds up some sort of relationship with the person on the small(ish) screen. So Richard's jet car accident was a big deal. The newspapers and the TV and radio news not only reported his crash, but also to some extent his recovery. This book is Richards record, for public consumption, of that whole process.

I started reading this on our quiet weekend, and got a fair way through. It starts with Richard's childhood and gives you some idea why he turned out like he did, his family life, and how he ended up on 'Top Gear'. This is all very interesting stuff as autobiographies go, but it isn't the main point of his book. The point is the recovery from the accident. It was just another mad day of filming. Richard describes the 'car' as he normally would. I could hear him as I read the words. The preparations for the run, the description of the simplicity of the controls. His evaluation of the vehicle and the driving experience. The description of the accident is brief. His thoughts during it are also recorded, but obviously from his memories - after the accident. He is used to observing and recording his impressions and playing them back for the viewer, and the accident is recorded in a similar way.

Immediately after the accident Mindy (his wife) takes over the narrative. It is through her descriptions of the aftermath that we get a real feeling for the impact that such an accident has on those around the victim. At first just the worry, the narrow focus on the person you think you may loose, and the overwhelming shock of it all. All this comes through really clearly.
The recovery process is more prolonged, this part takes about half the book. There are some lovely scenes that portray the madness of it all, they should be funny, but because we have got to know Richard somehow, they are not. The escape from the hospital, the military style operation to move the family to somewhere quiet so that the recovery can continue should be a point of high humour - but we care, so it isn't. Mindy's passages about the family, and particularly the children make for difficult reading. They are well written, but hard to read, hard to get through, especially if you have children of your own, I suspect.

Towards the end where Richard and Mindy are both writing, and it is possible to compare what they were doing by putting the passages next to each other, the font is changed so that we can easily tell who is who. That is helpful, but that part of the book is still the most confusing. It would have been better separated into chapters, and some explaining used to help the reader through. The constant switches from Richard to Mindy and back again just serves to break both stories.

It is a very readable book, from one of our best TV personalities, describing a difficult period in his life. Mindy's sections are perhaps the most important, and perhaps communicate the experience better than Richard's, but then she is on the outside, just as we are.

Windows Vista Permission problems

Problem:
Files saved in 'public' (Vista) or 'Shared' (XP) are not accessible to other users. This is extremely annoying when the files relate to pictures uploaded from a digital camera, or backups of files in the same shared (or public) area produced by a backup application. You can tell the affected pictures because a preview is not presented.

Now the bad thing about this problem is that even Administrators cannot access the file, but fortunately they CAN change the permissions.

Investigation:
There must be some commands that will let me examine the permissions. The GUI is one of those 'way too small - non-re-sizable mini-windows'.

This is for one I can see	This is for one I can't see

The thing to note that is not shown is that the group 'EveryOne' is included when it works.

Now to the command line:
The command is icalcs.exe, which I found from here. Directory entries (via dir) and attributes (via attrib) are the same.

Starting a command prompt with 'Run as Administrator' and running the command:

icacls 100_066*.* /T /C
100_0664.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)

100_0665.jpg NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(I)(R)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(I)(M,DC)
NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(I)(M,DC)
Everyone:(I)(F)

100_0666.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0667.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0668.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

100_0669.jpg I530S\AUser:(I)(F)
NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(I)(F)
BUILTIN\Administrators:(I)(F)
I530S\AdminAcc:(I)(RX)

Solution:
So, now I've a Command file "Acl_ForPics.cmd" which contains:
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT SERVICE\WMPNetworkSvc:(R)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "BUILTIN\Administrators:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SYSTEM:(F)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\INTERACTIVE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\SERVICE:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "NT AUTHORITY\BATCH:(M,DC)"
icacls *.jpg /grant "Everyone:(F)"

Run from a directory prompt it will add all the access I require. Shouldn't have to do it, but something somewhere is not setting permissions correctly, so this is a fix.

