Windows Firewall falsely reports being off

[Nil]

Several times an hour, the little warning balloon pops up to tell me
that Windows Firewall is off... but it's not. It's fully enabled. How
can I get it to stop lying to me?

I think this computer (not mine) may have had Norton's firewall
installed on it at one time, but now that's gone. I have a suspicion
that might have something to do with it.

 

[Malke]

Several times an hour, the little warning balloon pops up to tell me
that Windows Firewall is off... but it's not. It's fully enabled. How
can I get it to stop lying to me?

I think this computer (not mine) may have had Norton's firewall
installed on it at one time, but now that's gone. I have a suspicion
that might have something to do with it.

Refresh the information that Security Center is using.

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
net stop winmgmt [enter]
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem [enter]
ren repository repository.old [enter]
net start winmgmt [enter]

It may take a minute or so to complete while WMI rebuilds the database.


Malke

 

[Nil]

Refresh the information that Security Center is using.

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
net stop winmgmt [enter]
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem [enter]
ren repository repository.old [enter]
net start winmgmt [enter]

It may take a minute or so to complete while WMI rebuilds the
database.

OK! I did it, and so far things seem to be properly quiet. I'm still
crossing my fingers, but I have a good feeling about it.

Thanks very much for the advice. How did you learn about this trick?

 

[Malke]

Refresh the information that Security Center is using.

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
net stop winmgmt [enter]
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem [enter]
ren repository repository.old [enter]
net start winmgmt [enter]

It may take a minute or so to complete while WMI rebuilds the
database.

OK! I did it, and so far things seem to be properly quiet. I'm still
crossing my fingers, but I have a good feeling about it.

Thanks very much for the advice. How did you learn about this trick?

Let me know if you need more help. I can't remember how I learned about
the trick. I think I picked up how to do it with the GUI from a post I
found while Googling. I believe that the more elegant command prompt way
came from MVP Torgeir Bakken.


Malke

 

[Nil]

Refresh the information that Security Center is using.

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
net stop winmgmt [enter]
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem [enter]
ren repository repository.old [enter]
net start winmgmt [enter]

Let me know if you need more help. I can't remember how I learned
about the trick. I think I picked up how to do it with the GUI
from a post I found while Googling. I believe that the more
elegant command prompt way came from MVP Torgeir Bakken.

What's the GUI method?

 

[Malke]

Refresh the information that Security Center is using.

Start>Run>cmd [enter]
net stop winmgmt [enter]
cd /d %windir%\system32\wbem [enter]
ren repository repository.old [enter]
net start winmgmt [enter]

Let me know if you need more help. I can't remember how I learned
about the trick. I think I picked up how to do it with the GUI
from a post I found while Googling. I believe that the more
elegant command prompt way came from MVP Torgeir Bakken.

What's the GUI method?

Start>Run>services.msc [enter]

Scroll down to Windows Management Instrumentation and double-click its
entry. Stop the service. You can leave this window open.

Make sure you can see all hidden files from the Folder Options applet in
Control Panel. Then using Windows Explorer (My Computer), navigate to
C:\Windows\System32\wbem. Right-click on the repository folder and
choose "Rename". Rename it to repository.old.

Go back to the Service>Windows Management Instrumentation and restart
the service. You may need to reboot the system.

The above of course does exactly what the command line method does but
is clumsier and takes longer. The command line method is far quicker and
more elegant. GUIs are useful but command line work is still the best
for some things.


Malke

 

[Nil]

Start>Run>services.msc [enter]

Scroll down to Windows Management Instrumentation and double-click
its entry. Stop the service. You can leave this window open.

Make sure you can see all hidden files from the Folder Options
applet in Control Panel. Then using Windows Explorer (My
Computer), navigate to C:\Windows\System32\wbem. Right-click on
the repository folder and choose "Rename". Rename it to
repository.old.

Go back to the Service>Windows Management Instrumentation and
restart the service. You may need to reboot the system.

The above of course does exactly what the command line method does
but is clumsier and takes longer. The command line method is far
quicker and more elegant. GUIs are useful but command line work is
still the best for some things.

Oh, OK, I misunderstood. I thought you were saying that there was a
convenient "rebuild repository database" button somewhere.

Thanks again for the tip.