Although I've disabled both "Remote Access" services in XP Pro, every once in a while they revert to automatic and started. This is on the PC that controls the (home) LAN. Neither service is required for operation of the LAN or any software used by computers on the LAN. I suspect malware, but Norton SS, Malwarebytes, CCleaner, and SpyZooka haven't stopped it.

Is there a way to lock down service startup type or require a password to change startup type?

Thanks!

Try avast theres not much gets past that.

Thank you, Popeye67. Avast has a good reputation. I plan to test drive it in a week or so (after I finish testing Norton SS).

After further research, I decided to delete the offending services' registry keys using regedit (after backing them up). If in two weeks time they have not "magically" re-established themselves, I will consider the problem solved. Actually, was it really a problem in the first place? All I can say is that it's a bit spooky for those particular services (Remote Access Connection Manager and Remote Access Auto Connection Manager) to thwart my attempts to keep them disabled since they have something to do with communicating with other computers (possibly hackers?).

I plan to report back in two weeks.

It's been about two weeks. Both "Remote Access" services are still deleted and all LAN, Internet, and local computer functions are still fully functional. I suspect that a recent MS update is the root cause of the "magic". I haven't gotten to AVAST yet...

For those listening in:
Note that my computers are connected to the Internet through a router and I don't use Windows Firewall. If you use Windows Firewall or connect directly to the Internet (and for security you shouldn't) you may need these services.

Avoid norton like the plague, go on any computer forum your likely to get same advice, remote access connection manager will ship with os it may be possible hackers could use it if you do online banking, if you dont do online banking wouldnt worry about it, why is firewall off.

I've seen mixed reviews concerning Norton Security Suite and am inclined to agree with you. I'll have to download some virii to see how it performs.

Norton Security Suite has its own firewall. Before that, I used McAfee's. Both came free from my internet provider. I like both firewalls, but McAfee's suite frequently claimed 99% of CPU cycles. So Norton is ahead of McAffee on my list. It hasn't exhibited any such misbehaviour. I wonder if the bad vibes apply to the latest version of Norton SS (2010)?

My personal opinion is that if Microsoft knew anything about security, we wouldn't be having this discussion, so I'm not at all interested in Internet Explorer, Windows Firewall, Microsoft Security Essentials, or anything else they have to offer to try to cover up their entangled bloat of vulnerabilities (Windows).

I've also been led to believe that only one software firewall can be active at a time, so Windows Firewall is disabled on my system. Is there an argument in favor of running more than one software firewall concurrently?

May be better but the damage is already done i wouldnt have norton, i bought 360 and it wasnt just rubbish it was dangerous, kept telling me everything was fine and i knew it wasnt, downloaded a decent anti virus computer had every virus known to man.