Text 31521, 107 rader
Skriven 2007-04-23 21:25:24 av Ross Cassell (1:123/456)
  Kommentar till text 31519 av ED VANCE (1:123/140)
Ärende: Strange Things Happen
=============================
Hello ED!

23 Apr 07 21:13, you wrote to ALL:

 EV> A few days ago I turned my computer on and was waiting for all the
 EV> Icons to show up on the Taskbar when I noticed ZoneAlarms icon was
 EV> sending out gobs of stuff from my computer to who knows where.

 EV> ZA had red bars all the way to the top, over and over again and again.

It could have been its update checker trying to go out and do a version check.

 EV> So I started Netscape and selected 192.168.1.1 and looked over the
 EV> various screens on the Linksys Wired router.

 EV> On the Status page it showed my IP Address as 0.0.0.0, and the Default
 EV> Gateway as 68.251.152.171, and the DNS was 0.0.0.0 also.

Which means that you havent been assigned a WAN IP at that time.

 EV> I didn't think to use WHOIS to find out what the Gateway address
 EV> meant, I'll look that one up after I type this message.

Just as your router 192.168.1.1 serves as the gateway for the computers on your
lan, 68.251.152.171 is the gateway address at your ISP that gives you access to
the internet via it.

 EV> I opened the Task Manager and saw it was hitting over 50% at times,
 EV> I also clicked on ZAs icon so I could look around there also.

 EV> After a long time of looking around I finally unplugged the router to
 EV> reset it.

 EV> After I plugged it back in I checked the Linksys Status screen again
 EV> and it showed my IP Address was 64.109.49.51, and the Default Gateway
 EV> was 64.109.49.52 which looked like it was operating normally.

Yeah that can happen, sometimes you have to go one better and reboot the
cable/dsl modem.

 EV> Task Manager didn't have any more surges to over 50% now, and ZAs icon
 EV> wasn't showing a lot of red either.

That would be indicative of ZA not being able to go out on the Internet and
then when you reset the router, you fixed that issue.

If you are using the paid version of Zonealarm, I also believe it "phones home"
to do a license check.

 EV> I have been leaving the Wall Warts for the Router and the DSL Modem
 EV> plugged in to the wall outlet all the time, but after looking at the
 EV> router Logs and seeing entries starting from early in the morning,
 EV> when I wasn't even using the computer, and having to go to log page
 EV> after page to get to the current time so I could look at what was
 EV> there, I decided to put the routers wall wart on the switched outlet
 EV> that I also have the computer on, so they will both start up at the
 EV> same time, hopeing that whenever I wanted to look at the router Log
 EV> the next time I wouldn't have to look through page after page to see
 EV> what was currently happening.

If you want to see whats coming out of your system:

http://tinyurl.com/fxwx4

Active Ports, a freeware program to monitor which programs are connecting to
which port et al.

There are other programs out there such as ethereal, there also is a program
that is free that can show similiar info in addition to lots of nifty stuff
locally for you called Whatsrunning.

http://www.whatsrunning.net

 EV> In the past I have seen interaction of the DSL Modem and Routers LEDs
 EV> when I wasn't using them, I suppose that is why the Log was so full of
 EV> stuff.

That will happen with any network activity,

If you run a program to check your system time or the weather or an email
checker, wallah, network activity.

At a minimum the router is doing a DHCP renew?

 EV> I think since I use a router for a firewall and also use a software
 EV> firewall (ZA Free) I would be fairly well protected from having my
 EV> computer turned into a BOT for some Spammer.

 EV> Is my thinking correct?    Thanks.

You are safer with, but you are never invincible.

Be careful on the web sites you visit, be careful with the email you receive,
be careful on the programs you run.

Remember if a program that already has a authorized firewall rule gets
compromised, then BOOM!

==
Ross
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