You may be unable to log on after you install Norton Personal Firewall or Norton Internet Security on your Windows XP-based computer

After you install any of the following programs on your computer that is running Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2, you may not be able to log on after you restart:

• Norton Personal Firewall 2000 2.5
• Norton Personal Firewall 2001 3.0
• Norton Internet Security 2000 2.5
• Norton Internet Security 2001 3.0

When this occurs, no error message may be displayed.

The products described in the "Symptoms" section of this article use filter drivers that are not compatible with Windows XP.

Warning This workaround may make your computer or your network more vulnerable to attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses. We do not recommend this workaround but are providing this information so that you can implement this workaround at your own discretion. Use this workaround at your own risk.

Note A firewall is designed to help protect your computer from attack by malicious users or by malicious software such as viruses that use unsolicited incoming network traffic to attack your computer. Before you disable your firewall, you must disconnect your computer from all networks, including the Internet.

To resolve this issue, uninstall the product in Safe mode. You can start your computer in Safe mode by pressing the F8 key at the start of the Windows boot process, and then choosing Safe Mode. After the computer starts in Safe mode, click Start, click Control Panel, click Add or Remove Programs, click the appropriate product, and then click Remove. After you remove the program, restart your computer.

After you resolve the issue, you can install another product that is compatible with Windows XP (such as Norton Personal Firewall 2002 or Norton Internet Security 2002), or use the built-in Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) in Windows XP, or use the built-in Windows Firewall (WF) in Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2). For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: If uninstalling the product does not resolve the issue you can also try to use System Restore to roll your computer back to a point before you installed the program. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

For information about your hardware manufacturer, visit the following Web site: The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.