Can I close ports 80 and 25 on XP Pro

  • Thread starter Thread starter Tim Heilman
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T

Tim Heilman

Hi,

Is there a way to close both ports 80 and 25 on a XP Pro
pc? Do I simply just stop a service from running. If so,
is there another way to acomplish this say for example
using a dos command. Any information you could provide I
would appreciate.

Thanks,

Tim Heilman
 
-----Original Message-----
Hi,

Is there a way to close both ports 80 and 25 on a XP Pro
pc? Do I simply just stop a service from running. If so,
is there another way to acomplish this say for example
using a dos command. Any information you could provide I
would appreciate.

Thanks,

Tim Heilman
.
Hi Tim: Port 80 is what your computer uses to access the
Click to expand...
internet.If you are worried about intrusion a firewall
will do the trick.
 
internet.If you are worried about intrusion a firewall
will do the trick.
Click to expand...

and port 25 is the port your computer uses for email. Only close it if you
plan on not receiving email.
 
In "Donald McDaniel"
and port 25 is the port your computer uses for email. Only close it if
you plan on not receiving email.
Click to expand...

You only need ports 80 and 25 "open" for inbound connections if you're
running SERVERS on your system that listen for connections on those ports.

Generally, you receive email on a user machine by connecting to a remote
system via POP (Post Office Protocol), which requires an outbound
connection on port 110.

It's really unlikely that someone is running a Web server or SMTP server
on a home machine, especially someone who posts a question about them in
this forum.

The original poster may also be confusing the idea of "open" ports,
"closed" ports and "stealth" ports.

If you don't have any service actively listening on port 25 or 80 (or
any other port) that port is "closed, but if a remote system attempts to
connect to that port it will receive a "connection refused" response. Even
though this is not harmful in itself (no actual connection was made to
your machine), the response itself is enough to let a possible attacker
know that there is a system alive at your IP address.

Most firewall software is capable of placing unused ports in a "stealth"
mode where incoming connections requests are simply absorbed silently,
acting as if there was no system at that address at all.
 
and port 25 is the port your computer uses for email. Only close it if you
plan on not receiving email.
Click to expand...

Incomming ports 25 and 80 on your computer are closed unless you
are running some type of program on your computer that is
listening for incomming traffic on those ports. As for as
outgoing ports, you computer choses the ones it wants to use
depending on availability.
 
Bert said:
In "Donald McDaniel"


You only need ports 80 and 25 "open" for inbound connections if you're
running SERVERS on your system that listen for connections on those
ports.

Generally, you receive email on a user machine by connecting to a
remote system via POP (Post Office Protocol), which requires an
outbound connection on port 110.

It's really unlikely that someone is running a Web server or SMTP
server on a home machine, especially someone who posts a question
about them in this forum.

The original poster may also be confusing the idea of "open" ports,
"closed" ports and "stealth" ports.

If you don't have any service actively listening on port 25 or 80 (or
any other port) that port is "closed, but if a remote system attempts
to connect to that port it will receive a "connection refused"
response. Even though this is not harmful in itself (no actual
connection was made to your machine), the response itself is enough
to let a possible attacker know that there is a system alive at your
IP address.

Most firewall software is capable of placing unused ports in a
"stealth" mode where incoming connections requests are simply
absorbed silently, acting as if there was no system at that address
at all.
Click to expand...

Excuse me, I meant to say that you need port 25 open if you plan on SENDING
email, since it is the port SMTP uses.
 
Hi,

Thanks to all that were so quick in responding to my
question. However, I need to close the ports on the
client end to prevent a user to have internet access and
email access. We have four PC's that are being abused by
employees and thus affecting work progess. How can I
prevent my employees from using the internet. My thought
was to close port 80. Also email is a problem as well
and again my thought was to close port 25. How can I
acomplish closing these ports. If this is not the
correct way to acomplish this please let me know.

Thanks again for all the thoughts,

Tim Heilman
 
You might could put the machines behind a cheap router that has
the capability to block the internet and email traffic from
computers behind it. Probably much easier to manage than trying
to tinker with the computers themselves. I've got a cheap D-Link
($15 after rebates) that seems to have options of this type.
 
In "Tim Heilman"
How can I prevent my employees from using the internet.
Click to expand...

Talk to them?

Hire honest people?

Technological solutions to personnel problems usually don't work.
 
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