Help!! cannot disable (or turn off) Windows firewall

Hello,

This is on a relative's Windows XP machine. I help him remotely now and
then to solve his Windows or applications' problem. The last time I
logged into his machine was a few months ago using VNC viewer.

Just today he told me that he cannot access the internet. So I tried
logging into his machine (using VNC) but it didn't work.

After a small series of questions, I realized that his Windows firewall
is turn ON and that was preventing me from opening a VNC session. I even
tried making exception for VNC (port 5900) in the firewall, but to no
avail. He is not able to browse either via Internet Explorer or Firefox.

Now, I recall when I visited him last I had specifically switched off
Windows firewall (his computer has Zone Alarm). The settings in Zone
Alarm are as I expected -- so that part is okay. Clearly, something or
somebody enabled the Windows firewall.

Now, whatever I may try (all this is going on on a telephone, btw), I
was not able to make him turn off his firewall.

His user has administrative privileges, so that shouldn't be a problem.

After a little web search, I followed the two steps given here:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914230
Basically, I did "netsh winsock reset" and also reinstalled
"%Windir%\Inf\Netfw.inf" file.

These steps also did not help. The user is just unable to turn off the
Windows firewall.

So, what am I missing here? Can anybody give any advice on how to go
about solving this problem?

Thanks a ton.
->HS

"H.S." <hs.samREMOVEMEix@google.com> wrote in message
news:%23PkQTD94IHA.784@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
>
> Hello,
>
> This is on a relative's Windows XP machine. I help him remotely now and then
> to solve his Windows or applications' problem. The last time I logged into his
> machine was a few months ago using VNC viewer.
>
> Just today he told me that he cannot access the internet. So I tried logging
> into his machine (using VNC) but it didn't work.
>
> After a small series of questions, I realized that his Windows firewall is
> turn ON and that was preventing me from opening a VNC session. I even tried
> making exception for VNC (port 5900) in the firewall, but to no avail. He is
> not able to browse either via Internet Explorer or Firefox.
>
> Now, I recall when I visited him last I had specifically switched off Windows
> firewall (his computer has Zone Alarm). The settings in Zone Alarm are as I
> expected -- so that part is okay. Clearly, something or somebody enabled the
> Windows firewall.
>
> Now, whatever I may try (all this is going on on a telephone, btw), I was not
> able to make him turn off his firewall.
>
> His user has administrative privileges, so that shouldn't be a problem.
>
> After a little web search, I followed the two steps given here:
> http://support.microsoft.com/kb/914230
> Basically, I did "netsh winsock reset" and also reinstalled
> "%Windir%\Inf\Netfw.inf" file.
>
> These steps also did not help. The user is just unable to turn off the Windows
> firewall.
>
> So, what am I missing here? Can anybody give any advice on how to go about
> solving this problem?
>
> Thanks a ton.
> ->HS
>


An update to Windows, KB951748, which was released Tuesday, caused users running
Zone Alarm to have problems with internet access. An updated version of Zone
Alarm is available. If you want more info on the nature of the problem, do a
Google search for Zone Alarm and KB951748. If you simply want to correct the
problem on your relative's computer and move on, have your relative download and
install the latest version of ZA.

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/fr...cessIssue.html

Your relative will have to lower the security level in the Internet Zone to
medium. This should restore internet access. Make sure the level is reset once
the new version is installed.

Good luck

Nepatsfan

Nepatsfan wrote:
> http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/fr...cessIssue.html
>
> Your relative will have to lower the security level in the Internet Zone to
> medium. This should restore internet access. Make sure the level is reset once
> the new version is installed.
>
> Good luck

hmm, okay. So,lower the security level, get internet access, get new
Zone Alarm and upgrade it and see if it works out. That I get. I will
try in the morning tomorrow. I did a search as you suggested and also
read a very recent thread about that here. Thanks a ton for this pointer.

But the big questions still remains, what is preventing him from
switching off the Windows firewall?

