Windows Security Alert-- firewall off

So I had a virus (seems like many people have gotten it) that kept giving me pop-ups stating that I was being infected and needed to download certain anti-virus programs etc. I thought I removed it using RKILL, Malwarebytes anti-malware, SUPERantispyware and then ATF-Cleaner. However now I have a symbol at the bottom right hand of my screen. It's the Windows Shield and its red with a white X on it. When I click it, I am shown a page saying that my windows firewall is off, and both my automatic updates and virus protection are on. However when I try to follow the different steps to turn on the firewall (like going to start, control panel then double clicking windows firewall) I cannot activate my firewall. The bubble that you would click to turn on the firewall is gray and can't be clicked. I also tried to restore the firewall to the original settings but that didn't help either. Any thoughts?? I'm at a complete loss here and my scans are clean.

Try the fix at Kelly's Korner.

Firewall On - #386 on the right.

Right click on it and save the .reg file to your desktop. Then, double click on the file icon (on your desktop) to merge it into your registry. You may need to reboot your computer for the changes to take affect.

With any fix like this you should create a new restore point and backup the registry first. For backing up the registry I like to use ERUNT.

When I right click on it, the only options it gives me are: Open security center or Go to microsoft security online. So I don't understand your suggestion...

This is the file you want:

http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com/regs_edits/firewallon.reg