Hi, I'm running ZoneAlarm Pro. Every so often a message pops up telling me that one of my ports has been scanned. It also tells me the IP of the machine that scanned me. I've tried to use Messenger Service to send a message to the machine in question, and I've tried to ping these machines, but with no luck. But if these machines can scan me, why can't I ping them or use the 'net send' command? I know that the Messenger service can be turned off, but why can't I ping them? Thanks.

because they also have a firewall running! most people turn off notifications on their firewalls (not just zone alarm) and just scan the log every now and then to see what is happening. you can't ping them and they can't ping you. try grc.com and look for the shields up link. this will confirm for you that zone alarm is doing it's job.

Zone alarm pro does a good job of scaring the hell of the laymen. There are millions of messages flying across the net. There are broadcasts, which are recieved by any computer who hears the signal, and un-solicited pop up type messages, computers searching for http servers, or mial servers, or any service you can think of. My point is, that just because some computer is scanning your machine, doesn't mean there up to something. The average hacker doesn't want to break into your computer, they have bigger fish to fry. so turn down your alert status, and try not to jump the gun and chew someone out for something thats not wrong.