Norton Internet Security 2011 Intrusion Prevention

Norton Internet Security 2011 Intrusion Prevention
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What Is Norton Intrusion Prevention?

Norton Intrusion Prevention protects your computer from vulnerabilities that emerge from outdated software. Applications that use the Internet are commonly threatened, and although the companies that create these products try to provide fixes through patches, it often takes awhile to get patches out there for the public and some people don’t even bother downloading them.

Intrusion Prevention works by patching these vulnerabilities temporarily until the developer comes out with an appropriate fix. So, even if you’re patching your computer’s applications on a regular basis, you’re still going to need Intrusion Prevention to be extra safe during periods when patches aren’t yet available.

Setting Norton Intrusion Up

Norton Intrusion is actually a very easy program to setup. All you need to do is open Norton Internet Security and wait for the program’s main interface window to load. Once it has appeared, go ahead and look on the left side of the window. You should see an overview labeled “Network Protection” that provides essential information about network traffic and threats. On the right side of the “Network Protection” overview, you’ll see a few options, such as Smart Firewall, Intrusion Prevention and E-Mail Protection.

As you’ve probably already figured out, click on the “Intrusion Prevention” option and wait for the window to load. Once it has, you’ll have a few different options which will be reviewed shortly. For now, you just need to understand that to turn Norton Intrusion on or off you’ll need to slide the slider. If it’s green, it means it’s on. If it’s red, it means it’s off. As soon as you’ve enabled the program, you can proceed and learn about some of the options available that will help you use the program efficiently.

Using Norton Intrusion

There are a few different options and customizations that you’ll be able to make if you desire; however, the program is usually setup to run in an appropriate way before you even open it. It might just be your best option to leave the settings as they are. Regardless, the first option available is labeled “AutoBlock.” This is a component that blocks any and all computers that are sending harmful traffic towards yours. It’s already on by default and the blocking duration is set to thirty minutes, but you can go ahead and customize this time to have it longer or shorter if you like.

The other main option you have available to customize is labeled “Intrusion Signatures,” and this portion of the program allows you to customize which threats are blocked. This is a really, really long list full of programs and potential threats that could be invited into your computer if you uncheck a few of them. For that reason, you should probably stay away from customizing this portion of Intrusion Prevention unless you’re skilled and know what you’re doing. The last option you’ll have available is just a small one that allows you to change whether notifications are presented if harmful traffic was sent your way or if the program blocked another individual’s computer.

Final Thoughts

Norton Intrusion Prevention is a pretty straightforward component of Norton Internet Security to use. You really just need to ensure that it is enabled, that notifications are presented to you to ensure you know when your computer is under attack and that you block computers for appropriate amounts of time. Other than that, Norton will take care of the rest of the settings.

References

Screenshots provided by writer

Resources:

Norton AntiVirus Software, https://us.norton.com/antivirus

Norton Community: Intrusion Prevention System, https://community.norton.com/t5/Norton-Protection-Blog/Intrusion-Prevention-System-IPS-Your-first-line-of-defense/ba-p/124400