Regards,
->HS

H.S. wrote:
>
> But the big questions still remains, what is preventing him from
> switching off the Windows firewall?


So, Anyone?

->HS



> Regards,
> ->HS
>
>

On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 00:16:37 -0400, "H.S."
<hs.samREMOVEMEix@google.com> wrote:

> Nepatsfan wrote:
> > http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/fr...cessIssue.html
> >
> > Your relative will have to lower the security level in the Internet Zone to
> > medium. This should restore internet access. Make sure the level is reset once
> > the new version is installed.
> >
> > Good luck
>
> hmm, okay. So,lower the security level, get internet access, get new
> Zone Alarm and upgrade it and see if it works out. That I get.


I wouldn't do it that way. Running with the lowered security level,
even for a short time, is dangerous. Instead I recommend that you turn
on the Windows firewall and uninstall ZA. Then you'll be able to
download and install the new version of ZA.

Or just turn on the Windows firewall and uninstall ZA, and leave it
that way. ZA doesn't really have any advantages over the Windows
firewall anyway.


> I will
> try in the morning tomorrow. I did a search as you suggested and also
> read a very recent thread about that here. Thanks a ton for this pointer.
>
> But the big questions still remains, what is preventing him from
> switching off the Windows firewall?
>
> Regards,
> ->HS
>

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>
> Or just turn on the Windows firewall and uninstall ZA, and leave it
> that way. ZA doesn't really have any advantages over the Windows
> firewall anyway.


Yes, I see what you mean. But do you know why is one *not* be able
switch off the Windows Firewall? Even when the user has administrator
privileges.

Thanks.
->HS


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On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:28:26 -0400, Sam <g_reate_xcalibur@yahoo.com>
wrote:

> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
> >
> > Or just turn on the Windows firewall and uninstall ZA, and leave it
> > that way. ZA doesn't really have any advantages over the Windows
> > firewall anyway.
>
>
> Yes, I see what you mean. But do you know why is one *not* be able
> switch off the Windows Firewall? Even when the user has administrator
> privileges.


Sorry, no. I haven't run into that.

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
Please Reply to the Newsgroup

Ken Blake, MVP wrote:

>>
>> Yes, I see what you mean. But do you know why is one *not* be able
>> switch off the Windows Firewall? Even when the user has administrator
>> privileges.
>
>
> Sorry, no. I haven't run into that.
>

This is really weird. I have never seen that happen before. As I
mentioner earlier in the thread, this is on a relative's machine.

Could that Live OneCare thing have anything to do with this somehow?

--
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correct one. Sorry for the trouble but this is to reduce SPAM.

I have a script here to disable the firewall if you want to try it.
http://www.paulsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=119

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"Ken Blake, MVP" <kblake@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in message
news:439i74tdnmrmg845emnjqdloa9ga5t1u96@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:28:26 -0400, Sam <g_reate_xcalibur@yahoo.com>
> wrote:
>
>> Ken Blake, MVP wrote:
>> >
>> > Or just turn on the Windows firewall and uninstall ZA, and leave it
>> > that way. ZA doesn't really have any advantages over the Windows
>> > firewall anyway.
>>
>>
>> Yes, I see what you mean. But do you know why is one *not* be able
>> switch off the Windows Firewall? Even when the user has administrator
>> privileges.
>
>
> Sorry, no. I haven't run into that.
>
> --
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
> Please Reply to the Newsgroup

PaulM wrote:
> I have a script here to disable the firewall if you want to try it.
> http://www.paulsxp.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=119
>

Interesting. I do not have access to the remote machine at present so I
cannot try this out on that one.

However, I am curious as to why would these registry changes work (I
perused it in Notepad++) and not the firewall GUI. BTW, that particular
machine has Zone Alarm installed. Would that have messed up Windows
firewall GUI in any way?

--
---
Please remove underscores, if any, from my email address to obtain the
correct one. Sorry for the trouble but this is to reduce SPAM.