I try not to bring my personal life into my writings here too often, and I'm aware that the Internet-consumer-vigilante thing has already been done before, but I hope this article encourages you to think about Symantec products and business practices, and maybe even reconsider your next purchase of a Symantec product. That said, let's cut to the chase.

I use Symantec Client Firewall. It's bundled with Symantec Antivirus in Symantec Client Security, one of Symantec Corporation's fine enterprise security solutions. And apparently it "proactively protects against blended threats through robust client protection, centralized management and ease of administration." Sounds good, right? Hell, I'm sold. Let's see how it performs:

Pretty error message, isn't it? Well, get used to seeing it. I have, sometimes several times a week. This error seems to occur spontaneously, and when it does, your Internet applications come crashing down. The only way to restore connectivity, to my knowledge, is to follow the friendly error message's advice and reboot.

This bug is known to Symantec and has been fixed (Fix ID 1-2ZXNR1). It is documented in this Symantec Knowledge Base article. So what's the problem, you ask? Well, please note the bolded text at the top: This document is exclusively for Platinum Customers. (I kinda have to question a security software company that can't protect its PLATINUM CUSTOMERZ ONLY!!!11 documents from a Google search.) And so, or so I'm told, is Maintenance Release 3, in which the error I'm experiencing is fixed. In case you can't tell, I'm not one of their vaunted Platinum Customers. And as an aside, the "certain web sites" to which the article refers vary from Invision boards to the Bank of America website.

Starting to notice something funny yet? If not, I'll be direct: Symantec Client Firewall has a bug that kills your connectivity and they want you to pay them more money to get it fixed. Making customers pay more for additional features and other cool stuff is understandable, but making them pay more for basic functionality is just beyond me. Seriously, it's mind-boggling how anyone could consider this "good," "intelligent" or "not batshit insane" business practice. It's like a car dealer selling you a car and then saying, "oh yeah, if you want the engine that doesn't break down every hundred miles, that'll be another $2500" (which I don't doubt happens sometimes.)

Symantec Corporation will never get another red cent of mine again. For those of you who use Symantec software (or are considering purchasing it), even if you have never experienced this error, please consider carefully what I've written in this article. Do you really want to do business with a company that charges extra for not randomly cutting your connection? Do you want to do business with a company that wants your money for Knowledge Base articles? Do you want to do business with a company whose homepage is an annoying glaring shade of orange? Okay, that last one isn't relevant and is probably hypocritical. I'd better sign off now. See ya.

(P.S.: Firewall protection is still important for any computer. Don't go on the Internet without one. I would recommend... well, Symantec's competitors, but I haven't had too many problems with a hardware firewall.)

(P.P.S.: Since installing Symantec Client Firewall, I've found that my computer is no longer able to see other computers on a LAN or transfer files--even when the firewall is disabled or uninstalled. This is probably actually not Symantec's fault, but hey, food for thought. Also, I've found that while my computer is on my home network, no computers--even ones that have never had Symantec Client Firewall installed--are able to transfer files to one another.)