>>>Since opening a file (forwarded by a friend) ZoneAlarm has been telling me the Internet Explorer is trying to access IP 127.0.0.1:Port xxxx, where port xxxx varies almost each time. Symantec antivirus finds nothing. Does anybody have any idea what this may be? If I tell ZoneAlarm to block the access the IE process freezes, but it is possible to cancel IE by pressing the X button in the top right.
>>>
>>>TIA,
>>>
>>>Alex
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>>I don't know precisely, but please note that 127.0.0.1 is the "local loop" address - your own computer. It is simply used as a test, that the TCP/IP stack is installed and works correctly, or something of the sort.
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>Thanks for the response Hilmar. I know it means the same computer, but because of the sudden start it worries me that it may mean IE is being made to communicate with some "evil" process? What do you think?
>
>Alex

Once again, I don't know - I am no great expert on security - but it occurs to me that perhaps some proces is, as you say, making IE work. Specifically, it might be checking for accesible ports, so as to listen, on those ports, to commands from the outside world.