Firewall preventing connecting to self?

[keezel]

I got an alert from my firewall saying that "A remote system is attempting to access your computer" and the remote address is the same as the local address. The only difference between the two is the numbers after the ":" are two different 4 digit numbers. I checked to see what MY IP address is and it's the same as the 2 adds. in the alert window. I have an edited pic of the alert, but I removed parts of the IP address and I'm not exactly sure what to do with the pic bc it's too big to attach and I don't have anything other than paint to edit it with....lemme know if it could be of use or if you'd be willing to edit it. What's going on? Any help or input would be greatly appreciated.
-keezel

[FrameWork]

In response to your pic problem:

You could always just use IrfanViewer to cut out the image you want us to see. After that you can sign up at Free-Host or at Sighost and upload your pic there, then post the link to the pic from either of those sites. I recommend free-host though, because they allow you to upload larger pics.

[keezel]

Ok, I think you can access the picture at http://keezel.free-host.com/alert.bmp and it *should* work but ya never know. If for some reason that link doesn't work, then let me know and I'll find another way. Thanks a lot FrameWork! Now I have a cool new application, *and* I have a site that will let me create a free web page among other things (yes I know geocities and anglefire do the same thing). So now if I could only figure out what my firewall is doing......

[FrameWork]

From looking at your pic there, it appears that the ip shown is that of a computer connected to a router. Since it shows 192.1xx.xxx

[keezel]

Well ya it's connected to a router. The IP address is *my* address (and my comp is connected to a router). I'm impressed that you noticed that though. The thing about this that confuses me is the fact that the IP addresses listed in that alert are both MY address. So what I'm wondering basically is: does that mean my computer is trying to connect to *itself*? There are only two computers connected to the router and that's mine and my dad's laptop upstairs. I guess it's possible that this is from my dad's computer trying to connect to mine, but I shouldn't get a firewall alert should I?

[FrameWork]

Wait a minute, i think i got it. This is more than likely your dad's laptop, you should have mentioned that. Are you or your dad running any p2p software? The reason i ask is because when my brother and i are running p2p software at the same time, my firewall will alert me to port scans from what seems to be my own ip address, when in reality its just his computer scanning for files on the p2p network.

This is my best guess to what this could be.

[keezel]

Awesome. I found Kazaa running on dad's laptop and I've got kazaalite running on mine. I never knew that it would cause such an affect but now that I think about it, I should have recognized it. (I'm not *that* ignorant....just close ) Thanks a lot! I was so confused and I never even thought about his laptop until a few minutes ago......er.....30 minutes ago . If I weren't a newb I'd give you points but........... Oh well, looks like you've got plenty already. So now maybe I could uninstall kazaa from dad's laptop (bc he doesn't use it) and run adware and then maybe I'll stop getting alerts like this?

[FrameWork]

Your not ignorant at all, just learning.

I have a question though, are you on a linksys router?

I know on my linksys it gives me the option of blocking the 192.xxx.x.xxx range.

I have a pic here to show you:

Linksys option

If you don't have a linksys, i'm sure your router will offer you a similar option.

[RoadClosed]

Any computer that is connected to your internal network will send out broadcast messages. It's windows' way of seeing who is on the netork. You might also be the gateway to the internet? Unless you have an external gateway router, one of the PCs has to be the gatway. Not familiar with Norton but most firwall software lets you set up trusted zones so you don't get those messages.

[keezel]

I'm not on a Linksys, though it looks like I'd rather be bc of the extra options. Thanks for your suggestion, RoadClosed. I ran a wizard from the firewall that scanned for all computers connected to the network and added what it found (the other comp) to the trusted zone. This should keep me from seeing errors from now on when the two computers try and connect. Thanks a lot to both of you for your help! Now I'm much more familiar with how my home network functions.