[Maxima] Windows/ Symantec Firewall / Maxima back end times out

[Richard Fateman]

My office computer has Symantec Firewall / Antivirus etc
installed;  something changed recently that makes wxmaxima
and xmaxima not work:  the front end waits for the back end
to start up, but (eventually) it times out.

Windows XP Professional.

Any thoughts?
RJF