My Dad can't download his e-mail from my POP3 server. He's got a Dell Inspiron 8200 running XP Home, using Outlook Express, which claims that the remote server is not accepting the connection. In reality, his system is somehow blocking outgoing connections to port 110. I know this because I run the POP3 server, and a different client system using the same dial-up account does connect successfully. On my Dad's system, a simple "telnet myhost.com 110" fails, but he can connect to other ports.

I suspected that some anti-virus software might be trying to intercept POP3 traffic, and was misconfigured, but as far as I can tell, there's no anti-virus software running on his system. He has Norton AntiVirus 2002, but has never set it up (he cancels out of it at boot time). He turned off the MS firewall (ICF), but that didn't help. ICF only blocks incomming connections anyway.

Any ideas? Perhaps something Dell ships on these machines that I don't know about is blocking the port? I don't have physical access to this system, so it's not easy to get info about it. I have to hand-hold my Dad on the phone. I'm sure you can relate.

Dell nor any other OEM blocks any ports nor does XP.

Dad may have a virus or sometimes the ISP will block the port(s)25 and 110 if they are on the lookout for spammers. They do not want their bandwidth being used for spam regardless of the mail server being used.

Netzero is good for this.

Jimi_l

with all the virus' running loose, check the system for viruses.
the blaster worm can be resident but not manifest itself completely in some computers.
dad better use the firewall, microsoft emphatically says to, for less problems down the road.
the blaster worm can block that port