WinXP Pro-SP2-Firewall Cannot Be Started

[Guest]

I've been trying to rescue a laptop that was infested with spyware. Among
the many behaviours this thing exhibits, I'm unable to start the Firewall
service. I get "Could not start the Windows Firewall/Internet Connection
Sharing (ICS) service on Local Computer. <nl> Error 5: Access denied."

Account is local administrator, no domain involved, apparently no local
policies configured.

System is running Symantec Norton AntiVirus (9.0.0.338) and has a 2Wire
802.11b cardbus adapter with drivers & services.

Does anybody have a clue here?

-AS

 

[Jupiter Jones [MVP]]

Adam;
See if this helps your firewall issue:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/892350

 

[Guest]

Jupiter,

It didn't help. Wish it had. Good KB article. AntiSpyWare had been run --
multiple times along with AdAware and SpyBot. Seemed logical. But no help.

Thanks for the steer though.

Adam

 

[David Beder [MSFT]]

anything seem odd on the general or Log On tabs for the service (in
services.msc)?
it's possible that some software is locking out access to loading the
service.

--
David
Microsoft Windows Networking
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no rights.

 

[Guest]

Yes. There are no event logs worth mentioning but there are LOTS of
Automatic Services that don't start as they should; Workstation, Server, DHCP
Client, Computer Browser -- all of these seem like pretty vital services to
me but have to be started manually. If I can get the owner to locate the
recovery cds, I think I'll save lots of time by reloading. The owner is
heavily into downloading "music" and the like and the system was badly
infested with spyware/malware. I've reset the Winsock lp's and done lots of
stuff I've seen suggested here. I'm troubled that some of these suggestions
involve procedures that the docs don't recommend for WinXP. Anyway, it's
apparent to me that there's corruption. Where is another matter.

-AS