Norton firewall problem

[Brakes to Park]

Bought Norton Internet Security 2 weeks ago and am beginnning to rue the day I did!

It's all being working perfectly OK until today when all of a sudden I can't access my internet bank account. I haven't changed any of the settings (knowingly ) and when I contacted my bank they suggested it's a firewall problem and something to do with Java.

If I disable NIS I can access my bank account OK.

The manual is totally unhelpful and their free e-mail customer support has just informed me that I can expect a response to my query within 3 days!!!

(I don't want to have to disable NIS every time I check my bank details)

[Alberts Growbag]

I can access my banks and company intranet OK with Norton Firewall/Anti Virus/Utilities running full time. (WinXP/IE6)

As far as Java is concerned try going to Tools/Internet options/Advanced/Microsoft VM. Enable all the tick boxes relating to Java and then reboot. See if that helps.

Also make sure that you are up to date with windows updates. Tools/Windows Update.

[Brakes to Park]

Tried all that , makes no difference. Any other ideas? (have done all the Windows Updates too)

[LastCall]

I am using Windows 98/SE, I.E. 5.5, and had a similar problem with some, not all, secure websites. Solved it by doing the following:

Select TOOLS> Internet Options> Security> Custom Level, then scroll down to near the the bottom to User Authentication> Logon

Make sure that there is a tick mark in "Prompt for User Name & Password".

After I did that, there was no problem with access to any secure websites, including my bank.

I also use Norton System Utilities which includes Internet Security and Firewall.

Also, you might want to be sure that 'Cookies' are enabled, as many secure websites require their use. Again, select:

Tools> Internet Options > Security> Custom Level, scroll down to Cookies> and make sure that there is a tick mark to enable 'per-session' cookies, and if that doesn't work, also tick off to enable 'stored' cookies.

...edited for the addition of the 'cookie' information.