unable to re-enable firewall xp

Hi, and thanks for your attention.
I tried disabling my firewall to boost some download speeds and noticed no real difference.
I attempted to re-enable the standard firewall configs but am unable to do so.
I go through the control panel, click on firewall icon and it says that

"windows cannot start the windows firewall/internet connection sharing service (ICS)


What now Mr Wizard?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.
TIA, SFO

 

In Control Panel>Administrative Tools>Services, scroll down to and double click on Windows Firewall and Internet Connection Sharing. Click on the Start button and see if it will start up that way, set the service to Automatic, click OK. See if that fixes the problem.

 

Try this:

Dos > netsh winsock reset
Reboot

 

Also go into services.msc and see if Windows Firewall is set to Automatic, If not, set it and start the service. Maybe check in the properties and see if any depencies need enabling.