Norton Internet Security symError Code Stopping JS

[peterinwa]

I searched and read all through this forum and Google and can't find anything on this old subject that answers my two questions.

1. Some of my users are getting blank screens where they used to see my JavaScript/HTML pages. If they do a View/Source and send me the code, it has symError code inserted by Norton/Symantec. But I have Norton Internet Security and have Ad Blocking and Popup Blocking turned on and can't get the problem to happen for me. Any ideas?

2. Symantec's website says the insertion of the code is caused by Ad Blocking being turned on. Old forum posts say it's inserted after the first occurrence of <script on a page. And that's where it's inserted on my pages, but what's causing it? I have no ads nor do I use anything Norton looks for like the word ad or banner or a gif with typical banner dimensions. When does Norton insert their code?

Thanks, Peter

[peterinwa]

I have concluded that anytime you have Norton Ad Blocking on Norton inserts their symError code into any page containing JS, but only on my complex JS pages does it cause them to crash.

The exception is that all of my pages were crashing until I removed the open.windows from them. There are no more open.windows on any of my pages, but the complex ones must have something else Norton doesn't like.

One thing I have done is taken away the mystery for (myself and) my users. On the pages that fail, I test:

if (window.symError){alert("abc")}

and tell them what's up. In additon, I have placed the following text on my help page:

"Ad blocking software generally looks for words like "ad" or "banner" or a graphic of a size commonly used for banners or other types of ads. We have avoided these words and don't use graphics in our ads, so our calculators work even with ad blocking software turned on. The exception is Norton Internet Security (NIS).

NIS Ad Blocking affects any webpage created with JavaScript, the code we use to make our calculators run. It inserts Norton code into all of our pages, but most are simple enough that it doesn't bother them. The calculators are complex and the insertion of the Norton code causes them to fail.

If you are using NIS with Ad Blocking turned on, you will get a message telling you what the problem is. The only solution we know of is to go to the NIS screen and turn Ad Blocking off."

Should anyone having problems with Norton's insertion of their symError code I would love to receive an e-mail.

Peter

[Rambo Tribble]

It's been a while since I looked at it, but as I recall the Norton popup blocker modifies the window.open method to a more generic object creation method. Perhaps something like that is responsible for your woes.