ItsGeekToMe.co

Q: Chief Geek, I have computer/internet service from Cox Comm. I called Cox tech service about difficulty accessing my newly established Webmail account. Had difficulty understanding instructions, Tech took control my computer, eventually was told I had serious problems concerning “Foreign Addresses” and they were going to connect me to online Microsoft to address the problem. Did so and the Microsoft tech tried to explain the seriousness of the Foreign Addresses in my computer and what it would cost me to have them eliminated. There is more – can we talk? This is really “Greek to me”. I have no idea who else to contact.

– Bob S.
Shalimar, Florida

A: I’m sorry Bob, but I only speak Geek, not Greek.  Also, Spouse Peripheral and I made the decision a long time ago to limit outside contact related to I.G.T.M. to e-mail, my website, and personal appearances.  We do not make personal appointments, accept phone calls, or visit people’s homes.  I hope you can understand that you are not the only person who would like this level of service, and there would be no way for me to keep up with the demand if I started offering personal services.

That having been said, let’s learn a little about Foreign Addresses, shall we?  The “address” part means IP address – the location where any given computer resides on the Internet.  Every Internet-connected device, whether it’s a computer, Blu-Ray player, smart phone, gaming console, or something even more exotic, has an IP address.  So-called foreign addresses are not actually “in” your computer, but rather have a connection “to” your computer.  An address is “foreign” if it resides outside your local area network, or LAN.  In the case of your home network, that would mean anything outside your network’s primary firewall, which is probably a router.  The “foreign” part doesn’t necessarily mean overseas.  Even your neighbor’s IP address is foreign if it’s outside your firewall (and I hope it is).  However, that also doesn’t mean that Foreign Addresses are not overseas, because they might very well be.  The point is, you can’t really tell by looking at them.

Why are these Foreign Addresses a problem?  Well, first of all, for each of these addresses it means that somewhere, for whatever reason, some computer has, or has had an open data connection to yours.  That’s not necessarily a bad thing, since through regular use of the Internet you constantly connect and disconnect from many computers, mostly web servers.  Also, many legitimate pieces of software routinely “phone home” for data updates, such as malware scanners that get new virus signatures from their publisher.  However, if you have a significant number of Foreign Address connections, particularly open connections when you’re not actively using the Internet, it very well could indicate a malware infestation.  At the very least, means that your computer has open ports (logical connections to data or applications) that should be closed.  Security aside, you also have no real idea how much of your available bandwidth is being used by any of these connections.  The bandwidth that you get to use for your own online activities (which correlates directly to the speed things download) is whatever is left over after each of these connections has used what they want.  This can be the root cause of apparently slow connections, even when you’re paying for speedy Internet service.

For any readers who are curious to see the Foreign Addresses connecting to your computer (it’s not a question of “if”) you can see them by using the NETSTAT command, run at a DOS Command Prompt.  Be warned before you attempt this, that you’ll be working in a text-based arena, and the output will be very cryptic.  There are a number of switches and other modifiers you can use with NETSTAT to get extremely detailed information.  Visit tinyurl.com/ot53c2h for more information about NETSTAT, or if you’re having trouble getting to sleep.

If you’re still reading, you probably now know that connections into and out of your computer are an extremely complicated business.  I haven’t even begun to discuss other mitigating factors, such as what protocol a connection is using, or the current state of the connection.  Obviously this is an extremely advanced topic, and a realm you should only be poking around in if you’re an Über-Geek.  So, if you’re worried about Foreign Addresses or other connection-related problems that are outside the scope of this little weekly publication, you’re best off finding someone who is actually in the business of working on this type of issue and putting the problem in their (hopefully) capable hands.