Hello, (This The Mystery Of On And Off And Back On Windows Firewall With Slow Loading Programs like Internet Explorer As This All Is Happening The On Firewall, Off Firewall, On Firewall, it only occurs on startups, after that it's fine/but very annoying on restarts as it lags my computer down)/Listed Below is the cause of it and when it began, do you have a solution?I recently installed The Last 16 (High Profile) Security Updates, mostly security updates and net frame updates along with malicious software removal tool for windows XP.After installing these updates, now my Windows Firewall turns itself off during "Booting Up" On Any Restarts. If I try to load Internet Explorer, it will also not load up for serveral minutes/while this is occuring..after that it's fine, then Finally My Firewall turns itself back on and Internet Explorer Loads Up Promptly during this at about the same time.After These Updates these things are occuring on my computer now, it's like there are some processes running, but nothing is running no virus, trojan, or worm etc. just these updates have caused this issue. I'm not sure if one of the updates is corrupt or not, but have tried various things like system file checker /scan etc. with no luck.1) Computer Boots Up and appears to Load Up Fine "Until" Or "Looks that way" but isn't, something is running in the background or "stalled" process is obviously "stalled", etc.2) Trying To Load Internet Explorer last minutes and is very slow on load up, even if I "don't load up Internet Explorer" it still takes a long while as in the firewall turning off for an extended amount of time some several "minutes" (way too long), before it "auto turns itself back on".3) Windows Firewall turns itself back on "finally" as Internet Explorer Finally Loads Up as well both Internet Explorer is able to load "finally" and the firewall is back on "finally" as many minutes later as listed above, at about the same time.What could be causing this?? It only started doing this "After" I ran windows update and installed the "most recently high security updates for windows XP" there was 16 listed mostly security updates and net frame updates along with windows malicious software removal tool.That's all that's changed on my system, I have tried many things, to no avail in fixing this issue with my computer. I know for a fact these updates are causing this, but am unsure which one had caused it? Or how to fix this, any sugguestions would be appreciated.

Please answer all of the following diagnostic questions by number in your very next reply (no need to quote this post):1. What anti-virus application or security suite is installed and is your subscription current? What anti-spyware applications (other than Defender)? What third-party firewall (if any)?2. Has a(nother) Norton or McAfee application ever been installed on the computer?3. Did a Norton or McAfee free-trial come preinstalled on the computer when you bought it? (Doesn't matter if you never used or Activated it.)4. Are you running IE6, IE7, or IE8?5. Have you EVER had occasion to do a Repair Install of WinXP for whatever reason?PS: PLEASE DON'T START ANY MORE NEW THREADS ABOUT THIS!!!~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft

Hi David, Along with what PA Bear has suggested, you can also try the steps suggested below. I would suggest you to put the computer into a clean boot and then test the issue. How to configure Windows XP to start in a "clean boot" statehttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/310353/Note: Once the troubleshooting is over, reset the computer to start as usual. Hope this information is helpful and let me know if you need any further assistance.Mouneshwar R – Microsoft Support-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Visit our Microsoft Answers Feedback Forum and let us know what you think

@Mouneshwar R: Can you please remove (not merge!) all of OP's 3 other identical posts about this? Thanks!cf. http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Profile/en-US/?user=David010~Robear Dyer (PA Bear) ~ MS MVP (IE, Mail, Security, Windows & Update Services) since 2002 ~ Disclaimer: MS MVPs neither represent nor work for Microsoft