Lightning-Rod Men

What happens when vendors fight over your desktop security

By Scott Berinato

November 21, 2006 — CSO — I cant say for sure, but heres what I think happened to my home PC. One day, Windows updated itself, and the update seems to have automatically turned on Windows Security Centerthe program that controls Windows Firewall and other security settings. I had long ago turned off this feature, because I use other security products and, frankly, I got tired of a pop-up bubble telling me my computer might be at risk when I knew it was notat least not more than any other machine connected to the Internet.

When I logged in after this update, the red shield with an X in itthe icon used when Windows has decided your PC security needs attentionwas back in my task bar, and a balloon popped up informing me that my computer might be at risk. Click this balloon to fix the problem, it said, but it also included an X in the corner to close the window. I Xed out.

But at the same time, a dialog box from Norton popped up. The Symantec alert read: Your computer is at risk in the following areas: Firewall protection is turned off. This was not true. I had a firewall running, just not Nortons or Microsofts. The note instructed me: Open your Norton product to resolve this issue. I opened my Norton product, which showed me in bright green which Norton products were turned on, and, in bright red, which ones were disabled. It urged me to buy an update to its antivirus service and turn on features I had chosen to turn off. I closed my Norton product without making any changes.

But I couldnt X out of the warning message, which was still on my screen. At the bottom of the warning, there was an unchecked box next to another message: To prevent duplicate status alerts, use my existing Norton product alerts and turn off redundant Windows Security Center alerts (recommended). The vendors, it seemed, were fighting over who got to tell me my PC was insecure, even though it wasnt!

I checked the box to prevent duplicate alerts and clicked the OK button at the bottom, the only way to remove the box from my screen.

But the same message popped up again. I hit OK. It popped up again. I hit OK. It popped up again. Every five seconds the box popped up. So I left it there, and disabled Norton Auto-Protect (antivirus) in my task bar, hoping it would stop the message from popping up. Five seconds later, the warning popped up again. I huffed, and the Windows balloon popped up again. I Xed out again and tried to right click on the red shield icon in the task bar to disable it, but no such option was available. The Windows balloon popped up again. I grunted. Your computer might be at risk, Anti-Virus Software may not be installedbecause I had just disabled it. Click this balloon to fix this problem. Peeved, I clicked the balloon, hoping I could find a way to disable something, anything long enough to check my freakin e-mail.

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