Thanks Jonathan Kay [MVP].

[Brendan McNeill]

Hi Jonathan,

Thanks for your advice before regarding UPnP, routers and
MSN Messenger 6. I discovered last night that with a
firmware upgrade to my router that I will have UPnP
support. So the next step is to get the new version (link
kindly supplied by you), and check it out.

Do I need to enable UPnP support on both the router and
end PC(s), i.e. my Windows 98 and Windows XP machines? I
have heard of holes in UPnP that enable people to gain
access to my computers. There is a patch to turn UPnP off
but doesn't this negate what I am trying to do?

Any advice would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Brendan McNeill.

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Brendan,

You're very welcome =).

You just need to enable UPnP support in the router. On the PCs, installing the UPnP software
service is *not* required.

There is no "hole" in UPnP, there was one small issue with the UPnP service in Windows XP
when it first was released, which was fixed immediately after it was discovered in 2001. The
only people who believe that UPnP is a major security hole are the same people who brought
you the non-existent "y2k bug", and other such fiction which most notably helped their
consulting businesses (I think you get the point).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com

"Brendan McNeill" > wrote in message
...
> Hi Jonathan,
>
> Thanks for your advice before regarding UPnP, routers and
> MSN Messenger 6. I discovered last night that with a
> firmware upgrade to my router that I will have UPnP
> support. So the next step is to get the new version (link
> kindly supplied by you), and check it out.
>
> Do I need to enable UPnP support on both the router and
> end PC(s), i.e. my Windows 98 and Windows XP machines? I
> have heard of holes in UPnP that enable people to gain
> access to my computers. There is a patch to turn UPnP off
> but doesn't this negate what I am trying to do?
>
> Any advice would be much appreciated.
>
> Cheers,
> Brendan McNeill.