Thanks for your replies, you intelligent buddies....

and for

and why are you "pinging" computers that you don't own, looking for open ports? what will you do when you find open ports on a computer? and do you think that is legal?
I am a totally newbie to computer security and networking. I just want to see how the open ports look like and regarding the legality of this.... by the way thats my question

anyway thanks for your replies.

Cheers