Member Avatar for A Monkeys Uncle

Every time at start up, I'm prompted to run their firewall, and their (MS's) anti virus :cry:

Can I get rid of this prompt without getting rid of the entire service pack update for XP?

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A quick outline of options that stop the boot-time "Windows Firewall is disabled" balloon without breaking anything else.

If you turned the firewall off in the Security Center (as did) the Security Center service can still raise that balloon. 's suggestion to stop the Security Center service will eliminate the message, but it also disables all Security Center monitoring and alerts. If you want to suppress the balloon without killing the service, use one of these safer alternatives.

To turn off all balloon notifications for the current user (affects system and application balloons):

reg add "HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced" /v EnableBalloonTips /t REG_DWORD /d 0 /f

Or open regedit, go to HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Advanced, create a DWORD named EnableBalloonTips and set it to 0. Log off/restart Explorer to apply. Set it to 1 (or delete the value) to restore balloons. Back up the registry first.

If you have Windows XP Professional, use Group Policy to block balloons for all users: run gpedit.msc -> User Configuration -> Administrative Templates -> Start Menu and Taskbar -> Enable Turn off all balloon notifications.

Other options: keep Security Center running but stop the specific warning by re-enabling a firewall or installing a third-party firewall that registers as "on" with Security Center; or hide the Security Center icon via Taskbar properties (Notification Area) if you only want the visual removed. Caution: disabling balloons or Security Center alerts hides important messages (Windows Update, AV alerts). If you choose to suppress notifications, make sure updates, AV and firewall are actually being managed.

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Member Avatar for DuncanIdaho

It's not 'their' Antivirus, so you know, MS has included hooks from the new Security Center so it can poll many Antivirus' programs, (like Norton, McAffee, etc), so that the Security Center can tell you if your AV is in need of updating.

You can disable Security Center if you like, by shutting down the service itself, (which is what I have done since I already regularly update all my stuff, and don't need to be pestered).

If you'd like to do this, go to Control Panel, pick Performance and Maintenance, pick Administrative tools, and pick Services in the list that pops up. Find 'Security Center' in the list, right click on it, and pick Stop. After that, right click on it again, and pick Properties. You'll see a box that has 'Automatic' on it, hit the little arrow next to it, and change it to 'Disabled'. Reboot to see if that solved it.

Let me know if that did it for you.

Member Avatar for A Monkeys Uncle

Well, I couldn't find "security center" from "administrative tools," but I appreciate the help especially since it was very well written and easy to follow. I did, however, right click on the icon and opened "security center" and I could access "automatic updates" and "windows firewall" from here. I chose "Off (not recomended)" for the firewall, and then deleted all of the "exceptions," then I clicked on "automatic updates" and chose "turn off automatic updates."

Thanks for the help.

Member Avatar for DuncanIdaho

Good job then, glad you got it sorted out.

Member Avatar for A Monkeys Uncle

Well now I can't stop that stupid baloon from coming up everytime I boot the computer warning me about their firewall being disabled...

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