Disabled firewall

[Huderon]

My daughter has just told me that the firewall on her laptop is not running. It's a school supplied lappy, so I don't know what is supposed to be installed on it. However, Windows Security centre seems to be messed up - the firewall is turned off and the option to turn it on is greyed out.

Has anyone any idea what might have caused this ?

OS is XP Pro, with SP3 installed. AV is Sophos and there is no sign of anything other than the Windows firewall having been used.

[patricia53]

I had the same thing yesterday - I have AVG Security - all I did was reboot and everytrhing worked.
If it doesn't work for you I can't help I'm afraid!

[wildwood]

I presume you have tried to turn it on via the control panel's security settings. Maybe try the small Windows Firewall icon ont he bottom that opens a new window with general, Exceptions and Advanced option?

Other than that..... does this school laptop have an enabled modem?

[Huderon]

Just rebooting doesn't change anything, worse luck.

Yes wildwood, I did try turning it back on via the control panel, and thee is no icon for it in the taskbar, so can't try that. There is no modem, just an enabled wi-fi card which is functioning.

For now, I've put Commodo on her laptop and told her to check with the tech guy at school, just in case there is something odd about the way they set things up there.

[ACtheTROLL]

your first call should be the "tech guy" for any problems
he will have either developed the build ... or have a spec provided by the education authority

the last thing any controled build needs is for someone adding or removing security.

[VHG]

Is she logged on as an "administrator" or a "limited user"?

The school may have set all the users up as "limited users" so they cannot download and install extra software.

If she is a "limited user" she may not have the ability to turn the firewall on and off.

Check what type of user she is by going into the control panel and opening "User accounts".

Or maybe the firewall is only on when the laptop is connected to the schools network?

[VHG]

I just realised if you installed Commodo she probably is not a limited user as you probably would not have been able to install that.

Note that if her laptop is normally conected to a network at school the network controller usually does all this security stuff and often the "end user" has no choice about turning security software on and off. The options are usually greyed out.

If she has removed it from the school netework and is now using your home broadband network she may still not be able to alter the security settings.

[Huderon]

Yes AC, I have told her to talk to the tech guy at school.

The setup is that the school supplies the laptops with XP, Office, Sophos and some school specific software installed. We pay for them over a two year period with the school providing first line support, and if we want to keep it at the end of that period we pay a small sum for the residual value.

Obviously the school has it's own firewall in place, along with blocking software, which is fine as long as the kids are at school. But the idea is to let them take the laptops home with them so that they can access stuff on the school site when away from school.

The lass tells me that the school does not seem to be bothered what the kids install on the machines, but the notion that they are set up with no software firewall seems absurd to me, given that the kids are expected to use them outside of school.

Oh well, if the school support bod says the Comodo has to come off, I'll take it off ... and book an appointment to see him myself.

[Lil O'lady]

For your own peace of mind as a parent, I would check with the school what your daughter has said about them not minding if she installs stuff.
If this is the actual case, the school must surely have given pupils guidelines about what they should / not install.
This should be in their acceptable use policy and the school e-safety policy, both of which you should have been asked to agree to as a parent.

[Huderon]

Well, in case anyone is still following this ...

The school policy is that we can install anything we like on the machines (because we are, in effect, buying them).

I started it in safe mode and went in as admin (no password, but there is one now). When I went to look at the Windows firewall settings, I got a message saying that I couldn't do that because the service was stopped. I didn't bother starting it because I had Comodo running.

I did speak to the support bod at the school, who didn't know whether the firewall was disabled by default as part of the setup process for the laptops, but did say he would look into it.

Sometimes I do wonder about the people employed to set this stuff up !