msmsgs TCP + UDP

[Estuardo Alvelais]

Has anyone else found suspicious looking TCP and UDP port
accesses enabled in windows internet connection firewall
settings that appear to be associated with windows
messenger. In the list of the services that can create
accesses through the firewall, I found the following:

msmsgs 13598 TCP
msmsgs 15873 UDP

Since I discovered these two accesses, I began to closely
monitor messenger because I don't use it. Despite the
fact that I had disabled it from running at startup or in
the background, I noticed it would still run
automatically and restart itself even if I ended the
msmsgs.exe process in the task manager. Moreover, I did
not have this problem until recently. I then decided to
delete the TCP and UDP accesses in the firewall settings
only to discover that two new accesses with new numbers
were generated almost immediately after I deleted them.
After deleting these newer entries several times, I
became more suspicious. My temporary solution is to
disable messenger, but I used to have messenger enabled
without this issue. If someone can tell me whether or
not the msmsgs TCP and UDP accesses are legitimately
associated with Windows Messenger, I would greatly
appreciate it. Any other information regarding this
issue is also welcome.

 

[Jonathan Kay [MVP]]

Greetings Estuardo,

These are legitimate -- this is Windows Messenger automatically opening the ports in the
Internet Connection Firewall for audio/video conversations. Upon closing Windows Messenger,
they will be removed. If Windows Messenger (or Windows) is not properly shut down, then
these entries will remain, removing them will cause no harm to Windows Messenger (although if
you remove them while Windows Messenger is running, you'll need to exit and restart Windows
Messenger in order to have a voice/video conversation).
____________________________________________
Jonathan Kay
Windows MVP, Messenger
Associate Expert
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/expertzone/
Messenger Resources - http://messenger.jonathankay.com