Re: O.T. Computer Questions:

On Jul 29, 1:45 am, Wee Willie <mathias...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
On Sat, 28 Jul 2007 21:37:12 -0700, Robert <magine...@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:





On Jul 28, 11:21 am, "jlruble" <jlru...@xxxxxxx> wrote:
"Robert" <magine...@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message

news:1185508410.051373.8870@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

On Jul 25, 7:19 am, Jim <j...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Run the connection wizard to set up the internet access

I checked her computer again today and found that her Internet
connection information is blank although she able to get on the
Internet. So I will be going back tomorrow and see if I can correct
it. I didn't see any wizard for home use but I did see some diagnosis
I can use. Thanks for the tip. Oh and by the way her time zone wasn't
set properly as someone suggested so I changed that. Seems strange
that she can get online but that the information fields are blank, I
would have thought that when I installed DSL it would have put the
information in there by default as I don't remember manually putting
it on mine?

Thanks guys for all the good
advise,
Robert

Don't know this will help or not. It mystified me, and my son who knows
much more about these infernal boxes than I do.

I could not connect to the net for four days last week end. My son and I
both spent a (seperate) hour with the provider. They said it was the
machine, they couldn't do anying. We did disconnect the modem and reconnect
it. No help.

I took the box to my local computer shop. It booted to the net.

I brought it back home, re-connected it, and as you can see it works.

Go figure, we don't know what happened. Maybe if you disconnect the whole
thing for an hour or two????

SCOTTY- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

To everyone,
I went back and checked my sisters Active-X settings and they are
fine. I then decided to try disabling her firewall, and it then let me
into Microsoft updates and was able to download them and install
them(30), I then went to A-Squared and again I was able to download
and install the updates. After I did this I wanted to test it so I
enabled my firewall but once again it had the same problem as before
and wouldn't let me download anything. In addition, she has MSN, but
instead of automatically coming on as it should she has to click it.
These programs should run automatically and she shouldn't have to
disabled her firewall to download updates or twink her system. I tried
adding the Microsoft updated to her Trusted sites but it seemed to
have no effect. I also went to the IE Manage Add ons but didn't really
know enough about it to be much use. However I never had this type of
problem with my computer and I've given her the same programs I use.
She does have a few others that someone else put on for her such as
Window Washer etc but I see nothing that should interfere with her day
to day functions.
She has Internet connection with DSL and everything seems to run fine
except what I've pointed out and the fact that when I look at her IE
tools>Internet options>connections, the fields are blank but when I do
a network diagnosis it shows she's connected via Ethernet. I would
have though that when I set it up for DSL these fields would be filled
by default. I inserted the information manually but with the same
results.

Robert

Key phrase:
"I then decided to try disabling her firewall, and it then let
me into Microsoft updates and was able to download them and install
them(30)"

Adding sites to your trusted list in most cases will not make any
changes to 3rd party firewall settings. Look at your firewall logs
when this is happening - see if the connection is being blocked. If
the connection is being blocked then there should be some sort of
reason listed - see what the reason listed is, adjust your firewall
settings and that should fix the problem. I would bet against port
blocking since the MS updates run on 80 or 8080 and you can access the
internet. You may have inadvertently blocked svchost which is the
process that needs to access the site. If svchost was blocked then I
could see problems like you describe appearing - this process commonly
needs network privileges anytime an application updater trys to run
over a network.

You may also want to monitor your application and system logs if you
can't track down the exact issue in the firewall logs - you should see
some sort of error listed when the connection is denied.

A word of warning - I would suggest against giving "total access" to
the svchost process (if your firewall allows that degree of control).
svchost is kind of a "wrapper" for lots of processes (manages 32-bit
dlls) such as windows updates, time synchronization, and many 3rd
party application services. Svchost can be exploited fairly easily if
an attacker is given an easy in - you're safer to block (or leave it
blocked) the service and then set up individual rules for each program
you find that isn't working correctly - something like: "Allow
svchost.exe to access download.windowsupdate.com and
update.windows.com on port 80".

More on svchost:
If you look in your task manager under processes you will see
several instances of it running at any given time. Windows has a
bizarre distribution setup where processes are unevenly spread over
several instances of svchost. If you were using XP Pro then you could
open a command prompt and type "tasklist /svc" and it would show you
which instance of svchost was responsible for which running service
(running services can be listed from the command prompt by typing "Net
Start"). Since you have XP home then if you want to look at the
process explorer then you need to download it from Microsoft (search
for SysInternals Process Explorer) and run it - it will show you
pretty much everything service related that is going on behind the
scenes. People commonly block svchost because they don't know what it
is - the firewall asks if you should allow it to connect, they say
"no" thinking it is an attack of some kind, and then they slowly find
out that things aren't working quite like they should.

As far as the Tools -> Internet Options -> Connections, those fields
are commonly blank for machines on a DSL PPoE connection or any other
type of "always on" LAN setup. The only time that you need anything
in there is if you have specific VPN settings or use a dial-up
connection.

Good luck!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

Thank you for your kind reply and information. I do know of svchost
and each time it pops up for permission I try and ascertain what
application it is before allowing it, although each time there's also
a warning similar to yours that it could be used by hackers and the
like. How is one to know?

When I try and run the Microsoft download it doesn't give me an error
message per se but just says I cannot connect and to check my
connections and proxy settings which I've done. What I find odd is
that I've set her system up exactly like mine although she has a
different ISP router than I do and a Dell B110 whereas mine is a Dell
Dimension 8200 and I have none of these problems and can access
updates without disabling my firewall or anything else.

I should say I'm not a newbie to computers but by the same token I'm
also far from a techie and I'm just trying to resolve these issues as
best I can. I didn't think it would involve so much and I've done what
most others have suggested with no results. I will check it out again
when I go over.

In regards to Jim Beards suggestion of converting to Linux, I agree
with basically everything you've said. It seemed to me (and I mean no
offense) that he was suggesting changing a motor for an oil change, so
to speak. I understand that Linux is the preferred OS of many but I
get the impression it's more for programmers and the like who know
what they're doing and not for everyone.


Thank guys,

Robert

.

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