# Norton 360 blocking (firewall?) Microsoft updates



## Needadvice (Apr 13, 2009)

Windows/microsoft updates sends a message it is prevented from downloading updates and the help section says its 3 URLs should be in the exception/allow list. Understood this - curious as I hadn't changed anything and used to download updates until recently (Feb it transpires). I have otherwise full access to WWW.

Go to Norton 360 look for place where I can allow the 3 URLs and discover lists and lists of things but I can't find the place to enter the URLs - abbreviations to lots of things are meaningless to me.

Notice that Norton 360 insists I use their backup (already backed up to portable hard disk) so I try anyway - fill in everything and can't back up as Norton says I am not connected to internet - check and confirm that I am.

It is just too complicated so I am thinking of scrapping Norton and installing another AV (I have a spare subscription) but thought that I would post this (my first question) to see if you guys can help me. Probably obvious answer but try as I may I couldn't find it.

Ta

John (Needadvice)


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## imrui (Apr 13, 2009)

Can you copy & paste here the contents of your hosts file?

'%WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts'


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## Needadvice (Apr 13, 2009)

Imrui,

Sorry but I have no idea of what it is that you have asked for or why you would want me to do that?

your post: Can you copy & paste here the contents of your hosts file?

'%WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc\hosts' ??

Thanks for the effort.


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## Dudeofthed (Jun 24, 2007)

Needadvice said:


> Imrui,
> 
> Sorry but I have no idea of what it is that you have asked for or why you would want me to do that?
> 
> ...


'%WinDir%\system32\drivers\etc\' is the correct directory 

The Hosts is basically an address book for the web. Say, I can modify my Hosts file to show http://google.com.au/ in the address bar but it actually redirects me to http://yahoo.com.au/


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## Jason08 (Oct 13, 2008)

You may need to disable Norton to run the updates.


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## Michael York (Nov 7, 2007)

Needadvice said:


> Windows/microsoft updates sends a message it is prevented from downloading updates and the help section says its 3 URLs should be in the exception/allow list. Understood this - curious as I hadn't changed anything and used to download updates until recently (Feb it transpires). I have otherwise full access to WWW.
> 
> Go to Norton 360 look for place where I can allow the 3 URLs and discover lists and lists of things but I can't find the place to enter the URLs - abbreviations to lots of things are meaningless to me.
> 
> ...


Hi John,

This is Mike from the Norton Authorized Support Team.

I apologize that you have experienced issues with using Norton 360 and I would like to assist you in resolving them.

First of all, you are not required to use the Backup feature in Norton 360, however it is a great feature to safeguard your data. It appears that there may be a problem with your installation of Norton 360 since you are having trouble with this feature as well.

There is nothing in the Norton Firewall feature of Norton 360 that would block Windows Updates and you should not have to configure the Norton Firewall to allow specific URL's through for it to work.

The default rules in the Norton 360 Firewall are application based and allow for Internet Explorer traffic, etc, which is what Windows Update uses.

Since Norton 360 is a comprehensive security suite, you do need to make sure that the Windows Firewall is disabled, and that you do not have any other third-party anti virus or internet security applications running, as they can cause conflicts like the one you are experiencing.

The first thing you should try is to open Norton 360 and manually run LiveUpdate, possibly multiple times, to ensure that you have all available updates applied. After the updates have been applied, restart your computer and try accessing Windows Update again.

If, after running LiveUpdate you are still unable to run Windows Update, please open Norton 360 and turn the Firewall off and turn the Windows Firewall "On" temporarily and see if Windows Update works. Please try this and let me know.

Also, what version of Norton 360 you are currently using. If by chance you are using version 1 or 2, and have a valid subscription, you are entitled to a free update to Norton 360 version 3, which I highly encourage. If you are using an older version, I will provide you with the step-by-step instructions to do a clean install, just as soon as I hear back from you.

Thank you,
Mike


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## Needadvice (Apr 13, 2009)

Mike - from Norton - (and others) thanks for the suggestions and your time.

I will try and report back after I have done that. The 360 version should be the latest as I purchased it with the laptop within the last 6 months or so

Cheers 

John


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