Generic Host Services

  • Thread starter Thread starter Chuck Hill
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Chuck Hill

ZoneAlarm keeps asking for permission to allow Generic Host Services for Win
32 to access the Internet when I launch I.E. Unsure of what the effect will
be, I click NO, but don't tell ZA to remember the reply.

I recently ran a test at grc.com to confirm that ports 1 through 1056 were
in stealth mode. This makes my machine, in effect, invisible to hackers and
malicious SW while I'm surfing, and I don't know whether allowing Generic
Host Services for Win 32 to access the Net will change that.

Can anyone give me a tip?

TIA,

Chuck
 
A Description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314056


--
Nicholas

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


| ZoneAlarm keeps asking for permission to allow Generic Host Services for Win
| 32 to access the Internet when I launch I.E. Unsure of what the effect will
| be, I click NO, but don't tell ZA to remember the reply.
|
| I recently ran a test at grc.com to confirm that ports 1 through 1056 were
| in stealth mode. This makes my machine, in effect, invisible to hackers and
| malicious SW while I'm surfing, and I don't know whether allowing Generic
| Host Services for Win 32 to access the Net will change that.
|
| Can anyone give me a tip?
|
| TIA,
|
| Chuck
|
|
 
Chuck Hill said:
ZoneAlarm keeps asking for permission to allow Generic Host Services for Win
32 to access the Internet when I launch I.E. Unsure of what the effect will
be, I click NO, but don't tell ZA to remember the reply.

I recently ran a test at grc.com to confirm that ports 1 through 1056 were
in stealth mode. This makes my machine, in effect, invisible to hackers and
malicious SW while I'm surfing, and I don't know whether allowing Generic
Host Services for Win 32 to access the Net will change that.

Can anyone give me a tip?

TIA,

Chuck
Click to expand...

In addition to Nicholas's reply, before you place TOO much trust in
www.grc.com, go to www.grcsucks.com and read more information about that
site, and then try a different security test site...

Lorne
 
Thanks for the link. Unfortunately it didn't explain what happens if you
let generic host services access the Net. That's what I'm trying to find
out. Do you know?

Chuck

A Description of Svchost.exe in Windows XP
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;Q314056


--
Nicholas

----------------------------------------------------------------------------
--------------------


| ZoneAlarm keeps asking for permission to allow Generic Host Services for
Win
| 32 to access the Internet when I launch I.E. Unsure of what the effect
will
| be, I click NO, but don't tell ZA to remember the reply.
|
| I recently ran a test at grc.com to confirm that ports 1 through 1056 were
| in stealth mode. This makes my machine, in effect, invisible to hackers
and
| malicious SW while I'm surfing, and I don't know whether allowing Generic
| Host Services for Win 32 to access the Net will change that.
|
| Can anyone give me a tip?
|
| TIA,
|
| Chuck
|
|
 
Generic Host Services are just that, Generic... There are several services
that will use this as an identifier... These should ONLY be Windows
services and it should be quite safe to allow them access... I've not yet
come across any illicit code which identifies itself in such a way...

Did you try searching for Generic Host Services in the MS knowledgebase?

Lorne
 
I suggest allowing it access, but not (should it ask) to act as a
server.
Click to expand...

Since I use a standalone, there should no reason to let any SW act as a
server, correct?
It is the support of a slew of system services, some of which may want
access to the net (eg Automatic Update or Internet Time Sync) and it
would I think be too much trouble for a nasty to get installed as a
service to get out through it when there are plenty of easier ways
Click to expand...

My OS is XP Home, whose firewall I have enabled and configured to allow only
POP3, SMTP and HTTP. I also use ZoneAlarm, which I have configured to allow
only trusted SW to access the Net. I have blocked cookies from all but
trusted sites and never accept third-party cookies. Is this setup as good
as it gets, or do you think I should do more to protect my machine from
online threats?

Chuck
 
Chuck said:
My OS is XP Home, whose firewall I have enabled and configured to
allow only POP3, SMTP and HTTP. I also use ZoneAlarm, which I have
configured to allow only trusted SW to access the Net. I have
blocked cookies from all but trusted sites and never accept
third-party cookies. Is this setup as good as it gets, or do you
think I should do more to protect my machine from online threats?

Chuck
Click to expand...

For a further layer of protection, get SpywareBlaster,
http://www.javacoolsoftware.com/spywareblaster.html and ie-spyads,
http://www.staff.uiuc.edu/~ehowes/resource.htm These will help protect you
from "drive by downloads", hijacking, and many other exploits of malicious
web sites, and neither one has to be running to protect you.
 
Chuck said:
I suggest allowing it access, but not (should it ask) to act as a

Since I use a standalone, there should no reason to let any SW act as a
server, correct?
Click to expand...

There may be. One example, if you use Messenger to send a file (say a
picture) to a friend. It is rather a good way of doing it. And it
requires that Messenger be allowed to act as a server - when the other
end 'accepts' the transfer it sends a 'please serve me this file'
message across

But only allow it in cases where you are aware of the circumstances, or
where something you are trying to use fails if you don't permit the
server status
 
Thanks a lot for your advice, Alex!

Chuck

Chuck said:
I suggest allowing it access, but not (should it ask) to act as a

Since I use a standalone, there should no reason to let any SW act as a
server, correct?
Click to expand...

There may be. One example, if you use Messenger to send a file (say a
picture) to a friend. It is rather a good way of doing it. And it
requires that Messenger be allowed to act as a server - when the other
end 'accepts' the transfer it sends a 'please serve me this file'
message across

But only allow it in cases where you are aware of the circumstances, or
where something you are trying to use fails if you don't permit the
server status
 

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