The original permissions are left in place, they could of course be deleted (replaced).

I know of similar problems in other machines with executing from directories and installing into directories other than "program files" - I'll be looking at that over Christmas.

Dell I530S Video Drivers

I have been experiencing problems where the image on my MultiSync LCD 2070WNX would display adjusted off either the left or right of the screen, by about two centimetres. This left the 2cm at the other end invisible. The screen is connected through a Belkin keboard video mouse (KVM) switch. If the adjustment occurred while the screen was switched to the other PC the screen would report 'out of range' - and that was that. The only thing to do is press the power button, wait for the shutdown power off, and power on again, making sure the screen is correctly switched. This only happens through the switched VGA, not through the direct DVI on the other machine, so its either the switch (unlikely) or the video card or drivers (most likely).
When I had the network card problem with SP1 there was nothing worthwhile on the site, now there is lots. Dell have caught up a bit.

Intel G31/G33/Q33/Q35 Graphics Controller

Release Date:	10/10/2007
Version:	7.14.10.1322, A02	Other Versions
Download Type:	Driver
File Format:	Hard-Drive
File Size:	15 MB

Hopefully this problem, and the associated unnecessary restarts will now be a thing of the past.

Norton 360 v2 - Live Update Error

At last the free upgrade, and it installed faultlessly on all three machines, now only a couple of weeks later the problems start again:

LU1812: A program that was part of this update failed when it ran. This update was not applied.
Installation failed, error summary...
LU1806: LiveUpdate downloaded all of the updates you requested, but all of them failed to install. Please try to get the updates at a later time.

and on attempting to 'chat' (why? - its what caused all the IE problems before)

An error occured processing your request please contact the administrator or try again. Parameter invalid: Kernel::Kernel::sik_short_desc. Error Description:Input is too long.

Now its all in transit to Norton, who only work in IE, so as a FireFox user, I have to cut and paste the URLs as well.

It's rubbish - still.

Ipswich 1 Cardiff 2

As a part of the '25 things' project - to do 25 things we had never done before during our 25 anniversary year - friends had agreed to take us to see an Ipswich match. After some discussion we settled on Saturday 13 December.
To be sure we arrived in plenty of time our friends - John and Chris - said they will pick us up at 12:30. So Lunch followed breakfast sooner than ever before as we began to prepare for the journey. Saturday is cold day - about 3 degrees Celsius, with a wind chill factor taking off another 7 degrees from the perceived temperature. There is a small chance of snow in the later afternoon.
At 12:30 I am still on the phone to Karen, and rush to complete putting on the jumpers, coat and walking boots. In the hurry to leave I forgot to pick up my camera, so the pictures are from Jo's. We set off in the rain for the hour's drive up the A12. An hour on a good day, but on a day like today who can tell. A little over an hour later we arrive without incident, or unusual delay on the outskirts of Ipswich. It is still raining heavily, and we are dropped near the ground so that we can get to the ground without getting soaked. There is plenty of time to spare, but we are by no means first. It is very busy already. We visit the shop, and I purchase a woolly hat, as a souvenir, and a way to keep my ears from falling off.
We also buy a match program on our way into the ground. The up to one of the bars for a coffee, to get us warmed up ready for what lies ahead.
Portman Road is a modern ground, the stadium we are in is built in a modern style, with concrete floors and steel railings to hold on to. The seats are comfortable enough for 2 45 minute sit downs.
We are in row R just to the right of one of the goals - its a good seat, but Jo can't easily see over the railing in front of her. Five minutes before three and the cheerleaders must be soaked and wondering whether they should go and live in the Arctic. The players arrived shortly afterwards. The game began on time. Ipswich immediately taking the upper hand and producing most of the play. The first goal arrived on 8 minutes (the official match report says 9, but the clock in the ground said 8) from a scrappy piece of defending.
Ipswich 0 Cardiff 1

Disappointing. The game restarted, and I listened to some of the crowd blaming a particular player. Again Ipswich played well up front and applied some pressure. At 20ish minutes another goal, another defensive error.
Ipswich 0 Cardiff 2

Before half time finally there is a goal in the net below us. No messing about, a good goal, well executed.
Ipswich 1 Cardiff 2

There and been three interruptions to play for injuries and I had counted 6 minutes using the ground clock, but only 4 were added to the half. A much needed break, and a conversation with our friends about the joke defence.

