Zone Alarm question

Zone Alarm has blocked 5,000 intrusions since I turned on my computer a few minutes ago. This seems an inordinate number of intrusions to me and I wondered whether it is 'normal' activity. The intrusions seem to have stopped now but something similar was hapening yesterday evening.

I run Windows XP Pro with AVG, AdAware, Spybot and Spyware Blaster. I connect via NTL broadband through a simple router.

According to the alert log most of the intrusions are from 194.168.8.100 (DNS) but as a non-techie I do not know what this means.

Can I rest assured that this is part of normal PC life or should I worry that my computer is being targeted?

R.

Reply to
Ragnar
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It's Phoney-Baloney ware; It gives you a false sense of security. Go to:

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scroll down to: Myth: Host-Based Firewalls Must Filter Outbound Traffic to be Safe.

Then read this: ("...the typical form of outbound protection in client firewalls is just security theater.)

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And this:
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Then draw your own conclusions.

The Windows Firewall in XP SP 2 does a fantastic job at its core mission. Enable Windows Firewall, review exceptions frequently. The less exceptions the better!

Is the XP SP2 firewall getting a raw deal?

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How to Configure Windows Firewall on a Single Computer
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BTW, built-in f/w is an integrated part of the OS; 3rd party PFW app. is not.

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Get Educated - To be blunt, all the protection in the world won't save you from yourself. Don't open attachments that you aren't positive are ok. Don't fall for phishing scams. Don't click on links in email that you aren't positive are safe. Don't install "free" software without checking it out first - many "free" packages are free because they come loaded with spyware, adware and worse. When visiting a web site, did you get a pop-up asking if it's ok to install some software you're not sure of because you've never heard of it? Don't say "OK". Etc., Etc., Etc....

You may wish to try to aim for a more controlled/disciplined idea with respect to internet security which includes among other things 'hardening' of OS.

Good luck :)

Reply to
Kayman

If it's showing TCP port 53, then it's your ISP's DSN server trying to talk to the machine.

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You should be seeing that same IP of 194.168.8.100 if you go to the route's Admin page and go to the router's status page and see the IP(s) the router has during the connection to the ISP.

Or you can go to the Command Prompt on the computer and enter IPconfig /all and again see the ISP's DNS IP(s) the computer is using.

If you see that the same DNS IP is 194.168.8.100 then you'll know that ISP's DNS server is trying to talk to the computer on TCP port 53.

Reply to
Mr. Arnold

You're fooled by senseless messages of your "Personal Firewall". This is ridiculous.

For such trash like ZoneAlarm: yes.

Yours, VB.

Reply to
Volker Birk

In message at 08:48:12 on Wed, 25 Jul 2007, Ragnar wrote

How do you connect to the internet. Dialup modem, USB ADSL device or a router?

Reply to
Mike

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