Member Panel

Ok well... here's the story. I got a virus.... oh... 6 months or so ago. I managed to completely get rid of it but my computer retained a problem. A few of my programs refused to auto update (Ex: Firefox and Guild Wars most preprevelant) I dealt with it for a while.. I quit playing GW and things like firefox I would redownload the newest update manually. Finally I got some money together and bought a new HD to back up a few important things like my photos, stories, poems I wrote, ect. With the necesary backed up I went through and did a format and reload with no problems. I get firefox and GW reinstalled [I keep using these two because they're the primary examples especially b/c GW HAS to auto update, there's no downloading manually]. They work fine. Everything's running great... and then out of no where it's back to square one.. although I've read the auto updating of a programs is a "potential security risk" so I don't know if one of the security updates from microsoft cause it or not. Then I talked to my friend who also knows a bit about PCs.. he's worked in a repair shop for a while so he has a bit more experiance. I explained everything to him and he said it's possible that it could be something with my ISP blocking the ports... which I don't see how because it WAS working for a few days after the reload. Oh.. and yeah we went through the whole ordeal with firewalls and such it's not them either. So... I'm rather stumped, anyone have a clue as to how I can fix this... I'd like to be able to play the game I bought as well as to be able to browse on my choice of browser and such [I'm using IE for the time being until I can get this straightened out...] Any help would be appreciated ^.^

Well, from the sounds of it the most logical course of action would be to check your router/modem/firewalls. As you said, you've already checked your firewalls, so we'll discount that for the moment.

Are you connected to the internet via dialup or broadband?

I haven't checked the ports on my router because I assumed they wouldn't change on thier own..not twice with the same ports and in the same manner. I can check it aswell though although I have looked at it before because I've had to open ports to do things but not regarding this. Also I connect via broadband DSL. That's why my friend said that the company could be blocking it for some reason but I don't see why? Firefox is a major program that many people use.. Also.. I had used them for a long while with my DSL service with no problem.

Your ISP would not be blocking them. They've also already told you that.

Has anything changed on your network since these problems have started? a new gateway/router/computer?


Just covering all angels here

No, my pc is the only one on this network. I haven't messed with any of the network settings around the time the problems started.I set my net up when I first got the DSL, I made some changes [a year or more before this happend] but it was still functioning properly. Also given the situation, I would have had to made the same mistake twice [pre-reload and post-reload]... oh there is one thing that COULD be of intrest.. after running Guild Wars, I began getting numerous port scans from various IP addresses [Sygate caught them and made me aware]... that has happend with both pre and post reload. I don't know how much it helps my PC but Sygate keeps my ports in stealth. As far as I've been able to tell, the port scans are a failure.. I also assume the scans are a failure because they have to keep trying. I don't know if that helps anything.

Yup, sorry about all the questions, just trying to figure out what you've done and haven't done yet

Also..you might be getting spammed from someone, and it's causing the auto updates to time out...there a way you can block those ports from any access at all (not just invisible)

well...I assume I could block the ports if I wanted, but I'd still not be able to use it would I? Also, I don't remember off the top of my head which port is used for auto updating or did you mean block the scanned ports and block the IPs. OH.. I guess I could get you the list of scanned ports ^.^ Ok.. the scanned ports are: 1025-1029.