A special note regarding privacy

This program does not plant anything on your system. Nor does it connect to the internet unless you click a request for help or information link from within the program. In that case it only goes to the requested page and nowhere else. The only exception is during a Windows install to ensure the correct version of Java is loaded.

To verify this claim I recommend you download, purchase (if necessary) and install one of the many privacy programs available on the web. These will notify you when any program is trying to access the Internet. Some are better than others but I have successfully used the following:

I currently use Norton Security Suite because it is provided to me for free by my Internet Service Provider (Comcast). It is probably not be the best firewall out there but it does meet my needs and it is free.

Here are step by step instructions with screen captures for using Norton Security Suite to monitor network access of any application on your computer. I will use NM Collector Software for this example but you can apply these steps for any program on your computer.

  1. Start Norton Security Suite and select "Manage Firewall" under Secutiry.
    Norton Firewall

  2. Select the "Program Rules" tab and clcik the "Add" button.
    Norton Firewall Add Rul

  3. Browse to and select the program that you want to monitor.
    Norton Firewall Select Program

  4. In the security alert popup, ensure "Manually configure" is selected.
    Norton Firewall Select Manual Configure

  5. Select Monitor.
    Norton Firewall Select Monitor

  6. Select "Connections to and from other computers."
    Norton Firewall Select Connection

  7. Make the following selections on the subsequent pages
    Norton Firewall Select Any Computer
    Norton Firewall Select All Ports
    Norton Firewall Select Log

  8. Give your new rule a meaningful name.
    Norton Firewall Name the new rule

  9. View the summary page and cick the "Finnish" button.
    Norton Firewall Summary

  10. View the new rule and cick the "OK" button.
    Norton Firewall New Rule

  11. View the current list of rules including your new rule. Be sure to click the Apply button or your new rule will not be saved and all that work you just did will be lost.
    Norton Firewall Program Rules

  12. Start the program and watch for any monitor alerts to flash.
    Norton Firewall Monitor Rule Detected

  13. To view logs of program activity, start by click the "Tasks" link from the main firewall page and ...
    Norton Firewall Tasks Link

  14. Select "Check Security History."
    Norton Firewall History Link

  15. Optional: Select "Firewall Activities" from the drop down.
    Norton Firewall Activities

  16. Use the search box in the upper right hand corner to look for program activity. When you find activity, you can select an item and click the "More Details" link in the bottom right to get more information.
    Norton Firewall Find Activity
    Norton Firewall Find NM Collector Activity

NOTE: When you chose one of the NM Collector Software help menu items NM Collector calls on your system's browser to go on-line to the help page. Also, if you store urls in your links tab and chose to open one of those NM Collector does the same. NM Collector itself is not going on-line. Therefore, you will not see a warning that NM Collector is accessing the internet. However, if you monitor "Firewall Activities" in your Norton "Security History," you will find entries like the following which tell you that your web browser is accessing the internet:

Norton Firewall Browser log entry

Clicking the "More Details" link provides addtional information:
Norton Firewall Browser log entry

Last Revised: January 2, 2014

Copyright © 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014 by Clayton J. Pryor. All rights reserved.