Why is windows saying my firewall is off when I haven’t done anything with it?

5 responses so far ↓

• 1 Tom // Oct 1, 2008

  so turn it on..

• 2 TransformK // Oct 1, 2008

  Yes,
  It sometimes Turned itself to off and but in month .. one

• 3 Saturn S // Oct 1, 2008

  If it windows firewall xp,click start control panel,look for either windows firewall or security center.Then turn it on.

• 4 The Phlebob // Oct 1, 2008

  That’s a suspicious sign that you might have some malware on your machine.

  First, turn back on the firewall if you can. (These instructions assume you’re using Windows Firewall. If you’re using a custom firewall, try to turn it on instead, but you should still be able to use this as a fallback.)

  If you’re using Windows XP:

  1. Click the Start->Control Panel menu item.
  2. Click the Security Center icon (four-color shield).
  3. Next to Firewall, Click On.

  In Windows Vista:

  1. Click the Control Panel icon or the Start->Control Panel menu item.
  2. Click the Security icon.
  3. Click the Turn Windows Firewall On or Off icon.
  4. Click On to turn it on.
  5. Click OK.

  If those don’t work, you should do some full anti-malware scans.

  If you have an anti-virus, I suggest you make sure it has the latest virus definitions and run a scan with it in Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking. Both often prevent malware from protecting itself. If you don’t have one, many people here swear by AVG (it’s free).

  I suggest you also download Ad-Aware 2008 and Spybot S&D (they’re free), install them, update them and run them. If any of the above (or any anti-malware, for that matter) doesn’t seem to be able to run properly or get rid of everything it reports finding, try running it again in Safe Mode.

  Also, turn off System Restore to evict any copies of bad stuff that might be lurking there.

  To get into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking:

  1.Log out and reboot your machine.
  2.When the machine starts the reboot sequence, press the F8 key repeatedly.
  3.Select Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Networking from the resulting menu.
  4.When the login screen comes up, log in as Administrator. By default, Administrator has no password.
  5.The machine will continue booting, but the Windows desktop will look different.
  6.When you’re finished doing what you need to do, log out and reboot back into normal mode.

  Note that even if the anti-malware programs get rid of the malware, they may not be able to reverse the effects. Search the Web for possible fixes.

  Update and run everything regularly, not just when you think you already have malware.

  Good luck.

• 5 Anonymous // Sep 19, 2009

  sunbelt has great software both fire wall and counterspy and their afordable too.

  Mugger_Mike

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