About a month ago the Norton security program expired on my laptop. My computer geek friend loaded the latest version. Ever since then I can remain on the internet for just under 10 minutes before it kicks me off. My e-mail continues to work fine. My friend says he will look at it, but has been too busy geeking other computers. I am afraid that I may die of old age before he returns. Other computer people have expressed a violent hatered for anything Norton/Semantec, and have advised me to get rid of it. Any suggestions?

I use Norton 2006 System Works Premier and NEVER get 'kicked off-line'. Are you sure it is the Norton software ? If you have the Norton CD, you might go to
http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT...nsf&view=docid
And uninstall everything and reload the CD and run Live Update. Past experience, this started the clock all over again. Otherwise, you might have to spend a few bucks and get a new license for another year.

A couple of days ago I took the laptop back to my computer friend. After a few minutes he came back and told me that Microsoft considers my Windows XP to be "not genuine" and that is the cause of the problem. The Windows XP came loaded on the HP laptop that I purchased from Sam's Club about 18 months ago. He said that I would have to call Microsoft and give them some numbers from the disc envelopes and that they would provide a fix. Apparently MS has had a problem with their pirate police labeling legit programs as bogus. I will let you know if that proposed solution works.

Dr. D

Have you checked your modem settings? I had a modem that used as a default setting to automatically log me off the internet after 10 minutes of inactivity. If your modem has been set to that you can change it.

Marburg

I have a high speed internet connection. I don't believe that the problem is in the modem, because my desktop computer is fine on the internet, just the laptop has the problem. I have been in contact with the Microsoft geeks, who give a long convoluted list of stuff to download and steps to follow. Since my winow of opportunity is only 9 1/2 minutes, I run out of time,get frustrated, and go back to my desktop for a few days. Then they close out my case, and I have to wait for another geek to start the process again. You can probably tell that I am at wits end.

Any reason you can not contact Microsoft on desktop PC, download the fix , burn to disk [ or floppies]and install from disk?-- Savage
Also did you try a restore point prior to norton upgrade? {Personally I dislike norton but that's just me}