i decided to download the "recommended" updates using windows update. when these updates were installing my firewall (ZoneLabs Pro) said dllhost.exe was trying to access the internet. zonelabs said not to allow it access and called it mal-ware. is dllhost.exe really dangerous or did zonelabs just not classify it correctly?

Go to www.symantec.com and Check for the Welchia worm

neal: you were right to question as dllhost.exe is also a legit system file for the DCOM DLL host process that supports DLL-based COM objects and is used by many Windows programs. Dllhost.exe (about 5-6K) can be found in the System32 directory. unfortunately, the Welchia worm copies itself to the Wins directory in the System or System32 folder in Windows at: C:\Windows\System32\Wins\Dllhost.exe removal insructions can be found at: http://www.pchell.com/virus/welchia.shtml there is also an interesting free program that helps protect your computer against DCOM attacks, called DCOMbobulator, at: http://grc.com/freepopular.htm