Firewall ON... Well, "No!"

[Kenneth]

Howdy,

I have a system that has only one firewall on it. That is
the Windows Firewall, and it is set to Off right now.

Despite that, when I look in Security Center, it displays
Firewall ON, and in the drop down tells me that one of my
software firewalls is ON.

I have no other software firewall...

How might I get this to display correctly?

Sincere thanks,

 

[R. McCarty]

What other Security software is installed ? Some suites include a
firewall that you might not be aware of. Specifically which Anti
Virus program are you using.

 

[USR]

Forget about MS firewall. It's almost completely useless. Go to
www.zonelabs.com and download the FREE firewall and install it.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Howdy,

I have a system that has only one firewall on it. That is
the Windows Firewall, and it is set to Off right now.

Despite that, when I look in Security Center, it displays
Firewall ON, and in the drop down tells me that one of my
software firewalls is ON.

I have no other software firewall...

How might I get this to display correctly?

A more urgent question is why would you be running without a firewall?
You're playing with fire.

 

[Ken Blake, MVP]

Forget about MS firewall. It's almost completely useless. Go to
www.zonelabs.com and download the FREE firewall and install it.

Nonsense! I agree that ZoneAlarm is better than the Windows Firewall, but
that's a long way from saying that the Windows firewall is useless. It may
not be as good as others, but it still offers decent protection, and is
*far* better than nothing.

 

[Kenneth]

What other Security software is installed ? Some suites include a
firewall that you might not be aware of. Specifically which Anti
Virus program are you using.

Hello again,

I am running Kaspersky AV, and to the best of my knowledge,
it has no firewall functionality.

Thanks for any further thoughts,

 

[Kenneth]

Forget about MS firewall. It's almost completely useless. Go to
www.zonelabs.com and download the FREE firewall and install it.

Hi again,

I thank you for your comment, but wondered if you might have
a response to my questions:

With no firewall (currently) running. Why would XP tell me I
have a firewall ON, and what might I do to get it to report
correctly?

Thanks again,

 

[Guest]

Hello kenneth:

I agree with the first response. You probably have some program running
which WinXP detects as a firewall. Rather than forcing XP to NOT display
this message, it might be better to ferret out the program or process using
Task Manager. See if you can identify all the processes running. One of
them is likely a firewall or enough like a firewall to trigger the Security
Manager's positve indication.

Mark

 

[Kelly]

Hi Kenneth,

Go to Start/Run: firewall.cpl
Change it then run the edit on line 386 (right hand side):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[Kenneth]

Hi Kenneth,

Go to Start/Run: firewall.cpl
Change it then run the edit on line 386 (right hand side):
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/xp_tweaks.htm

--

Hi Kelly,

Well, I ran firewall.cpl, and then merged the reg entry for
"off."

I then rebooted, and went into Security Center.

It now shows that I have Norton Internet Worm Protection
running...<g>

More interesting is the fact that I had run the Symantec
removal tool and had also removed every possible mention of
Norton or Symantec from the Registry. (One or two could not
be removed.)

So, it would appear that I have taken an interesting step
backward.

Might you have any further thoughts?

Sincere thanks,

 

[HeyBub]

More interesting is the fact that I had run the Symantec
removal tool and had also removed every possible mention of
Norton or Symantec from the Registry. (One or two could not
be removed.)

Norton/Symantec is the barnacle of software. You may have to put your
machine is drydock.

 

[Kenneth]

Norton/Symantec is the barnacle of software. You may have to put your
machine is drydock.

Hi,

Indeed, the "barnacle" image is right, but might you have a
suggestion for eliminating the problem?

Thanks,

 

[Alias]

Hi,

Indeed, the "barnacle" image is right, but might you have a
suggestion for eliminating the problem?

Thanks,

Reformat and do a clean install.

Alias

 

[Guest]

Hi Kenneth:

I am not able to read the entire thread here for some reason but it sounds
like you found remnants of an old Symantiec firewall which is causing XP
Security Manager to read positive as to a firewall is turned on? Try going
back to Symantec for help ... a word of advice ... there are people on the
Symantec site who can likely help you but they are not the first ones you
will be directed to. When you get a person online, ask that your problem be
"escalated" to the next level of tech support. This they will do immediately
and then you will be talking to someone who knows more about the software
than simply how to address installation problems, etc.

