computer/internet stalls

Bird · Dec 19, 2002

Just for grins, have you used the Windows Update function lately? It can be a bit tedious (what with the weekly bugs that MS fesses up to) but some of the patches actually have been known to fix things (usually).

And sometimes weird things happen. After a Windows Update last week, it wiped out my MSN Messenger; had to download, re-install, etc. and start over with it./w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

So far, I haven't found any problem with the updates it did this morning./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird · Dec 19, 2002

I couldn't run my computers without Norton System Works.

Me, too.

Trev · Dec 19, 2002

I'm not sure at this point if you are seeing normal Internet congestion or if your machine is loaded with an attack-bot or two.

Here is a good story everybody should read.. it's the classic story Steve Gibson wrote after his site was attacked. It explains what the script-kiddies out there are doing these days with any machine they can find that isn't protected. In your case, your bandwidth may be being eaten up from time to time when it participates in a denial of service attack.

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm>http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm</A>

At one point this was the most popular page on the Internet in terms of hits, right after it came out (or so I'm told.)

Best,
Bob

WVBill · Dec 19, 2002

Bob:
Thanks for the link. What a fascinating and educational story - and very well written. As I read it, like a good book, I "couldn't put it down"!

It seems we're all vulnerable. Even though the target of one of those denial of service attacks is probably some large web site, if we're an unwitting participant our measly dial-up bandwidth could easily be eaten up resulting in denial of our service.
Scary /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif

DocHeb · Dec 19, 2002

Boy, that stuff is scary! I would recommend that anybody using the Internet use a router, even if you're using only one machine.

Trev · Dec 19, 2002

It seems we're all vulnerable. Even though the target of one of those denial of service attacks is probably some large web site, if we're an unwitting participant our measly dial-up bandwidth could easily be eaten up resulting in denial of our service.

Precisely! Your machine could be spending most of its resources attacking some site and you would know nothing of it at all, except you'd see things slow down quite a bit. I'm not saying that's what's happening, but it's certainly a possibility.

Also, the chances of identity theft are considerable. People really need to understand some of these issues nowadays, in the age of the "13 year old Internet Terrorist". /w3tcompact/icons/hmm.gif

Glad you liked the read! Steve is a pretty good guy...

Bob

Trev · Dec 19, 2002

I would recommend that anybody using the Internet use a router, even if you're using only one machine. 

But don't forget, you also need to be able to tell if an outgoing connection is being attempted by some program on your machine which has no business doing so. The only way I know of to do that easily is to run a software firewall which monitors both incoming and outgoing connections. A router will know nothing about what program is sending data out.. all it sees is a bunch of packets going out.

Bob

Gary_in_Indiana · Dec 19, 2002

Trev,

That was fascinating. Reading it all blew away my entire morning but it was well worth it. Thanks for posting that link.

Hank · Dec 19, 2002

I would recommend that anybody using the Internet use a router, even if you're using only one machine. 

I concur, just on the basis of being an easy way to set up a home network. A router, by itself, however, does not provide any protection. All a router does is route packets (to/from your network or PC, to/from the Internet).

Unless things have changed recently, for most of these home routers (and this is also esp. true with business routers), they include firewall intelligence, but do not have any firewall enabled, by default. You have to read the manual and go into the command-line interface (or web interface, usually provided), to enable your protection. Firewalling at a router involves packet inspection, and deciding whether to accept or reject that packet based on defined rules. Home routers typically provide some default firewall settings you can choose from (minimum, moderate, maximum), but you have to make the choice and enable it.