Ok your welcome. You can actually see some of the error messages in your log that are related to your firewall problem. If a W7 forum couldn't help you I doubt I can resolve it. If a solution isnt apparent you could always try a in place repair or a reinstall. Is that worth it? dont know, how bad do you want W7 firewall to function? I cant tell if you have a router in your set up but just having a simple router in place is also a good solution. All have at least a rudimentary firewall built in. There are also some free third party software firewall solutions you can download and use in W7. These may depend on a few W7 components so its a guess if they would work properly or not. Happy safe surfing.