Internet Gateway - where did it come from?

[Mark G.]

i have a couple computers on a network, and all of a sudden they all
sprouted "internet gateway" in the network connections.

my desktop allowed me to delete it, but my laptop did not. they are both
running winxp pro.

any ideas what caused this? i thought internet gateway was just for
internet connection sharing, something i dont do (i use a router)

thanks,

mark

 

[Malke]

i have a couple computers on a network, and all of a sudden they all
sprouted "internet gateway" in the network connections.

my desktop allowed me to delete it, but my laptop did not. they are
both running winxp pro.

any ideas what caused this? i thought internet gateway was just for
internet connection sharing, something i dont do (i use a router)

Normally the router *is* the gateway. For example, my network has a
cable modem connected to a router, which uses ethernet to connect to
various pc's. The gateway is 192.168.1.1, with all other computers on
the lan being 192.168.1.xxx. I don't have an entry for "Internet
Gateway" on my machines, but perhaps you are using special ISP
software? Is the gateway IP address identical to the router's? Do you
have Windows Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) mistakenly turned on?
You can usually configure your router from a browser.

Let's have a bit more detail about 1) your ISP and internet connection;
2) if this "Internet Gateway" is a new thing and you are sure it is
new, what changed; 3) Do you have a firewall and if so, have you looked
at the logs?

Malke

 

[Mark G.]

thanks for the response; this is a very strange situation for me.
i have cable modem, and an linksys router, so no need for any ics; havent
used that for about 4 or 5 years, and NEVER of these computers.
the internet gateway is new, and i have no clue what changed. perhaps some
software installed it, but im not using any isp software (that i know of);
certainly not on the laptop (i keep that particularly clean)
and ics is not turned on; first thing i checked .

also checked the logs of my symantec firewall (internet security pro 2004
version). nothing looks strange. lots of attacks, but thats normal (and
its the one that doesnt register that does the damage.)

the weirdest thing is that it happened on both computers; but the desktop
allowed me to deinstall it; the laptop allows me to disable, but when i
reconnect the enet, it returns; it will not allow me to deinstall.

one more thing; in the internet gateway/properties/settings it had about 6
or 8 services enabled; one was msmsgs, the names of the others were all the
same (dont remember what it was), but i was able to erase them. they were
all for udp ports however.

ideas?

mark

 

[Stephen Harris]

thanks for the response; this is a very strange situation for me.
i have cable modem, and an linksys router, so no need for any ics; havent
used that for about 4 or 5 years, and NEVER of these computers.
the internet gateway is new, and i have no clue what changed. perhaps
some
software installed it, but im not using any isp software (that i know of);
certainly not on the laptop (i keep that particularly clean)
and ics is not turned on; first thing i checked .

also checked the logs of my symantec firewall (internet security pro 2004
version). nothing looks strange. lots of attacks, but thats normal (and
its the one that doesnt register that does the damage.)

the weirdest thing is that it happened on both computers; but the desktop
allowed me to deinstall it; the laptop allows me to disable, but when i
reconnect the enet, it returns; it will not allow me to deinstall.

one more thing; in the internet gateway/properties/settings it had about 6
or 8 services enabled; one was msmsgs, the names of the others were all
the
same (dont remember what it was), but i was able to erase them. they were
all for udp ports however.

ideas?

mark

The Internet Gateway shows up after you enable UPnP in the router.
Maybe you have to turn on UPnP Framework and MSN Messenger
which are located in Windows Firewall ---> Exceptions which means
it is allowed. For somebody who is trying to use a mic for an audio
chat, this is a good sign. SP2 installs a new version of Messenger
which is not the same as MSN Messenger for Instant Messaging.

 

[Chris Priede]

the internet gateway is new, and i have no clue what changed.

Your description of it sounds like Windows recognizing your UPnP router.
While it is curious that this is "new" -- it should have always been
there -- it is probably not a cause for alarm.

Some reasons why the router could have been "found" recently are:

1) You upgraded firmware of the router or changed its settings, enabling
previously disabled UPnP capability;

2) You enabled the UPnP services in Windows, which were previously disabled;

3) You had a personal firewall software blocking the UPnP services, and it
no longer is.

 

[Mark G.]

it was choice #1 - upgraded firmware (about 3 weeks ago, not sure why i just
noticed it now. however, i did notice that the computer did not enable it
until i disconnected/reconnected the enet, so maybe thats why it just showed
up)

great call!!!

thanks, i was worried someone got inside my network.

mark