Broadcasting

[Justintime]

As I am sure we all do I keep getting a warning when surfing that I am
broadcasting my address and trying to sell me software to protect me from
the bad guys. Does the XP firewall not protect me and if not is there
anything else I can do to make life more secure.

TIA
Justin

[Patrick Hallihan]

The "broadcasting" of your IP address is a simple detail of how the internet
works. Your IP address is the way that information from the internet finds
its way back to your computer. If you actually managed to block this, you
would not be able to browse the internet at all!

The software being advertised along these lines is generally not worth the
money. Invest your time and/or your money setting up a free or cheap
personal firewall (suggestions appear daily on this newsgroup), and ignore
the pop-ups. They're just trying to use a bit of techno-babble to scare
innocent users into buying their products.

Patrick Hallihan
MCSE, MCDBA



"Justintime" > wrote in message
...
> As I am sure we all do I keep getting a warning when surfing that I am
> broadcasting my address and trying to sell me software to protect me from
> the bad guys. Does the XP firewall not protect me and if not is there
> anything else I can do to make life more secure.
>
> TIA
> Justin
>
>

[Justintime]

Thanks Patrick I will start work on the Firewall.

"Patrick Hallihan" > wrote in message
...
> The "broadcasting" of your IP address is a simple detail of how the
internet
> works. Your IP address is the way that information from the internet
finds
> its way back to your computer. If you actually managed to block this, you
> would not be able to browse the internet at all!
>
> The software being advertised along these lines is generally not worth the
> money. Invest your time and/or your money setting up a free or cheap
> personal firewall (suggestions appear daily on this newsgroup), and ignore
> the pop-ups. They're just trying to use a bit of techno-babble to scare
> innocent users into buying their products.
>
> Patrick Hallihan
> MCSE, MCDBA
>
>
>
> "Justintime" > wrote in message
> ...
> > As I am sure we all do I keep getting a warning when surfing that I am
> > broadcasting my address and trying to sell me software to protect me
from
> > the bad guys. Does the XP firewall not protect me and if not is there
> > anything else I can do to make life more secure.
> >
> > TIA
> > Justin
> >
> >
>
>

[Bruce Chambers]

Greetings --

You are not "broadcasting" your IP address. This is a very crude
attempt at a scare tactic. Granted, your IP address is sent to any
Internet computer with which you are currently communicating, so that
the other computer knows where to send back the requested data
packets, but this is a one-to-one communication, and not a broadcast.
What's really happening is some unscrupulous spammers are using
automated systems to scan the Internet for computers that have certain
specific IP ports open, and then they broadcast their advertisement to
the computers so found.

This particular "sales method" is strikingly similar to the
"protection" rackets offered to small businesses by organized
criminals. No, they're not "reputable." Particularly since they're
trying to sell you a type of protection that is already available to
you free of charge.

This a type of spam has become quite common over the past few
months, and unintentionally serves as a valid security "alert." It
demonstrates that you haven't been taking sufficient precautions while
connected to the Internet. Your data probably hasn't been compromised
by these specific advertisements, but if you're open to this exploit,
you may well be open to other threats. Install and use a decent,
properly configured firewall. (Disabling the messenger service, as
some people recommend, only hides the symptom, and does nothing to
secure your machine.) And ignoring or just "putting up with" these
messages and the problem they represent is particularly foolish.

Messenger Service of Windows
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=KB;en-us;168893

Messenger Service Window That Contains an Internet Advertisement
Appears
http://support.microsoft.com/?id=330904

Additionally:

Blocking Ads, Parasites, and Hijackers with a Hosts File
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm


Bruce Chambers

Help us help you:
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----
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having both at once. -- RAH


"Justintime" > wrote in message
...
> As I am sure we all do I keep getting a warning when surfing that I
am
> broadcasting my address and trying to sell me software to protect me
from
> the bad guys. Does the XP firewall not protect me and if not is
there
> anything else I can do to make life more secure.
>
> TIA
> Justin
>
>