Posted by Pete on 03/22/07 20:53

Sorry Don, but this is just too confusing for me. I still don't know why
the trojan can't use one of the ports you suggested (ie why just certain
ports) and what would my speed increase to (approximately), if I did open up
the two ports you suggested. Please try to answer these two questions.

Also, I am totally confused by your statement "If you don't like the idea of
opening ports, set WinMX to operate in firewalled mode, connect as secondary
only". I assume you mean check the radio button that says "make a secondary
connection to the network". I don't see how this will help increase my
speed, and why wouldn't it just make it worse. It says to use the secondary
connection if you use dial up or use a firewall. I would think that would
just make things worse. Anyway I just tried it and it did nothing as far as
I could see. I guess I will just put it back on primary, and do what I have
been doing.

Thanks for taking the time to write me...Pete


Don M. wrote:
> "Pete" <pete@nospam.net> wrote in message
> news:etstj501qqq@enews4.newsguy.com...
>> Don M. wrote:
>>> "Pete" <pete@nospam.net> wrote in message
>>> news:etq08i01an6@enews2.newsguy.com...
>>>> I forgot to tell you I have windows xp firewall set to accept
>>>> WinMX, so I don't think that has anything to do with it, plus I
>>>> believe I read in the forum that a firewall will either let
>>>> something through, or not let it through (ie no in
>>>> betweens)....Pete
>>>>
>>>
>>> You still need to punch a couple of holes in the XP firewall. If
>>> you don't, set WinMX to operate in firewalled mode (unable to use
>>> ports).
>>>
> http://www.portforward.com/english/routers/firewalling/Microsoft/WindowsXPFirewallFirewall
>>> /WinMXIn.htm
>>>
>>> Be sure the ports you open are not listed here
>>> http://www.doshelp.com/Ports/Trojan_Ports.htm , e.g. ports 48700 and
>>> 48701 should be ok.
>>>
>> <snip>
>>
>> - If the above is true (ie it is not the slots causing my problem),
>> lets assume I need to punch a couple of holes in my xp firewall
>> (which I am afraid to mess with - it also seems like a rather
>> involved process also, after reading the tutorial in winmx). If I
>> do open the two ports you (Don) mentioned above, what kind of speeds
>> can I expect (eg will they be at least 500 kbps, or what). And why
>> are these ports special, and if someone was going to spread a virus
>> or worm or whatever, why wouldn't they just send it through these
>> ports, versus the other ports that you said not to mess with. This
>> port stuff is very confusing to me.
>>
> ============
>
> It may become less confusing after you read how a trojan works, for
> instance, a trojan that uses port 6969
> http://www.doshelp.com/Ports/6969.htm
> Opening a port is dangerous if the trojan that uses it happens to be
> installed in your system. As precaution, it's good to avoid opening
> a port through which a trojan could (if installed) do its deed.
>
> Opening a port in XP firewall is easy to do, same steps as allowing
> an application to access the internet, except you 'Add Port...'
> instead of 'Add Program...'
>
> If you don't like the idea of opening ports, set WinMX to operate in
> firewalled mode, connect as secondary only.
>
>> - I also have a basic question (please excuse me if it sounds dumb),
>> not knowing how the upload versus download stuff works in P2P, and
>> the interface with all the servers (for lack of a better word)
>> involved in the network.
>
> Transfers on WinMX are directly from peer to peer. Servers get
> involved in searches, whois and browse basically.
>
>> If I am downloading a song, and the song is coming from another user
>> someplace in the world (via the file sharing process), than how can I
>> download the song faster than the person is uploading it.
>
> You can't download faster from your peer than your peer uploads to
> you, but you can download simultaneously from multiple peers on WinMX
> Peer Network.
>
>> Excuse my
>> ignorance, but downloads are usually faster than uploads as far as I
>> know (ie my ISP has 1.7 mbps down, but only 256k up - unless I pay
>> more).
>
> It means only that you have more bandwidth available for downloading
> than for uploading.
>
>> Is the
>> persons upload kept in a buffer, or something, for a certain amount
>> of time, or what. I would think that the person doesn't start
>> uploading a song until another person asks for it as a download, and
>> therefore I don't see how the download can be faster than the
>> upload. Please shed some light on this if you can. I would
>> appreciate it.
>>
>
> Your computer needs to communicate to the other computers when it's
> ready to receive more data. You should allocated some of that 256k
> upstream bandwidth for such communications. Use WinMX's Bandwidth
> Throttle function (in your case, limit outgoing bandwidth to 24000
> bytes per second).
>
>> Thanks...Pete
>>
>>
>
> More resources listed here: http://home.comcast.net/~FAQList/
>
>
> Don

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