When I logon to the internet the computer is very slow to download emails and the home page of my ISP. I suspect the source of this slowness is Norton and Microsoft going online and interrogating my computer for the status of these two programs. How can I prevent these from automatically having access to my computer, as I want to be in control and authorise access when I am ready?

Rest assured, I don’t believe the cause of the slowness in your internet connection is the Norton and Microsoft servers accessing your computer and evaluating the status of your software (as without your permission, this would be a large privacy breach). More likely this is the other way around - your computer is probably accessing the Norton and Microsoft servers to download the latest updates for their respective software. For example, if you are running Microsoft Windows (which you obviously are…), with Automatic Updates enabled, Windows is probably going online and checking which updates are available, and possibly even automatically downloading the updates (depending on how your Automatic Updates has been configured). Likewise, if you are running software such as Norton Antivirus this is likely going online to download the latest virus definition updates.

While regularly updating system software, such as Windows and security software, such as Norton Antivirus, Norton Internet Security, etc. is vitally important, it can significantly slow down your internet connection if they all attempt to automatically update when you first connect to the internet, especially if you only have dial-up internet as opposed to high-speed broadband. Therefore, it may be sensible to reconfigure these automatic updates so they do not download automatically. With regard to Windows Automatic Updates, this can be configured by going to the ‘Start’ menu > ‘Control Panel’ and open the ‘System’ control panel (you may need to first open the ‘Performance and Maintenance’ category). In the window that appears, click the ‘Automatic Updates’ tab. Set the updates configuration to ‘Notify me but don’t automatically download or install them’. This setting will notify you when updates are available, but will not download the updates. Instead, you can click the notification to download and install the updates when convenient for you.

Likewise, you should be able to find a similar setting in your Norton software to disable the automatic downloading of updates. However, make sure that you regularly check for updates for the Norton products, since these likely relate to computer security updates. It is vitally important that your computer be kept up-to-date with the latest updates otherwise your security software will become dated, and will not offer as good protection against current threats.