Querying the status of the security center in XPSP2

I would like to see if there is a way through scripting ,programming to query
the status of the Security Center in XP, ie check to see if the firewall is
on, antivirus up to date, etc when a computer connects to the network via
vpn. I am capable of scripting, programming, etc and I was hoping somebody
may know of the object model or whatever to go after to start or get me
pointed in the right direction to start. Many thanks