Vista Firewall

[David Benson]

I recently got a new Acer laptop that came with Vista Home Premium
installed. I am running McAfee VirusScan Enterprise 8.5.0i. I have not yet
installed a third-party firewall, so I am using the Windows Firewall that is
built in to Vista. When I start my computer, the Windows Firewall always
comes up turned off, which of course triggers a warning from Security
Center.

I have looked all over and all through the Help file, but cannot find
anything that tells me what setting I can change so that the Windows
Firewall will automatically be turned on at power-up. The Services panel of
the Computer Management administrative tool lists the Windows Firewall
startup as "Automatic." I can't find any events in the Event Logs that
explain why it is turned off -- although I have to admit that most of the
data in the Event Logs is pretty much unintelligible. There are no other
firewalls installed (the version of McAfee I use does not include a
firewall).

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,

David

 

[Richard Urban]

Open Security Center. Expand the firewall section on the right. Click on
"Show me firewalls installed on this computer". See if you have another one
installed.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User

 

[David Benson]

Richard,

I don't see a button or text that says "Show me firewalls installed on this
computer. I see a notice that "Windows Firewall is actively protecting your
computer" (after I turn the firewall on). I also see the message "Note:
Two or more firewalls running at the same time can conflict with each
other", followed by the link "How does a firewall help protect my computer?"
This link leads to Help.

Before I turned Windows Firewall on, I had these messages and links:

"Windows Firewall is turned off." Button: "Turn on now" Linked text:
"Show me available options."

"Note: Two or more firewalls running at the same time can conflict with
each other", Linked text "How does a firewall help protect my computer?"

If I click on "Show me available options", I get a dialog box with two
options:
"Go online to get a different firewall program"
"I have a firewall program that I'll monitor myself."

Thanks,

David

 

[Richard Urban]

OK

I have just realized that what I was referring to was placed there by the
free PCTools Firewall that I use. It is not a function of Vista.

http://www.pctools.com/firewall/

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User

 

[Joe Guidera]

David,

My gut says something with McAfee is causing this. I can't think of any
other reason the firewall would be disabled at startup (short of a virus or
something else nasty that's already installed - but you mentioned it was a
brand new laptop).


J

 

[David Benson]

Joe,

I tested your theory by turning off the entries related to McAfee in
MSCONFIG, then restarting the computer. As expected, McAfee did not start.
Unfortunately, Windows Firewall didn't start either.

Thanks for the suggestion.

-- David

 

[Joe Guidera]

Sorry to say then I don't know. I assume (and I think you mentioned it)
that you checked and the service startup type for Windows Firewall is
automatic? Nothing in the event log provides any help?

J

 

[David Benson]

Well, I'm not all that thrilled about using Windows Firewall anyway -- I was
just waiting until something better became Vista-compatible. If PCTools
Firewall is good enough for an MVP, it's probably good enough for me!

Thanks for your assistance.

-- David

 

[Richard Urban]

Please! Do not allow that to be your only selection criteria. <grin>

I am just waiting for the Vista compatible version of ZoneAlarm to be
released. I have been beta testing it but it nowhere near ready for prime
time.

That being said, PCTools Firewall Plus does seem pretty good at this point.

--


Regards,

Richard Urban MVP
Microsoft Windows Shell/User

 

[David Benson]

By the way - after I installed PCTools Firewall Plus, I clicked on the link
you suggested. The only firewalls that showed up were Windows Firewall and
PCTools Firewall Plus. That means that before I installed PCTools, the only
firewall was Windows Firewall -- so a different firewall was not what was
causing it not to start.


-- David

 

[Guest]

I too have recently got an Acer laptop that came with Norton installed. I
have uninstalled this and installed AVG and now have the same problem, the
firewall is turned off on startup. There is only one firewall running, so
thats not the problem, I wonder if there is a setting in the registry that
needs tweaking?

 

[Guest]

Exactly the same situation for me. Acer laptop, got rid of Norton for AVG and
the Windows Vista firewall is off at Startup. Anyone got an answer for this?

 

[Spirit]

Check your services - reverse of this :

http://neosmart.net/blog/2007/dear-windows-vista-firewall/
Change to Enabled

http://www.cmu.edu/computing/documentation/secure_win/secure_vista.html#firewall
This you probably know so putting it here for others.

 

[Spirit]

BTW, IF the service is ENABLED.... set to MANUAL- REBOOT go back and
set to ENABLED - REBOOT. Then turn it ON as in 2nd link. This should correct
the registry entries IF they became corrupt. If

 

[Guest]

Have tried these but still not working each time I start I have to restart
the firewall.

 

[Spirit]

Go to control panel and STOP Firewall.
Go to Services and set Firewall to MANUAL
REBOOT
Go to Service and set Firewall to ENABLE
REBOOT
Check Services that its still ENABLE
Go to Control Panel and START
REBOOT

this will reset you Registry Settings. If this does not work you probably
have
something interfering with the Firewall's Operation. Try MSCONFIG.

 

[Guest]

Tried all of that but still not working. I have had a look at MSCONFIG and
can't see anything unusual.

Thanks, Paul

 

[Spirit]

You can start the Firewall :

Start - Search - wf.msc

 

[Guest]

In the service you set it to Manual or Automatic but there is no REBOOT.

 

[Guest]

Tried this but unfortunately it doesn't work even when you tell it to set to
defaults.