Cyber Security Tip & Tricks

Thursday, September 20, 2007

Netstat - Know your network connection

netstat (network statistics) is a command-line tool that displays network connections (both incoming and outgoing), routing tables, and a number of network interface statistics. It is available on Unix, Unix-like, and Windows NT-based operating systems.

If you are worried that some programs on your PC are secretly making connections to websites in the background, here's a quick tip that uses a simple DOS command to detect and prevent such suspicious activity:

1. Open Windows Run Command from the Start Menu

2. Type CMD command in the Run box and press OK.

3. Type "netstat -b 10 > netact.txt" in the command window and press ENTER. After some times say 2 minutes, press Ctrl+C.

4. Type "netact.txt" on the command line to open the log file in notepad (or your default text editor)

The file netact.txt will have a log of all process that made a connection to the Internet in the last two minutes. It will also show which process connected to which website in this time. And not just the web browsers (like iexplore.exe , firefox.exe or opera.exe), the log will also show your IM clients, download managers, email programs or any software that requires a net connection.

Scroll though the netact.txt file and look for any process names or website addresses that you are not aware of. If you track one, go to the task manager (or Process Explorer) to find the location of the executable on your computer and eliminate it.

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