You would expect (I would expect) a home team loosing at half time to come out stronger, more determined. The effort of the first half seemed to sap their strength. They were consistently beaten to the ball. The number of bad tackles increased, leading to a sending off for two bookable offences. By now the crowd were more concerned about the manager and his immediate future. They were worried he might stay. They did try to lift the team a couple of times, but even the suppoerts got dis-heartened in the end. One man said to me "We're poor aren't we" - I had to agree.

Here's the first part of the BBCs match report. "Championship play-off chasers Cardiff won at Portman Road for the first time in 62 years as the Bluebirds beat ten-man Ipswich 2-1.

Jay Bothroyd gave Cardiff an early lead as he tapped in Paul Parry's cut back.

Chopra had an effort cleared off the line before Gabor Gyepes opened his Cardiff account from Parry's free-kick.

Jonathan Stead headed in Jon Walters' cross to give Ipswich hope but Ben Thatcher was dismissed for two yellow cards after fouls on Wayne Routledge."

From Cardiff City:

Ipswich boss Jim Magilton said

"We started brightly and Darren Ambrose had a couple of good opportunities and Cardiff put their bodies on the line to deny us. "They weathered the early storm and came back at us. In all honesty they didn't have to work hard for their goals. "We got punished for two costly errors and you just can't give anybody chances like that. "We forced our way back in the game with Ben Thatcher showing a real desire to get the ball back and we showed quality for the goal. "At half time it was a case of Wednesday night when we beat Bristol City but instead we petered out and didn't show the same intensity and that was extremely disappointing. "The sending off made it even more difficult although we gave it a go. "We went 4-3-2 to try and be positive and try to exploit Danny Haynes pace but they saw the game out." Magilton had little sympathy for defender Thatcher who was sent off on his return with David Wright out with a chest infection. He said: "With the first booking he got a bit of ball but the second was a silly booking."

It pretty much sums up how awful the play was. The problems are many, but mainly: too many back passes - and poor ones at that. At least three very dangerous ones. Too few players up to their peak, they looked tired and uncommitted. The good things: Three excellent second half saves, or it would have been 5 against us.

A word on refereeing: Strange. Following a booking, a throw in - explained later that the offending tackle occurred when the ball was off the pitch (against us). A ball that clearly left the pitch and returned was ignored. A shirt pulling incident in which our stiker was clearly impeded was also ignored. At other times the game seemed to be stopped far too often.

The journey home in the rain listening to the local radio was depressing. Almost all (only one exception) demanding that the manager be sacked. 12th in the Championship is low for Ipswich. Lets hope things will improve.

The overall experience though was good, and I enjoyed the day, if not the result.

Christmas at the Casino

The office Christmas party was held at the Kursaal, or at least the casino behind the Kursaal. The office was closed early, so I caught a very early bus home. Instead of the students going in, they were all on the bus coming home. Later that evening the bus that had been hired to get us all there arrived, just as the School's Christmas event was starting. Chaos ensued as the sixteen seater bus tried to turn around at the top of the close.

Once the Chelmsford pick-up had occurred the disco lights and music started, and the champagne was distributed. We arrived slightly late on Southend Seafront, and investigated the entrance. Although I was born in the area, I had never been inside the Kursaal. The entrance to the Ten-pin bowling if under the famous dome, so I have finally seen it from the inside. The entrance to the casino is around the back. Outside is all very boring, but inside (where it counts) is very plush.

