How to turn Windows firewall back on? (grayed out)

[Guest]

Hello:
I just uninstalled my Norton Internet suite (fed up with all its problems)
and want to go back to the Windows Firewall (XP Pro-SP2), supplemented with
Spyware Doctor and Trend Micro Antivirus. I was told that the Windows
Firewall would kick in automatically after I uninstalled Norton - but it did
not. And I can't find out how to turn it on - it tells me that a Group
Policy has been set by the Administrator - but I am the Administrator and my
HP Presario V2000 laptop is not part of any Group. How can I fix this? And
do you think that these 3 utilities (Windows firewall, SpywareDoctor,
TrendMicroAntivirus) are sufficient to replace the Norton security mess? My
Outlook also has security measures, as does IE7. Do I need something more?
Thanks. MJLewis

 

[Guest]

Did you reboot after you uninstalled Norton? If so, can you click
Start:Run..., type gpedit.msc, and hit enter. Then navigate to Computer
Configuration:Administrative Templates:Network:Network Connections:Windows
Firewall:Standard Profile. In the right hand pane you should see a setting
called "Windows Firewall: Protect all network connections." If it is set to
Disabled, double click it and set it to "Not Defined". Close everything and
reboot. That should fix your problem.

If that is not it, the values may be defined in the registry but not in
group policy. To fix that, run this command from a command prompt, or the run
item on the start menu:
reg delete HKLM\Software\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall\StandardProfile /f