I recently had a similar problem with some HP software and, unfortunately, I
ended up re-loading everything, but it is worth the effort to try to resolve
it first. Stick to your guns.

Good luck.

Mark

 

[Kenneth]

Hi Kenneth:

I am not able to read the entire thread here for some reason but it sounds
like you found remnants of an old Symantiec firewall which is causing XP
Security Manager to read positive as to a firewall is turned on? Try going
back to Symantec for help ... a word of advice ... there are people on the
Symantec site who can likely help you but they are not the first ones you
will be directed to. When you get a person online, ask that your problem be
"escalated" to the next level of tech support. This they will do immediately
and then you will be talking to someone who knows more about the software
than simply how to address installation problems, etc.

I recently had a similar problem with some HP software and, unfortunately, I
ended up re-loading everything, but it is worth the effort to try to resolve
it first. Stick to your guns.

Good luck.

Mark

Hi Mark,

Your is an interesting suggestion...

I had neglected to mention that I spent more than an hour
yesterday using Symantec's "Live Chat" technical support.

After about 40 minutes with someone who really did not have
a clue (and, by the way, kept asking me precisely the same
questions three and four times) I asked to have the matter
"escalated."

After about 30 minutes going round and round with another
tech, he suggested that I contact Dell (because Ghost was
provided with the purchase of the machine.

It does not seem likely that I will have any luck with
Symantec.

All the best, and thanks for your comments,

 

[Kelly]

How interesting.....

Go to Start/Run: services.msc
If the service is listed, disable/apply then stop.

You can also do this via Start/Run: msconfig
Services/Hide all MS services.

Yet another option:

To Delete a Service

In services take note of the "Service Name"(not display name).
Then go to Start/Run/CMD and type in: sc delete <service name>. Reboot.

--

All the Best,
Kelly (MS-MVP/DTS&XP)

Taskbar Repair Tool
http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/taskbarplus!.htm

 

[Kenneth]

How interesting.....

Go to Start/Run: services.msc
If the service is listed, disable/apply then stop.

You can also do this via Start/Run: msconfig
Services/Hide all MS services.

Yet another option:

To Delete a Service

In services take note of the "Service Name"(not display name).
Then go to Start/Run/CMD and type in: sc delete <service name>. Reboot.

Hi again Kelly,

Nope... It is not listed as a service, (nor, BTW) in the
list of running processes.

I will add that if I now turn Windows Firewall ON, I get a
Security Center warning that I might have troubles because I
have two firewalls running at the same time (though it does
not tell me which two they are). If I then turn WF OFF, I am
left with the spurious message that I have Norton Internet
Worm Protection running.

Thanks for any further thoughts (before I get a large
mallet...)

 

[Tom Willett]

Norton Internet Worm Protection is basically a firewall, and will cause
conflicts with other firewalls. You can turn it off and use the Windows
firewall, or not.

Tom
|
| I will add that if I now turn Windows Firewall ON, I get a
| Security Center warning that I might have troubles because I
| have two firewalls running at the same time (though it does
| not tell me which two they are). If I then turn WF OFF, I am
| left with the spurious message that I have Norton Internet
| Worm Protection running.
|
| Thanks for any further thoughts (before I get a large
| mallet...)
| --
| Kenneth
|
| If you email... Please remove the "SPAMLESS."

 

[Kenneth]

Norton Internet Worm Protection is basically a firewall, and will cause
conflicts with other firewalls. You can turn it off and use the Windows
firewall, or not.

Tom

Hi Tom,

Perhaps you have not read all of this thread...

The problem is that I do not have the Norton product on the
machine. That is why I cannot turn it "off."

For reasons that I cannot determine, despite hours of "help"
from Symantec, I get the spurious message that the Norton
firewall is running.

Might you know a way to kill that message?

Sincere thanks,

 

[Tom Willett]

Did you *ever* have any Norton Anti-Virus installed, and then uninstalled
it?
Tom