Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas??

If anyone can help with what is probably a stupid and simple problem I would love you for life:-D

I do not want file sharing enabled on my Vista pc, dont use it, and would prefer the extra security of it being disabled, the problem is as soon as you go into 'network & sharing centre' to disable it, Vista immediately re-enables Windows Firewall which I DON'T want as I have the latest Norton IS 2010 with a very good firewall and as anyone knows, you dont want 2 firewalls on at the same time.

The second I go into win security settings to disable the Windows firewall, file sharing is immediately re-enabled:cry

I would like to rip out Windows Firewall and File Sharing, any ideas would be truly great as I am on the verge of jumping into my nearest river because I am someone who has to have the pc settings running exactly the way I want it. I'm sure I'm missing something really obvious and being dumbrolleyes.

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

1. Disabling Windows Firewall in Vista
2. Click Start and click Control Panel.
3. Click Security and then select Windows Firewall.
4. Click Change Settings.
5. From the window that appears, click the Advanced tab.
6. Remove the check beside the connection that you want to disable the Windows Firewall for.
7. Click OK.

Or this way :

You should not turn off Windows Firewall unless you have another firewall enabled. Turning off Windows Firewall might make your computer (and your network, if you have one) more vulnerable to damage from worms or hackers.

1. Open Windows Firewall by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking Security, and then clicking Windows Firewall.
2. Click Turn Windows Firewall on or off. If you are prompted for an administrator password or confirmation, type the password or provide confirmation.
3. Click Off (not recommended), and then click OK.

Turn File Sharing of in Vista :

1. Open the Control Panel (Classic View).

2. Click on the Networking and Sharing Center icon.

3. Click on Manage network connections in the upper left corner.

4. Right click on the Network Connection you want to share the Public folder with, and click on Properties.

5. Click on Continue in the UAC prompt.

6. Check File and Printer Sharing for Microsoft Networks and click on OK. (See screenshot below)

Hope this helps you out !

Rusty !

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Hi Rusty,
Thanks very much for your reply.
As far as turning off the windows firewall goes, no problem, that's pretty easy and as I mentioned in my OP above I do have another firewall etc..

My real concern is turning off the file sharing, I tried using your steps above and unchecked the file sharing entry to turn it off but alas, even after a full restart, file sharing is ON.
I have now disabled the windows firewall thru the administrative tools & services dialog so it is well and truly off but this leaves file sharing on with the option (within network & sharing center) to turn it off greyed out.

Is there a deeper way to get rid of file sharing?, for example, my PC is a home setup without any need for any other computers or devices except for my router for the Internet which I now use wired instead of wireless. I mention this because I dont really need 'networking' as such, would much prefer a direct connection to my broadband router similar to using a modem without a LAN etc.. do I make any sense??

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

I am not certain if you will find an answer here but it may be worth a look at:
www.blackviper.com
I've used these settings for myself and if you go through the Vista settings one at a time you might find your answer.

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Is this what your wanting to do ?

Control Panel(Classic View)
Click on the Network and Sharing Center icon.
Click on the down arrow to the right of Network Discovery to expand it.
Dot Turn off network discovery.

And you do the same with file sharing !

Rusty !

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

If you set your network location to public it should achieve the same options. i.e. disable everything

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Hi brandy, the link is not working or the site is down, but thanks

Already done that several times Rusty

I thought of that after reading about the differences between the 2 types of network Collinsl and have already tried it, I have also disabled the file sharing microsoft client by unchecking it within connection/network properties but still the green dot shows file sharing to be on

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Have you actually typed blackviper into your browser, because it seems very unusual for his site to be down, maybe if your having problems like that, you might be better off clicking on this link http://forums.majorgeeks.com/showthread.php?t=208809 and following all the instructions and then posting into the malware forum with the required logs !

Rusty !

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

I tried again Rusty and its not loading at the moment.

I doubt there is any malware on my system currently as everything else is working fine and I always update my security suite everyday and scan regularly (now with Norton IS 2010 and Malwarebytes) the only things found recently were 2 tracking cookies.

I have had no crashes at all, no freezes, no suspect performance or problems at all. I browse using FF with NoScript on, AdBlockPlus, PrivacyHelper (for LSOs & other super cookies) etc..

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Code:

http://www.blackviper.com/

with an IP of 71.139.244.137
Let us know if this site still refuses to load. If it does, something is wrong. It could be the DNS of your ISP which is not translating correctly and causing the site to appear to not load or load very slowly.

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

Hi plodr, thanks very much for your reply, the site is still not loading at all, I am getting the 'page not loading' screen in FF very quickly, I would take a damn good guess that its down to AOHells DNS servers (my horrible ISP), all other sites are loading just fine and I have done quite a lot of surfing in the last couple of days.

I guess I could go through the hassle of Open DNS settings etc.. but loathe to to be honest...

Once again, thanks for your reply plodr

 

Re: Going mad trying to disable file sharing AND windows firewall in Vista, any ideas

At least you have an idea where the problem lies.