My Windows Firewall doesn't work anymore

[Qiqi]

hi everybody
I am sorry because of my bad english but I really need help. =) I was infected of the virus CoolWebSearch just half a year ago and I tried to get rid of it but there still was that about:blank. And in february this year I installed Panda Antivirus Software, didn't help a lot but does not matter. and then my father discovered that you cannot open files anymore under my computer and soon. and he installed windows xp new and deleted panda, I was quite angry then and even more angry as the windows firewall and the security center doens't want to get started. they say there were" an unknown problem so you cannot open it" .
so could you tell me why and how I can get the security center started again? (I can't get Panda back cause I've installed that from a friend)
Thanx
Hope you've understand what I said.

[rik]

It sounds like he may have performed a Repair reinstall instead of a clean reinstall. That would be my suggestion at this point, is formatting the drive and installing a clean copy of Windows and your other apps.

[tarun]

You could try the Zone alarm Firewall (http://www.download.com/ZoneAlarm/3000-10435_4-10367376.html?tag=lst-0-4) and AVAST (http://www.download.com/Avast-Home-Edition/3000-2239_4-10353376.html?tag=lst-0-1)/AVG (http://www.download.com/AVG-Anti-Virus-Free-Edition/3000-2239_4-10342876.html?tag=lst-0-2) Antivirus if you're not already using them after that OS reinstall because the former (free versions) worked fine for me for about 2 years.

In the future, to remove coolwebsearch and other malware read Egghead's Spyware Removal Thread (http://www.techzonez.com/forums/showthread.php?t=9739&highlight=egghead%27s+spyware+removal)

[mommabear]

Before you reinstall, if it seems everything is working okay now except the firewall, then try a different firewall first. It can't hurt anything.

Sygate Personal Firewall is a very good free one. Easy to use. And IMHO much better than ZA. It's smaller and doesn't seem to cause as many problems as ZA does for folks.... lots of conflicts with other applications etc. Plus from what I've heard ZA is a bear to remove from your system if you don't like it.