-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 Hi T'Buddlers,
I thought you'd like to see this, sent to me off-list... > This could be the cause of your connection woes, if not 100% of > the cause, at least a major portion from what I have seen. > I have experienced very similar issues with Outlook Express, > Outlook and Incredimail as well as general web browsing (IE6x). > Didn't matter what e-mail client. > The story.... > I have a cable modem from AOL/TimeWarner and have experienced > random disconnect problems...connections "LOST" in the middle of > browsing, email clients hanging, etc. > I have multiple IE browsers open and all of a sudden connections > go away...I can't hit sites I was just at I clicked on a link and > boom...DNS/Timeout errors...The internet hangs as well as email > clients. > I did have physical connection problems and have had it fixed. I > thought my problem were gone...not! > I am running Windows 2000 (SP3) and still had issues (Incredimail > (or Outlook, etc.) was also "losing" itself). Didn't matter what > program I was using or what site I was at. > Discovery: I ran a netstat from my CMD window and noticed multiple > servers from a network called akamai.net were connected to my > computer and were connected to about 20+ TCP/UDP ports on my box > and they were waiting for responses. Some connections were > time_wait, established connections, etc.! > I said, who the he!! is that! > So I went to www.arin.net to identify the entire network block > (through an IP number lookup) and decided to BLOCK that entire IP > Address range using ZoneAlarm Pro (my firewall). > Once I did, I was amazed that just about EVERY web page out there > uses akamai.net and pictures were NOW NOT being displayed. > However, my internet connection was lightning fast! I kept an > eye on akamai.net (via netstat) and started blocking all of their > IP ranges and my connection has improved. > More info: Akamai.net is a global web caching proxy and ad > tracking agency with smart DNS servers to determine that fastest > route (closest akamai.net server) to deliver pictures and web > content to you, the user from a particular site. The akamai.net > network is a global network consisting of 2500+ (or more) servers > across the globe. > Here's the strange part...Zonealarm ALSO uses these guys (really > freaked me out). > After I had blocked the akamai.net network range, Zonealarm told > me I needed an update. I said "go get it". Well, the > download.zonealarm.com was BEING BLOCKED! Holy cow!! I said > what?!?!?!?!? Zonealarm Pro itself gave me an message stated > that it blocked the g.akamai.net network from my computer, every > time I hit the download.zonelabe.com site?!?!?!?! I found out, > 100% for sure, that the download.zonelabs.com IS PART OF THE > AKAMAI.NET network BLOCK!!! WHAT?!?!?! It is like one of those > jokes you hear about, Norton, Mcafee are writing viruses so you > buy their products. I know Zonealarm is using akamai.net for > displaying their ads and distributing software BUT....they sell > Ad Blocking software to prevent that crap!?!?!? HUH!?!?!?!?!? > I have contacted Zonelabs and asked them about this; i.e. this is > a major conflict of interest from my perspective and I have heard > nothing back from them for over 5 days now...Hmmmmm... > Long story short... > Check your netstat and see who is connecting to your computer. > Perhaps the [g.]akimai.net is connected to your ports and sucking > up your bandwidth causing random time-outs. What I noticed as > far as randomness is that certain sites have a lot of akamai.net > links on them and those sites seems to suck up more ports than > others. > Since I have blocked the akamai.net network from sucking up my > ports, my internet connection speeds have increased, however, a > lot of web sites look pretty ugly...no pictures since the > akamai.net sites are being blocked from sending me their "cahced" > web content. Oh well. > Do a search on google.com for more on akamai.net and it's network > and blocking it. You may be surprised. > Sincerely, Confused Programmer - -- Cheers -- .\\arck D Pearlstone -- List moderator TB! v1.62/Beta5 on Windows 2000 5.0.2195 Service Pack 2 -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.1.91-nr1 (Windows 2000) iD8DBQE9jfR1OeQkq5KdzaARAvqqAJ9ec2ZNXOQzEODLRCwy78YiV7ssfQCgjAcH Qf2QiVvxBiCqvr7OtTX5D8c= =e+R+ -----END PGP SIGNATURE----- ________________________________________________ Current version is 1.61 | "Using TBUDL" information: http://www.silverstones.com/thebat/TBUDLInfo.html
