TL> mark lewis wrote in a message to Thom LaCosta:


 ml> what's wrong with a simple network switch? 8-port 10/100 switches
 ml> are cheap, these days... less then $20US... no, not a router... a
 ml> switch... 

 TL> A wired connection....means running cat5 cable from the basement
 TL> front to the second floor rear?  Don't think so.

this depends on where you place the connection... you mentioned an existing
windows machine... what's wrong with plugging that cable into the switch
and then going from it to the windows machine and the "new"
machine that is placed in the same area??

 ml> but then the question comes of how is your current connection
 ml> handled??? DSL or Cable? is the modem connected to a
 ml> router/firewall or directly to your desktop machine?

 TL> DSL-modem is connected to the wireless router with several wired
 TL> ports...allows me to sit on the deck or porch with the laptop.

ahhh... ok, so you do have RFC1918 private addresses in use...
GoodOnYa :) i'm aware of many who do not and simply plug their
computer into their router/modem thingee with all ports open and available
for attack and infiltration...

 ml> oops... sorry for rambling and carrying on... just sharing my setup
 ml> and why i use what i use in the manner that i have...

 TL> No problem...very instructive. Thanks

it is part of my nature... you are welcome as is everyone else reading and
following along :)

 ml> SWE3 box or the COTS router box... if you have servers internally
 ml> that need to be accessed from outside, you use port forwarding...
 ml> with the internal machines being in the same RFC1918 address space,
 ml> they can connet to each other and network over the wire instead of
 ml> using the sneakers (al la sneaker net) ;)

 TL> I am much more comfortable with no cables other than from the
 TL> desktop to the router.....my daughter has her laptop, I have one
 TL> and then there's the one used for ham radio in the basement...all
 TL> wireless.

the problem with wireless is others being able to listen in and possibly
even use the wireless connection... heck, anyone can easily whip together a
wireless keyboard snooper and simply snoop all keystrokes without even
having to install a keylogger ;)

 TL> I am still wondering what changed....it all worked fine for
 TL> years....has to be a change in XP, or NTFS, or maybe GECHO.

 TL> Odd

FWIW: i have not seen any traffic in the echolist echo in some time but i
do (still) get ACKs to my updates which go via gated email... i'd (still!)
much rather use netmail than email but...

as for determining if it is gecho or something else, one might look to
gecho's logs after the 'bot has run and posts the replies back out... of
course, you know this but as i also run into, i can easily understand the
road back in to an automated system can be very bumpy... trying to
troubleshoot some of my stuff is not as easy as it once was and in many
cases, i have to stop and look at the flow and wonder why i did it that way
:P :lol:

)\/(ark