[G Dogg]

After finding this site last week, I thought it would be a good idea to follow the advice I saw on here about downloading a personal firewall. Sygate was one of two recommended by many here.

However, now that I have the firewall installed, I routinely get popups asking me if I should allow certain programs (I think they are programs) to access the network. For instance, I was asked and refused NT Kernel & System to access the network.

The following, among others, also have popped up:

Services and Controller App
LSA Executable and Service
Generic Host Process

I am wondering if I should allow the above and which applications should I allow to use whatever port is asking to use.

If you need more information before answering, please let me know and I will be sure to give you an answer promptly.

I honestly have no idea what to do with all the requests Sygate pops up.

Thanks in advance.

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Firewalls are a bit advanced, but when used correctly, they are a great defense.

All the programs you mentioned are legitimate and should be allowed.

Firewalls are not intelligent, and in order to provide maximum protection, they ask you if you want to allow a program to access the internet rather than assume one is good or not. You should be able to tell it to always allow the legitimate ones, but it will always popup and ask you when it is the program's first time trying to access the internet.

If you are not sure if a program is legitimate or not, you can always Google it, or even ask around here.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 31 January 2006 - 02:22 PM.

[computerwiz12890]

Firewalls are a bit advanced, but when used correctly, they are a great defense.

All the programs you mentioned are legitimate and should be allowed.

Firewalls are not intelligent, and in order to provide maximum protection, they ask you if you want to allow a program to access the internet rather than assume one is good or not. You should be able to tell it to always allow the legitimate ones, but it will always popup and ask you when it is the program's first time trying to access the internet.

If you are not sure if a program is legitimate or not, you can always Google it, or even ask around here.

Edited by computerwiz12890, 31 January 2006 - 02:22 PM.

[G Dogg]

Thanks for the response. I've now gone ahead and allowed all those programs to access the internet.

I actually did google the NT Kernel program to see if I should allow it (prior to posting this question) and saw mixed results. Some said it was fine, and one response in particular said it was a known Trojan and to not allow it access. Others said that it didn't matter either way, but that blocking things is always the best idea.

In other words, it's tough when googling to tell which responses are correct and who knows what they are talking about.

Services.exe also tries to access the internet (it may be one of the ones I already listed). Is that one I should allow, as well?

Thanks again for all your help!

[computerwiz12890]

Services.exe is a legitimate program and is found on every XP computer. However, there are viruses, although rare, that have the same name.

If your firewall tells you the location of the program, services.exe should be in c:\windows\System32 or c:\WINNT\System32.

Another way you could tell if this services.exe is legitimate or not is by pressing Ctrl+Alt+Delete and clicking on the Processes tab. If you see more than 1 services.exe, then I'd be suspicious of this one. If you only see 1, then it is the legitimate one.

I actually did google the NT Kernel program to see if I should allow it (prior to posting this question) and saw mixed results. Some said it was fine, and one response in particular said it was a known Trojan and to not allow it access. Others said that it didn't matter either way, but that blocking things is always the best idea.

In other words, it's tough when googling to tell which responses are correct and who knows what they are talking about.

I see what you mean . I'm here for ya as much as you need me!

Edited by computerwiz12890, 31 January 2006 - 07:46 PM.