Got my attention

Hey Everyone,
Heres my story... I got an old computer about a year ago... And it is old.. I mean pentium 2 kinda old... It can still run some games (Counter-strike and starcraft) that I like to play.. but other than that... I don't use it for anything but surfing the net... Anyways, heres my issue... Recently, whenever I try to shut down, I keep getting these messeges saying "There are (X) number of users connected to your computer" (Usually its only 1 or 2) SO, I pushed the "shut down anyway button" and disconnected them... I didn't really give it any thought (Which is a bad idea) but I was tired... Next morning I played "Day of Defeat" for about an hour.. and at the end of that hour, I attempted to shut down and I got the same message..except this time there where 5 users connected! This realy got my attention :( So i decided that it was time to do something about it.... I used the "netstat" command to find out what and where these connections were... and they were all nbsessions(Net Bios Sessions) and they were all coming from similar ip addresses( They only had a few numbers different EXAMPLE: 184.24.36.22 and 184.26.58.109 THESE AREN'T REAL, its an example...) As you can imagine, I don't want these ppl messing around with my computer... And I know that I can just dissable Filesharing to halt there progress... so don't suggest that :) I'll do at now... But is there anyway that I can "kick" them outta my computer? I don't wanna break the law or anything... BUt I don't want them in there... and I don't wanna spend money on a firewall, cuz the data isn't all that important... (Yes, I know zonealarm is free, i'll think about getting it) Plus, i was thinking that with all this increased traffic on my computer... Maybe I should set up a honey pot to see whats going on ;) Would I still be able to play and surf on my computer if I made it into a honey pot?
So, bottom line... Is there any way to "ban" or "kick" that ip/user from accessing my computer, without the aid of a firewall??? Just so this is not mis-interrpreted.. I am not looking for ways to DOS them... Thanks!!!

P.S. If this has been asked before, pardon me... I'm still new

thehorse13 brought up an interesting program called TCPView (google for it...free download) that allows you to see all the open ports on your machine and break the connection on individual ports if you wish. While it may not be perfect for your needs, it beats the crap out of doing nothing.

Turmoil,

One thing you might want to do before connecting to the Internet one of these days is to run a thorough virus check to see what's running on your PC.

I recently read an article (can't remember the URL) about PCs being turned into porn stashes through a virus.

Anyway, just give it a shot to make sure you aren't infected with all kinds of stuff ...

Cheers,

BrainStop

Download a free virus scanner first off: http://www.sophos.com/ they have a free fully functional trial with all the definitions. After you do that, I recommend running Ad-aware as well to look for spyware/malware. Sometimes these programs will connect to their "owners" to transferr data. You can get that free here: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
Finally, if you dont have a firewall already, get one. I cant even imagine what i'd do without mine. I get attacked at LEAST once every few hours. This is especially true with broadband connections.

Good luck!

Just a quick thought: why in the world *wouldn't* you want to use a firewall? I mean, it might be a good idea to see what they're up to first, and clean your system and such, but once you made sure there are no trojans or virii or spyware or anything on your computer, I'd put a good firewall on there. I recommend outpost (it automatically blocks netbios) bc I like it better than zonealarm. It's made by Agnitum and you can get the free version (which is awesome, for being free) here: http://www.agnitum.com/download/outpostfree.html and for getting rid of spyware, I'd use Lavasoft's Adaware which you can get here: http://download.com.com/3000-2094-10...ml?legacy=cnet

Good luck!

-Keezel

*edit*
Sorry cross, I missed your post where you recommended ad-aware....strange. I'll try and be more careful about that...but I think I'll leave the link in mine too just to reinforce how important it is to have some form of anti-spyware.

Quote:

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Finally, if you dont have a firewall already, get one. I cant even imagine what i'd do without mine. I get attacked at LEAST once every few hours. This is especially true with broadband connections.

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Very true...not only am I attacked all the time, but my firewall is *constantly* blocking all kinds of connections. It's also blocking 2 connections just for netbios right *now* along with like 25 other attempts from...something...looks like I might have something to worry about.

Thanks guyz and gals,
I really appreciate the advice... TCPView.. hmmm, never heard of it, but will download it and try it out... I already knew about AdAware, but I thought that you had to pay to us it.. hehe, I guess it "pays" to be informed... Hmm, sophos... I haven't heard of that either, but if its a free virus scanner than I'm up for it... Does it auto update definitions? OR can I go to the site and get the latest patches??? I have heard of outpost, and zonealarm... Why do you prefer outpost?? Is it because of the features, or what??? KEEZEL:"Why wouldn't you put on a firewall?" I used to run Norton firewall, and I stil do, on my computer that I use for better things.. Like graphic design and Maya rendering... But for this computer, I don't wanna go throught the inconvience of clicking "Yes, allow this program to connect to the internet".. although, I'm sure they now have a program that remembers you answer, so that you don't need to keep clicking... Anyways, thanks for the input!!! :D

Outpost is easy to use and has a very windows like gui ,it is lighter than norton and i found it much easier too deal with. I used both and preferred outpost . AVG is a popular free antivirus too that has autoupdates http://www.grisoft.com/us/us_dwnl_free.php

Two good freebies for you.... AVG is a killer anti-virus that is totally free (as in free definition updates) and Swat It for detecting trojans....given that you're finding multiple users logged onto your machine I'd venture to guess that at least ONE of them has placed a trojan on your box so you need to give it a good scan and give the scriptkiddies the boot.