We dropped off our coats and made our way up to the casino, on the second floor. Introductions all round, as most of us had never met the others wives. Unfortunately two of our number couldn't come due to illness, and we are hoping they are both better soon. Then it was off to the restaurant to eat. The food was well presented and nicely server. The tables are far enough apart that serving doesn't require reaching across the tables. The restaurant was almost empty when we arrived, as was the gaming floor. By the time we had finished it had filled up, and was very busy. The MD made a little speech - I suppose he thought he had to.

Then to the games. Some of our number knew what they were doing. I did not, and spent a little time watching the roulette. I decided I did not really understand what was happening. Some people were obviously using a pattern and doing reasonably well. One man was gambling with £100 chips on three table, but seemed to only be betting on black or red. He seemed to do quite well too. I was not the only one watching, others too found it fascinating but did not get as far as taking part. Jo did not take any part, but remained in conversation with some of the other wives. The casino had put up the minimum prices because it was in the Christmas season. £5 for one game of black jack seems expensive. Two games would last less than 10 minutes, and for £10 you could see a film, which may last for two hours. Having said that, of course, this was a much better experience than my last visit to a cinema.

At mid-night the bus was waiting for us. It took a while to find everyone and make our way back home. We were first off the bus and said good bye to the others. It was an enjoyable night, probably something I won't do again, but a good experience to have. The problem for me is that I get no buzz from gambling at all. I'm always too aware that the house is making a profit, which means I MUST be making a loss - in the long run.

In terms of the 25 things, visiting a casino would not have been on the list, but you have to take the opportunities that present themselves.

Bill Bailey - Tinsel Worm (Tuesday 2 December 2008)

It's only just Advent, but Christmas is already here, and I've had my first Christmas present already. A Tinsel Worm - a present from Liz. I've enjoyed watching Bill on TV in programs like QI, and his 'Part Troll' show, again on TV. So as I arrived a Liverpool street for the short journey to Tottenham Court Road Tube Station, I was unaware that the Primary Gifting Season had already started, but was very much looking forward to seeing Bill. So as we took our seats on the Grand circle in the Gielgud Theatre the sense of anticipation was rising. I decided to try to remember some of the lines from the start. The drinks in the bar were at London Theatre prices, and the staff had London theatre attitudes, and would not chat. Still I was not going to let that put me off - nothing unexpected there.
Bill was a little late on stage, but as the theatre was full he was only waiting for people to be seated.
The laughter started right from the first minute. All hope of remembering the steam of stories and asides was gone, for fear of missing the next one. Bill does interact with his audience, but he does not pick on people - which is a good thing. I'd hate to go to a show and end up as the stooge. He also doesn't swear, well not in his act anyway. Again that is good. Constant bad language actually detracts from what is said.
Here are one or two of the bits I do remember. In a stream on evolution and creationism that followed some musings on the American Election, Bill stated his case and praised Darwin. "Barnacles" - a piece of interaction - we all got to say it. Darwin was apparently the worlds expert when he lived. Towards the end of this he says "Thank God for Darwin that's all I can say". There's a pause, the sound of laughter has stopped, and then starts again. Bills response in a very broad Devonshire accent "I hears it ... ... ... I thinks about it ... ... ... I laughs". That didn't need a pause - the reaction was instantaneous. Was that an ad-lib, a planned ad-lib, or part of the script. After a piece where he ended up under the carpet on the stage, he was heard to say "What am I doing?" - another ad-lib?
The "Primary Gifting Season" is from a piece about marketing, and is jargon for Christmas (if you haven't thought about that yet).
After the intermission there was a piece on philosophy where Bill interacted with a video of himselves. It was very clever and well timed, but required a little more thought than the rest of the show. The laughter was diminished, but not for long. At the end there were a couple of songs, one I'd heard before.
There are plenty of stolen clips on You Tube if you'd like a preview. It is a very good show, and was an excellent evening out - Thanks Liz.