Man! That was one of the biggest scares I've had in quite some time.

Being cheap and poor as I am, I've always just used the free Zone Alarm and AVG for my internet security. I had the chance to get a copy of Norton Internet Security through a vendor training program but was too lazy to bother. Anything involving a system restart is usually frowned upon by moi. That's how lazy I am. Plus, I try not to bog down my four-and-a-half-year-old Coordinator with too much stuff. Try being the keyword here.

After hearing one of my colleagues praising the speed and leanness of the new 2009 Norton, I decided to give it a try last night. With the product key in hand, I downloaded the trial and started the installation. It immediately detected AVG and Zone Alarm and asked me to remove them first, which I complied. Then as soon as NIS kicked in, I lost my internet connection.

No matter how many times I rebooted or tried different things (I even went back to a previous restore point), I could not get it to work and get a proper ip address. Some searches online (with bro's Midori) led me to the Norton removal tool. You can imagine what went through my head when I learned that Norton actually provides a tool to completely remove their product from the system. Exactly.

Anyhow, I used the tool and cleaned all traces of Norton from Coordinator and just turned on the Windows Firewall. By this time, it was already late and I was nodding during the process. So with a heavy heart, I went to bed.

BTW, it was around 2am when I gave up. The system didn't pop up with the time change notification so I was a bit unsure as to whether I should set my alarm clock an hour earlier or later. Thankfully, Little Black's notification came up (yay for Windows 95!). Little Black's been living at a faster pace (about 30 minutes faster) for quite a few years now, but the hour was all I needed to determine the correct time.

It was a little difficult for me to focus during the Sunday service since I was always going over the few hands I had left to try. At last I had to throw in the towel and leave the matter in God's hand in prayer.

With much anxiety, I returned home and settled in front of the computer. My stubborn nature refused to give up, so I re-enabled the LAN and waited. Lo and behold, the Gmail notification bubbles popped up! I'm online again! I'm baaaaaack! XD

I tried installing just the Norton AntiVirus after getting back my connection, but it asked me to remove Zone Alarm so I just cancelled the installation. If you're an anti-virus program, stay an anti-virus program and stop meddling in my choice of firewall program, damn it! Lesson of the day? I'm sticking with my Zone Alarm and AVG.

I still have two extra sets of product keys for the NIS and NAV. Having had to go through the ordeal makes me hesitant to try putting it on Mum's computer, as much as she needs it. We'll see. I don't suppose most people would be as 'lucky' as I was, so it's probably safe to give them out. I hope.