Norton Internet Security 2008: Setup a Trust to Share Files

Norton Internet Security 2008 is here, and it is as good as NIS 2007 with some notable improvements. Setting up file and print sharing on your home network is now easier.

I did a post on NIS 2007 about setting up a trust, which showed the only way to setup file and print sharing through the NIS firewall. With NIS 2008, there are two methods to add computers/devices to allow file and print sharing or full access, the Network Map and Trust Control.

The new Network Map tool allows default trusts for the computers on your home LAN and it allows you to trust your router as well. The default trust allows file and print sharing traffic, but you can allow all traffic if you want.

Even though the Network Map tool allows trusts to every PC on your home LAN (that it detects properly), and your router, it doesn't allow you to trust devices outside your LAN, so you may still need to use Trust Control.

To make sure that every computer on your home network is trusted, setup a trust for your router. That way every computer that connects via Ethernet cable or WiFi is trusted automatically.

Setup a Trust with Trust Control
Open NIS 2008 and click on the Norton Internet Security tab. Click Settings. At the bottom of the settings list, click Norton Internet Security Options. That opens the Options window where you can setup or change a Trust.



On the left, click Personal Firewall, then click Trust Control. On the Active tab, you'll see the current network you are connected to. (Network usually means a router, but you may be directly connected to a cable modem or DSL modem that is not a router, in which case you should not trust it). In my case it is a WiFi router, so I configured the trust there.

Click the Trust button to trust the network. If the button is grayed-out, the network is already trusted.

To trust a computer outside of your network, click the Trusted tab, then click Add. Enter the IP address for the external computer.



Select the router and click the Properties button to give the network a name. You can also allow just file and print traffic (the default) or you can allow all network traffic.

To setup a trust for file and print sharing using the network map, open NIS 2008 and in the main window on the left, click the View button underneath the Network Map icon (see the top picture).

Setup Sharing with Network Map
In the Network Security Map window, you can see your router (network) and other computers and devices.

Next to Network Device, click [Edit]. You can do the same for any of your devices or computers. For example, I changed the details of the Airport Express that I use to stream music.


Next to Trust Level: click [Edit] if necessary to change it to shared or full. Shared is the default and allows file and print.



When your router (network) is shared, you get the green smiley face. Who says the developers at Symantec don't have a sense of humor?

Once you have selected Shared click OK a couple times and then Close. You've completed the network trust setup using Network Map.


NIS 2008 has a few other features, such as the Identity Safe for storing personal information such as passwords and credit card info (think Robo Form), but I haven't tried it yet. It might be handy but I'm always wary of password storing tools that leave your info on the computer. What do you when your using a different computer? How secure is it on a laptop?

One last tip if you are a laptop user, don't setup a trust anywhere but at your home. You can use Network Map or Trust Control to trust an individual computer or device. Use that method when you're on the road.