I've heard conflicting info that: A - will run fine without issue and B - it won't work right and will cause problems

We've got both firewalls running without any issues so far on Vista SP1 machines.

BadAndy,

Thanks for the response. I wouldn't have a problem with both running, however my client is informing me that Windows keeps on popping up that it has two firewalls running - so it's obviously a neuisance to them - hence why I'm looking for a solution.

Hmmm. There must be something in our group policies that prevent it from displaying messages because it doesn't pop up any notifications.

I would think you can fix it, but you do have to visit the 50 PCs (or send instructions :smileyhappy: )

Go to the notification settings on Windows Security Center and choose 'i have a firewall solution i will monitor myself'.  then you can disable the windows one in peace.

Ideally SEP would report correctly to WSC, but what-cha-gunna-do?

You need to configure Windows Security Center to work with SEP.

Hope this link helps:

Configuring Symantec Endpoint Protection to work with Windows Security Center

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2007090321550048

And yes, you do not need to visit every computer to configure this..it can be done through SEPM:) 

We use a GPO to stop the firewall and disable the firewall service........ pretty simple.

NO windows firewall - it's pretty lame anyway IMO and has holes even I could get through.

If you run Active Directory - why not let it handle the Windows firewall by shutting it down?