XAMPP - Windows7 - Vipre compatibility? (no replies)

I am running XAMPP 1.7.3 (Full version) on Windows7 OS (64). Recently I was having issues with Thunderbird email client not getting mail. Turns out there were compatibility issues with my anti virus program Vipre (specifically the firewall). MySQL in XAMPP was working fine but now it will not start. I don't get any error messages, it just won't start. Could it be possible that there is a firewall issue. I would greatly appreciate any help figuring this out.

Thanks, Richard