Can't get Windows Firewall to start

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Guest

I have WIN XP home ed with SP2. I use Lavasoft Adware and Yahoo Anti-Spy and
Computer Associates Anti-virus. ALL are up to date and run daily. Computer
should be clean.

I just recently noticed ( 3 days ago) that in Windows Security Center that
it says Norton Firewall is running. I have not had Norton on my system in
over 18 months or more. I removed it from the add/remove screen. I had gone
to using Windows firewall and it use to say that in the Security Center.
Something changed.

I checked Local Services and see Windows Firewall/ICS is set to Automatic
but when I try to start it, I get an error code 5:access denied. Also when I
go to Control Panel to Open Windows Firewall it says it is not running so I
click to Start and then it trys but says it cannot start it.

So I do not know if I have any Firewall protection at this point and how do
I get Windows Firewall to start. I am the administrator on the computer. It
is my personal home computer.

Any ideas will be helpful. I am not real computer savy but can usually
follow a walk-thru ok.
 
You need to delete the Norton Firewall Service from the Windows registry in:
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Service_Name
when the Norton service is no longer substituting the Windows Firewall
Service, the Windows XP firewall should stay running.
 
I know working in the registry is VERY tricky. I am not that computer savy.
First of all I do not know HOW to find the registry and find this folder?
 
"I know working in the registry is VERY tricky"

It presents no problem if you delete non-system registry keys or garbage and
the Norton leftover keys are exactly that since you don't have the program
in your computer anymore, and since it's not there, the Norton service is
not doing anything but interfere with the Windows Firewall Service, so it's
got to go before you can defeat the problem.

Sorry about not giving full details about how to access the registry; So
click on the Start button > then on the "Run" icon > and type; regedit and
hit enter> then displace the Local Machine hive:
KEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Service_Name The
service name should have Norton, firewall, service maybe combined in some
abbreviated way, hope you find it. And to be safe just in case you make a
mistake and delete the wrong key it's always a good habit to backup any
registry key before you delete it; to back it up, right click on the "folder
looking" key and select "Export" and in the save as box select the folder
where to save the backup and name it with recognizable name and date if you
like, use for example "NortonRwllServ010606" the program will add the .reg
termination to the file, so go to the folder where you saved the file and
select it, press F2 button and change the file type from .reg to .txt this
is to prevent you from adding the .reg file back into the registry
accidentally, if you need to restore this or any backed up registry file you
can change back the file to .reg before you click on it.

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There is nothing there under Services that has Norton or firewall in it at
all. The closest thing I find is something called Symantec Core with things
in its folder. Since Norton is a Symantec product this might be it. But
nothing in the folder looks like anything to do with Norton or firewalls, etc.

So that is as far as I have gotten. In the meantime I downloaded Zone Alert
firewall (free version) and now my Security Center at least says I have a
firewall running but it does not give the name. At least it does not say
Norton which I know is not on here and running.

Thanks for your help.
 
If you don't have Norton or Symantec, that is the key to delete!... for
peace of mind you may backup the key before deleting it, and you can restore
it later if you wish but I garantee you a key from a removed program is of
no use.

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