Internet Firewall Greyed out on XP

[Guest]

I recently upgraded to SP2. I noticed that when I go into security, and try
to turn on Firewall, it says that the Internet Connection Firewall is not on
and do I want to turn it on. I say yes and then when I try to turn on the
firewall it says that that group policy may prohibit this and the option is
greyed out and turned off. I have XP home and am the only user/administrator
of this computer. I did to into my LAN area connection properties setting,
went to the advanced tab, went into the Windows Firewall settings and went
into the advance tab for that. Under Network Connection Settings, Local Area
Connection is checked and says that Windows Firewall is enabled for the
connection seletected below. I don't see how this is possible if it is
greyed out and says that its off. How do I get this option back on? I am
running Norton, Microsoft Anti-Beta Spyware and Ad Aware.

 

[Guest]

You are probably infected with a malware.

Remove SP2 from Add/Remove programs in Control Panel and leave only the
previous Service Pack.Then scan your computer for malware using

Panda free Active Scan where you can check you PC for ALL kind of malware
http://www.activescan.com

If you have malware perform these FAST malware removal instructions written
by me:
http://free.hit.bg/fightmalware/fast_MRI.htm


Then make sure your PC is clean of viruses or spyware ,visit Windows Updates
and download all critical and important updates (using Express install) and
then upgrade to XP SP 2.

Microsoft has established special web-site for Windows XP SP2 which you
should read carefully before installing SP 2.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/sp2

Also when you have downloaded SP2 just before installing it ,disable
Norton's real-time protection because it might also do a problem.
And again the most important -make sure your computer is MALWARE FREE.

If you have other issues ,don't hesitate to contact the Community again!


Panda_man

 

[Guest]

Sorry Panda_man, wish I could say that worked but it didn't and I didn't have
any spyware except for tracking cookes cookies. Are there any other
suggestions. Thanks

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Usually when that happens it is an indication of malware on your computer in
an attempt to disable your firewall to make your computer more vulnerable.
To try and repair your specific problem logon as a local administrator and
use regedit to open edit the registry and look for the keys below and delete
the keys found under Microsoft for WindowsFirewall if any. --- Steve

. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall
\DomainProfile \EnableFirewall=0 (DWORD data type)



. HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft\WindowsFirewall
\StandardProfile \EnableFirewall=0 (DWORD data type)

 

[Guest]

I'm having the same problem, I deleted those two keys and it still doesn't
work. I'm running on XP Home, so I don't have the group policy editor. I
tried the above with taking out SP2 and scanning, and that didn't work
either. I've also tried a repair installation of XP and that didn't seem to
work.

 

[Steven L Umbach]

Make sure you rebooted the computer. What exact error messages are you
getting now? If there are other keys under
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft or
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\SOFTWARE\Policies\Microsoft delete them as they are Group
Policy type restrictions assuming you do not want any of them. --- Steve