From: "Louise" <none@nospam.com>


| Thanks.
|
| Could you tell me what these ports are sometimes used for (other than
| "bad" things)?
|
| I just want to be sure I'm not blocking something I use and want.
|
| Louise

Sure...

Port 135 -- Remote Procedure Call (RPC) and Location Service (loc-srv) -- used by the MS
Networking for various functionalities.

Port 136 -- nothing uses this port and it is easier to exclude the range, inclusive of this
port, than to enter the exact ports.

Ports 137, 138 and 139 -- NetBIOS over IP, the main component of MS Networking to access
File and Print Shares.

Port 445 -- Microsoft-DS, Used for Server Message Blocks and other MS Networking constructs
on Win2K, WinXP and Win2003 Server.

None of these ports are used for normal Internet access. They are used on the Local Area
Network (LAN) to share data between computeers but are not (annd should not be open to) the
Internet or the Wide Area Network (WAN).

By putting those plocks in hackers and Internet worms won't enter the LAN and no MS
Networking can leak out onto the WAN. A simple but effective protection.



--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
http://www.ik-cs.com/got-a-virus.htm