Generic Host Process for win32

[Gingerpilot]

My firewall (ZoneAlarm) keeps asking if Generic Host Process for Win32 can have access to the internet. What is Generic Host Process for Win32?

[TheHitMaker]

It is a program(svchost.exe) used to "host" certain services in Windows that run from dll's. Since it is asking you will probably have to accept it in ZA. It hosts several services depending on what you have enabled on your system, so you may have to block specific ports with ZA if you are asked by ZA to allow access "from" the internet and you are running services(servers) that use it that you do not want accessed from the internet. This is one of those thing that Zonelabs should be documenting because it is confusing to anyone without an in-depth understanding of windows and is something that affects most(if not all) users of ZA.

[Gingerpilot]

Thanks Hitmaker, you must know your stuff. Do you know where I can get more information on Firewalls and ZoneAlarm?

[TheHitMaker]

I must be honest and say that I stole that little paragraph from a computer forum - but I did understand it ;-) There are some very good forums out there - particularly www.computing.net which have a whole bunch of people willing to answer a lot of computing problems. For info on firewalls try hunting on the Cisco site www.cisco.com - they have full information on all networking products and procedures, including an awful lot of theory not directly linked to Cisco products. Good luck!