Thanx a lot tiger shark and all others, I really appreciate your guidence and I sort of feel a bit more confident then I was before. I surely am waitin to get my hands on "them" intruders....... can you recommend me a site(s) that would give some newbies basic lessons on network intrusion (sorry for this blunt question). ok, is www.astalavista.com a good resource for a newbie like me?