Windows Secuirty Center incompatibility.

[drragostea]

I have reformatted my Windows XP Home to start clean for Windows XP SP3 on April 29th. However, when I installed AVG Free 8.0 and ZoneAlarm free (latest edition), my Windows Security Center does not recognize the programs. All I see now is a red colored "shield" on my taskbar. It results remain even after a reboot. Any help would be appreciated. Thank you.

[drragostea]

I do not see how the Security Center cannot detect my AV and ZoneAlarm. :sad:. AVG Free 8.0 is activated and Windows does not detect it. ZoneAlarm is active, but Windows told me that the status is unknown. At the moment, I've set Windows not to notify me.

[tashi]

Hello,

Did you install a Service Pack after reformatting, or are you surfing without updates?

[drragostea]

I installed a Service Pack after reformatting. When the computer booted up, the first thing I did was install ZoneAlarm Free. After that, then I installed Service Pack 2 and all the critical updates. So far, my system is patched and updated. My Security Center does not recognize AVG 8.0 or ZoneAlarm (it actually does but it reports as unknown status). This has never occurred before :sad:.

[ndmmxiaomayi]

It's probably not recognized by Microsoft. I remember there's an option in the Security Centre that allows you to tell it that you have an antivirus and firewall which you want to monitor yourself.

[drragostea]

I do not see how that is right, ndmmxiaomayi. Prior to the reformat... my Security Center was fine. ZoneAlarm and AVG 8.0 was detected. Same goes for my sister's Windows XP Home. I have it set to "monitor myself"... I think its some kind of bug or glitch when I reformatted. :sad:

[ndmmxiaomayi]

Let me see if I understood you correctly.

You reformatted your system to install SP3 right?

Prior to that, AVG and ZoneAlarm was detected fine. What service pack was that?

[drragostea]

I'm sorry, ndmmxiaomayi. I think you're misunderstanding :sad:. I do not have Windows XP SP3.
- I reformatted my VAIO Windows XP Home Edition.
--When I completed a system recovery, the XP was in SP1 (Service Pack 1).
-I have a DSL modem. So updates come in a zap. Anyways. I have a 2GB flash drive with Spybot-SD, ZoneAlarm, AVG, etc. loaded so I can use them without downloading them again. I did not install any programs yet. Just only ZoneAlarm Free.
-(The modem was shut-off during recovery). So I rebooted" my DSL modem and it was fine. I began downloading updates from Microsoft Update. (I upgraded" from Windows to Microsoft Update).
-I was prompted to install SP2 automatically, not like the past where you had to install all the updates for SP1, then you can install SP2.
-After installing SP2, with a reboot came the Security Center.
-The Firewall was reported GREEN for around 10 sec. Then it became red. The
"red" shield appeared on my taskbar. It reported that ZoneAlarm's status is unknown. So it's active, but status is unknown.
-I installed IE7 and WMP 11... reboot.
-Opened Security Center after a reboot and it was still there.
-Installed AVG 8.0 Free. After installation AVG Wizard told that it encountered an error. I check the error and it said that AVG had a problem "integrating" into the Windows Security Center.
-Having no choice but to ignore it, I set it to: I'll monitor myself.

I can upload a pic, if it is required. Thank you.

[bitman]

Your WMI database is messed up, this is a common problem we see in the Windows Live OneCare forums. In fact, I had this issue on a Sony VIAO desktop over two years ago, though the symptoms were a bit different.

It often occurs due to the way vendors "Recovery Disks" install the operating system, since they often simply made an image copy of a system to CD, which isn't really supported. Windows XP is a dynamic operating system unlike the static design of Windows 9x/ME, so it doesn't take kindly to "snapshots" or simple imaging, which is why Microsoft never supported these with XP.

Though the following link mentions OneCare, because it's at those forums, it applies to any situation where the WMI database is corrupt. Give the Method B a try first, it's simpler and generally works better than the others.

http://forums.microsoft.com/WindowsOneCare/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=2469173&SiteID=2

Restart the PC when this has been done and see if your programs appear in Security Center at that point. You may need to reinstall your AVG and/or firewall after this is done to get them registered by Security Center.

Bitman (OneCareBear)

[drragostea]

Aw, gee. I guess you are right... the Windows Security Center is messed up. I reformatted my VAIO using the recovery discs. When it completed, it installed Windows XP SP1. I had ZoneAlarm active and Winpatrol when I downloaded from Microsoft Updates. When installing SP2, WinPatrol prompted me of a few dozen" of alerts. Many of them are "run once". So I allowed every since one. However, there was one alert that lagged. I do not recall the exact message though, but once I clicked allow it kept popping up... the same message. Finally I was forced to click No because I was going in a circle by clicking yes. My PC was fine when it rebooted, so the Security Center kept prompting me of the security status of my PC.

Thank you bitman... for your help.

[drragostea]

I was thinking of testing out Agnitnum's Outpost Firewall since I was so worn out from Comodo's Defense+.

I uninstalled Comodo Pro using the default ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS window. Then it prompted me to reboot.

Reboot I did, then it was here when the problems began. Nothing out of the usual, just that I see the message in the SECURITY CENTER that I was running more than one firewall (which is not recommended by Windows).

At that moment I was bewildered as what might have caused the trouble. Comodo was gone from the ADD/REMOVE PROGRAMS list and all I had on that was Comodo related was BOCLEAN.

I turned off Windows Firewall and the Firewall tab told me that Comodo Firewall was protecting me.

This is the oddest problem I've ever encountered.

Any solution would be appreciated. *sigh.

[honda12]

I'm not sure, the only thing I can think of is that Comodo Firewall was not completely removed - for that there is:
Comprehensive Instructions for Complete Removal of Comodo Firewall Pro 3 (http://forums.comodo.com/help_for_v3/comprehensive_instructions_for_completely_removing_comodo_firewall_pro_3_info-t17220.0.html)