Cannot open Socket from Javascript - what gives?

Question

I have a JavaScript script that works fine from most computers. One of the things it does at startup is send a request to a server on the internet ("www.moiraitools.com:80"). I've seen issues connecting before, but they are usually transient. Numerous weird errors occur in script when the preferences file is corrupt, including this (and not being able to create a Window object, etc.). Sometimes resetting preferences works.
But I now have one computer where I cannot get the connection to work and cannot figure out why. The computer has no web proxy settings configured, so it connects directly to hosts on the internet. The same server:port works fine from a browser on the same computer. But the connection fails to open from the script running in Photoshop.
Any ideas what else could cause this problem? Is there a setting or preference that could disable this functionality?

Answer 1

There is a Photoshop preference to allow extensions to connect to the internet. But that preference doesn't seem to affect javascripts. Does that user have firewall software installed? I know there was a time when I had to change the settings in Norton 360 before a script would connect using Socket.