how do I turn ports off

How do i turn the ports off and on in Windows XP? 135-137-445 etc...

 

You could probably close certain ports by disabling unnecessary services but it'd be time consuming and, if you make a mistake, you could end up with things not working as they should.

I'd suggest that you follow Pete's advice and simply install a firewall (or, at the very least, enable ICF).

 

http://www.hsc.fr/ressources/breves/min_srv_res_win.en.html

 

Great link JMatt

I like!!!

First time I have seen all this in such a brief condensed form.

Tho I knew of most of them, when I need to use them I have forgotten the exact syntax etc.

WARNING:
However for most users I urge extreme caution and to only do one thing at a time and to document what they do.

Example one of these will kill SMTP (needed for most email programs).

Others would effect file sharing for those that have a peer to network at home.

And several would neuter a Server.

For most users I recommend doing port blocking thru the firewall, and as Pete said it is easy and straight forward in Kerio.

So for most users, if you don't have a configurable firewall get one before attempting this route.

Mike

 

Well said mflynn .

 

From a cmd box netstat -an which gives a list of Ports. Next to all the UDP ports listed is *:* under Foreign Address. Anyone know what that means?

Regards - Charles

 

From a cmd box netstat -an which gives a list of Ports. Next to all the UDP ports listed is *:* under Foreign Address. Anyone know what that means?


I'm resurrecting this thread to answer my own question:

From: Microsoft Windows Security Inside Out for Windows XP and Windows 2000 Copyright © 2003 by Ed Bott and Carl Siechert

"The local IP addresses in the Netstat report all refer to the local system, although they're expressed in three ways: 0.0.0.0, 127.0.0.1, and 10.0.0.3. The third address alternative is the one assigned to the system by the network's Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server. The Foreign Address fields are all zeros in the case of the TCP connections, and *:* in the case of the UDP connections. Both values indicate that the ports are waiting to receive a message from any IP address and any port. No connections are currently established. "

So, it turns out to be a wildcard setting.

Regards - Charles