I did not say that you can't get LW and NIS together working well. Many users don't know what to respond at first when they see the Norton pop up when LW is installed for the first time and they choose not allow access by fear. It's cool that Norton is sufficient for your needs, but you should really try alternatives too if you want to comment on the product quality. I've tried McAffee, Norton, Grisoft AVG (another free app) and Avast. My preferences are:

1: Avast
2. AVG
3. Norton
4. McAffee

Do what best suits yourself guys, just be aware of free alternatives.

Of course, as ultracross said the best firewall is a hardware one such as a router.

LODR: LW firewall detection when running as a leaf has always been a little imprecise. Having the status bar in 4.9 just shows what was hidden before. (did you chech error reports each 5 mins in 4.8? )

Ciao

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