Windows security center not working

Yesterday I upgraded to Norton Anti-virus 2007 (from 2005) and now the Windows Security center no longer shows information about my AV or Firewall , or anything else for that matter.
The message says "The Security Center is currently unavailable because the "Security Center" service has not started or was stopped. Please close this window, restart the computer (or start the "Security Center" service) then open the Security center again. "

Also in the bulleted list on the left side , the option to "change the way the Security center alerts me" is greyed out.

I have restarted the computer, but it made no difference. How do I "start the Security Center service "? or what else should I do about it?

I have a standard PC with Windows XP Home, SP2 and Zone Alarms Pro firewall.

Any help will be welcome. as I need to renew Zon alarms Pro as well, and am reluctant to make any more changes until this problem is sorted out.

Many thanks

 

Go to Start\Run, type in "services.msc" and press Enter.
Locate Security Center in the list, right click on it, set to Automatic, then Start the service.

 

Thanks, Mark. I did this and it worked - temporarily, but it keeps resetting to the disabled setting as described above. Every time I turn on the PC I have to redo this action.

In addition, I am having trouble sending email. The messages go eventually, but there is a delay of sometimes several minutes after I press "send ". And today, Norton 2007 didn't load properly, and I could neither send nor receive email at all. I switched the PC off and restarted it and it has loaded this time, but sending emails is still very slow.

I'm beginning to wish I'd never upgraded to Norton 2007 - it was all fine with the 2005 version. Any ideas as to what has gone wrong?

 

Hello TeenieB,

Things to try:

1. Go to the Symantec site and get the removal tool for your Norton version and uninstall it, then re install.

2. http://computercops.biz/forum82.html is the only Symantec forum that I know of - BUT, as of this writing, they are under a DDOS attack - you may not be able to acces the site for now.

Regards - Charles

 

Hi Charles,

1. I've already done that once when it didn't install properly the first time. Is it worth doing it again do you think?

2. I'll give it a day or two and then try the forum you mention.

I did find something on the Symantec site. It recommended disabling the scanning of outgoing mail, so I've done that and it has helped the slow sending problem, but I've still got the issue of the disabled Security Center.

I don't know for certain that Norton 2007 is doing it, but something is. It seems to happen at shutdown because once I've reset it, it will stay set for one session. Could it be Zone Alarm Pro? or any other ideas?

Many thanks
Teenie

 

Hi TeenieB,

I don't think at shutdown, but at bootup, not that it makes any difference.

Ok, right before shutting down, disable ZA from starting up. For ZA, go into prefernces to disable startup. If it does happen, you'll know its Norton I think. Norton is tough to disable from starting.

If not one of them, what other securtiy application(s) are running? Try disabling them in turn

Regards - Charles

 

I did some poking around on this, while I don't have any specific links to give you, you can look at this google search.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q="windows+security+center"++norton+2007
I have found that Norton 2007 is disabling the Security Center for you, real nice of them.

 

NAV 2007 does indeed disable security center by default, but there is a setting you can change. Open Nav, Norton Security Center tab, near top right click on Options. Check the box Show Messages from Windows Security Center, click OK.

You may have to go into services to reset security center service to automatic and start it (as described earlier in this thread).

 

Hi Teenie,

Thanks for the update, appreciate it, and good luck, hope this works for you.

Regards - Charles