Firewall Free

[Let'sgoflying!]

Following this thread, in which I was able to run MSE, MWB, and Spybot multiple times until all report the computer is cleansed, I note that the Firewall is off or unavailable.
I tried the suggestions on the microsoft site for the given error (except for the lengthy registry edit they suggested) without avail.

My thought was that since the Firewall is contained in SP2 that I would uninstall and reinstall it.

Here is the error message btw:

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

I also found this option which I think is a cut n pasting of a registry entry:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedaccess.htm
Registry changes have always been a bit scary to me, I'd rather 'download a packet' than trust that I'd perform 400 keystrokes perfectly.

 

[hopmedic]

My thought was that since the Firewall is contained in SP2 that I would uninstall and reinstall it.

Since it looks like you're running Windows XP, I would strongly suggest that you update from SP2 to SP3, unless you have a compelling reason not to (i.e. business computer that runs software not compatible with SP3).

Since I don't have a computer with XP anymore, and it's been a couple years since I have, I'm not comfortable enough telling you what to do to get it enabled.

 

[bluesky74656]

It sounds like the virus clobbered either the firewall service, or a service th firewall depends on. Check the Windows services by typing 'services.msc' into the run box and hitting enter. Look for Windows Firewall and I'll bet you find it stopped. You can try to manually start it. That will probably fail, because it should be set to automatically start, but that might give you some clue as to why it isn't starting. I've seen similar symptoms when a virus clobbered a system file.

If that didn't produce any useful error messages, but the service still didn't start, I would look to see if there weren't something more going in with networking in general. Perhaps try resetting the entire tcp/ip stack. If that didn't get me anywhere, I'd be looking at a wipe and reinstall, as there is probably a lot that is broken behind the scenes.

 

[Let'sgoflying!]

Rich, SP3 is installed.
Todd, see screenshot; no firewall to be found.
It is running fine still, >1 week.

 

[Henning]

Do you have the disc to do a 'repair' installation?

 

[RJM62]

I also found this option which I think is a cut n pasting of a registry entry:
http://windowsxp.mvps.org/sharedaccess.htm
Registry changes have always been a bit scary to me, I'd rather 'download a packet' than trust that I'd perform 400 keystrokes perfectly.

Did you try the suggestions on that page?