>I have an ActiveX that uses "outbound port 22 (ssh)" to talk to a gateway for credit card services.
>It's been working for couple of years with no problems. All of a sudden the port got blocked.
>
>After I uninstalled all the Anti-Virus, Anti-Spyware, and firewalls on this windows XP machine, and then stopped Windows own Firewall, I could not get the port opened up (unblocked) again.
>
>Finally, I restored Windows from a Restore point from couple of days before the blockage. That worked well for couple of days.
>Then it got blocked again. This time, the System Restore doesn't even work!!
>
>Maybe some program on that machine got an automatic update and closed the port?
>Or could it be the ISP blocking the port ? I can only speculate.
>
>Any idea on how I can go about this, would be very much appreciated. Thank you in advance,.

Well, you've disabled the usual suspects, AV and firewall(s).

Is there anything in your router configuration, or your ISP's policies, that could be blocking SSH? The fact that you did a System Restore, and it worked for a while, suggests not, but you never know...

Some firewalls block or allow network traffic by application, rather than a specific port. If you're currently running a firewall you might need to check that your application is allowed.

Maybe you could ask the OCX vendor exactly what that error means.

Finally, it might be worth running a thorough antivirus/antimalware scan to make sure your machine is not infected. Most modern malware hooks the network stack and can cause unpredictable networking failures. Also, SSH is considered high-value, so any installed malware will likely attempt to log user name/password credentials used with that connection. If you do find a malware infestation, be sure to change your SSH password or any other credentials that may have been logged and transmitted to a bad guy.