Zone Alarm settings on NTL broadband

Hi,

I'm looking for some advice regarding settings for ZoneAlarm with an NTL
broadband setup.
Everything works fine, as far as I can see. However, in the ZA log it seems
that NTL are pinging me all the time and these pings are being blocked.
Any ideas on...
- if this is really ntl pinging
- if so why they are doing it, and why being blocked doesn't seem to cause a
problem
- what changes to ZA settings I should make to allow the pings (given that
the IP addresses they come from are not constant)
- ZA help says I should allow DHCP messages to/from my ISP, but doesn't say
how to do so. Any ideas?

My setup is: Single PC connected to 'net via Ethernet - hub - cable modem.
150k connection.
(I use the hub for my local network. Getting a router shortly)

Thanks for anyhelp.

> Everything works fine, as far as I can see. However, in the ZA log it seems
> that NTL are pinging me all the time and these pings are being blocked.

You are likely to be getting scanned by potential hackers.

> Any ideas on...
> - if this is really ntl pinging

Probably not, although some mail servers are set to ping you when you
connect to them. You get the mail irrespective of whether the ping gets a
response, so it does no harm stopping them.

> - if so why they are doing it, and why being blocked doesn't seem to cause a
> problem

If its hackers, they`re looking for an easy mark. Someone without a
firewall is far easier to get "in" to than someone with. The ones without
firewalls are also less likely to have antivirus programs.

> - what changes to ZA settings I should make to allow the pings (given that
> the IP addresses they come from are not constant)

Don`t bother - if you are experiencing no problems, leave it just the way
it is !

> - ZA help says I should allow DHCP messages to/from my ISP, but doesn't say
> how to do so. Any ideas?

Not a clue, as above, if you`ve had no problems, leave well alone - its
doing its thing :-)

> (I use the hub for my local network. Getting a router shortly)

A router would usually just drop them silently unless you check the logs,
just as you`ve found with ZoneAlarm.

It ain`t "broke", so don`t "fix" it ;-)

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On Sat, 6 Dec 2003 17:45:51 -0000, "John Fryatt"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>Hi,
>
>I'm looking for some advice regarding settings for ZoneAlarm with an NTL
>broadband setup.
>Everything works fine, as far as I can see. However, in the ZA log it seems
>that NTL are pinging me all the time and these pings are being blocked.

You mean pings from other ntl customers? Get used to it, its normal
traffic from bozos who didn't properly protect their machines and now
have a large collection of trojans and viri infecting them.

>- what changes to ZA settings I should make to allow the pings (given that
>the IP addresses they come from are not constant)

Don't allow them. Don't allow any inbound traffic except that which
you ask for.

>- ZA help says I should allow DHCP messages to/from my ISP, but doesn't say
>how to do so. Any ideas?

It defaults to allow them. Otherwise you'd be unable to connect as
you'd lose your address.

Ok, seems like the best thing is to forget about it. Consider it forgotten!
;-)

I realise that there are evil people| out there looking for doors into
people's systems, as I've seen these pings etc. going on for a long time
even when I had dial-up. I was just thinking about whether ntl themselves
were pinging me and that I should allow it for some reason.

Thanks, John



"John Fryatt" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:6BoAb.716$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi,
>
> I'm looking for some advice regarding settings for ZoneAlarm with an NTL
> broadband setup.
> Everything works fine, as far as I can see. However, in the ZA log it
seems
> that NTL are pinging me all the time and these pings are being blocked.
> Any ideas on...
> - if this is really ntl pinging
> - if so why they are doing it, and why being blocked doesn't seem to cause
a
> problem
> - what changes to ZA settings I should make to allow the pings (given that
> the IP addresses they come from are not constant)
> - ZA help says I should allow DHCP messages to/from my ISP, but doesn't
say
> how to do so. Any ideas?
>
> My setup is: Single PC connected to 'net via Ethernet - hub - cable
modem.
> 150k connection.
> (I use the hub for my local network. Getting a router shortly)
>
> Thanks for anyhelp.
>
>
>

Mark McIntyre <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>>I'm looking for some advice regarding settings for ZoneAlarm with an NTL
>>broadband setup.
>>Everything works fine, as far as I can see. However, in the ZA log it seems
>>that NTL are pinging me all the time and these pings are being blocked.
>
>You mean pings from other ntl customers? Get used to it, its normal
>traffic from bozos who didn't properly protect their machines and now
>have a large collection of trojans and viri infecting them.

I get 92-byte Blaster attacks about once per minute. They don't get
through my router but I feel sorry for anyone who accesses the
internet via a straight modem...........


Peter.
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