Windows Firewall won't turn off--maybe Malware related?

[TLN44]

Hi there!

I hope I am posting in the right forum--I'm not sure if this is Malware related or not.

For about a week, my computer was seriously infected. I finally found Malwarebytes, dowloaded the free version, watched in amazement as it fixed my computer, and purchased the full version.

Everything seems to be running great since my Malwarebytes scan, but I'm wary because I know that there might still be problems lurking.

When Malwarebytes scanned my computer, it found a problem in my Microsoft firewall. The log detail is:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\FirewallDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

I've never used the Microsoft firewall--I have McAfee and have always used its firewall and left the Microsoft Firewall disabled.

The thing is, now I can't seem to turn off the Microsoft Firewall. When I go to control panel, and click on Security Center, it shows that Windows Firewall is on. When I click on the icon for Manage security settings: Windows Firewall, it shows that the Windows Firewall is: Off [not recommended].

So, it's off, but it's also on.

I'm not sure what is happening here, and I was hoping that someone in this forum might be able to help.

Many thanks!

[Firefox]

It is quite possible that when you installed McAfee with the Firewall that comes with it, it put that entry into your registry to disable the Windows firewall so that they do not conflict with each other.

you can go to the Quarantine tab and find that entry and restore it to see if you McAfee firewall goes back to working as normal.

If it does not you could always run another scan and remove it once again.

If that does not work, there is one more thing we could try.... Let us know

[YoKenny1]

@ TLN44

Looks like you are using Vista or Windows 7 by this item appering

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Security Center\FirewallDisableNotify (Disabled.SecurityCenter) -> Bad: (1) Good: (0) -> Quarantined and deleted successfully.

This is normal for those operaing systems as the detection changed from XP.

Restore it from Quarantine and place it in Ignore.

[exile360]

@ TLN44

Looks like you are using Vista or Windows 7 by this item appering

This is normal for those operaing systems as the detection changed from XP.

Restore it from Quarantine and place it in Ignore.

No, the one that changed in Vista and 7 was Hijack.DisplayProperties, not anything to do with Security Center. In fact, in Vista and 7 Malwarebytes' doesn't detect alterations to Security Center monitoring settings at all because the settings aren't stored in the same place in the registry as XP.

However, all that being said, since you're using McAfee's firewall, which should disable the Windows Firewall as well as notifications about it, this detection is quite normal and can be ignored. Just make sure that the Windows firewall is Off and that your McAfee firewall is On .