Windows firewall turned on, can't turn off.

I love spybot. But I made the mistake of not telling spybot to ignore the status of Windows firewall before it fixed things. Now Windows firewall is turned on and greyed out, so I can't turn it off. We are being a corporate firewall; so we don't need it. But it prevents us from VNCing into a computer on our network, messing up IT support.

At this point, is there an easy way to turn the windows firewall off? Or do I need to run spybot again and this time tell it to ignore things?

TIA

jatkins679:

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Originally Posted by jatkins679

… We are being a corporate firewall; so we don't need it.

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As a corporate user of Spybot-Search & Destroy, I trust you are aware if the following:

• Spybot-S&D FAQs and Info;
  http://forums.spybot.info/showthread.php?t=3922
  
• This post:
  
  • Corporate Use

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Originally Posted by tashi

Corporate Use

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License

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II.e. Corporate use
As companies are not individual persons and would have problems fullfilling the above terms, there is a license for corporate users that can be found at safer-networking.ie.

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http://spybot.info/en/license/index.html

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For the specific needs of corporate LANs/WANs we designed a tool called "Intranet Server for Spybot - Search & Destroy" which will help you to:
get updates automatically from our server

• store these updates on your servers for easy access for your clients
• reduce traffic on your internet connection
• keep a centralized standard configuration for your needs
• send a report of the client scan to the admin
• schedule scans at the client machines

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http://www.safer-networking.ie/en/home/index.html

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Originally Posted by jatkins679

… I made the mistake of not telling spybot to ignore the status of Windows firewall before it fixed things. Now Windows firewall is turned on and greyed out, so I can't turn it off.

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Have you tried?

• Spybot's "Recovery" feature by going into Spybot > Recovery.
• Checking the item that you did a "Fix selected problems" on and now want to reverse.
• Then doing a "Recover selected items".

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Note: The last time I checked, some of the "Microsoft.WindowsSecurityCenter" type detections did not recover properly after a "Fix selected problems" and a "Recover selected items". If this is the case, I think we can still iron out the problem. Please post the Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm.log file from the running of Spybot when you encountered the problem and point out the detection that you fixed that you think is causing the problem.

There are two methods to copy and post the information from the Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm.log file:

• Method 1:
  
  • Go into Spybot > Mode > Advanced mode > Tools > View Reports > View Pervious reports. Look for the Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm.log file that was produced when you found and fixed the detection you are questioning. Open it. To copy it to the Clipboard, right click on the listing and select Select All > Right click again and select Copy. Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of the Clipboard into a new post in this thread.
• Method 2 (easier in my opinion):
  
  • The Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm.log files are stored in the following folders:
    
    • Windows 95 or 98:
      C:\Windows\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Logs
    • Windows ME:
      C:\Windows\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Logs
    • Windows NT, 2000 or XP:
      C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data\Spybot - Search & Destroy\Logs
  • Using Windows Explorer, navigate to the correct Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm.log. Double click on it and it should open with Notepad. To copy it to the Clipboard, right click on the listing and select Select All > Right click again and select Copy. Paste (Ctrl+V) the contents of the Clipboard into a new post in this thread.
  
  
  Note: By default here are two Checks.yymmdd-hhmm logs produced during a scan. The second Checks.yymmdd-hhmm has the details of what the scan found. A Fixes.yymmdd-hhmm log is produced if you fix or attempt to fix something.

Hi,

Please try the tool XP-Antispy:
http://xp-antispy.org/?lang=en&optio...tpage&Itemid=1

It should help you to deactivate the Windows firewall.

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Originally Posted by jatkins679

I love spybot. But I made the mistake of not telling spybot to ignore the status of Windows firewall before it fixed things. Now Windows firewall is turned on and greyed out, so I can't turn it off. We are being a corporate firewall; so we don't need it. But it prevents us from VNCing into a computer on our network, messing up IT support.

At this point, is there an easy way to turn the windows firewall off? Or do I need to run spybot again and this time tell it to ignore things?

TIA

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you can shut off the Windows Firewall service from the Services MMC applet.
I assume you are using Windows XP SP2, Windows Server 2003 SP1 or Windows Vista as Windows Firewall is only available in those versions of Windows.

Type "services.msc" in the Run dialog box (without the quotes) to open the Services MMC applet. Right-click on "Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing [ICS]", click on Stop (if the windows firewall service is running, doing this will stop it). Right-click on the Windows Firewall service again and select Properties. From the General tab of the Windows Firewall Properties box, change the Startup Type to Disabled and click OK. This will prevent Windows (XP/2003/Vista) from loading the Windows Firewall service.

Why not simply add a Port exception for TCP Port 5900, call it VNC so you can find it easily.

I run dozens of systems this way and never have a problem using VNC due to the firewall. Unless the firewall gives you other problems on your network you're really much better off to leave it enabled.

I also have both Domain and Workgroup networks running this configuration and only the Symantec Enterprise AV Console ever has any issue accessing the clients directly, but updating and general logging works fine.

Bitman