Lana,07.12.12 9:30 pm hst •
. .sure we can. .port 21-22 is a standard opening in your computer from within which your computer communicates with other computers on the net... .it is the default settign for 99% of personal computers. .for ..let's say. .sharing files . .via .FTP dot file transfer protocol..ok . .say Tribe dot net want to send you nfo from their site. .(= what we are using). .they must have an open port in order to get the information out to us.. .
Port Scanning host: 64.158.56.55.i. .... n reality they do not use port 21-22... because they are ahuge operation and it would clog...but that would be the default port for them or many other pee ceees...
One can restrict access to this port ..through the use of firewall software . .or depending on your system software..generally Mac® or Windows®. .one can go in and restrict access through this port to your machine's hard drive..
as a muscian..i happen to use a mac®. .i share files.. music..and have therefore restricted access to my laptop.. . file sharing via FTP file transfer protocol..to my music folder only..( picture posted =)..
even on a mac® there are many . .many options . .for sharing computers and information across the i-net..that.. parenthetically..i have not enabled because . . to be frank . .i am on dial-up and it just slows internet access down. .in this case. .my lack of DSL serves as a great firewall. .
open ports are where crackers get in to your machine. .other port numbers are open, also, and used for other purposes..but one doesn't have to get paranoid about this..crackers are in to cracking NYC wall st computers and big corporations..not your's or mine..we don't have any thing real interesting on our machines that they would want... .you're much more apt to stumble in to a site that takes your credit card number with out sending you product than anything. .as a garden variety type user..
Your scan didn't tell you your port was open because you didn't scan your own machine internet protocol address ( IP addy =) probably..
Ω
now, after three firefox® crashes ( Tribe® runs a rather buggy dynmic name server DNS =). .i would suggest running this absoultely free firewall test service to assail your fears;
www.auditmypc.com/firewall-test.asp
. .

> "Can you explain what port 21-22 is? If it is open, why didn't the scan tell me this? "

The short answer is:

Port 21 is for FTP (you connect to a service on port 21 then get a higher numbered port >1024 to transfer the file on)
Port 22 is for SSH (Secure Shell. It's a terminal connection to a server typically, better than Telnet. You may use it for many things like a terminal session or SFTP, etc.)

Lana,

Sometimes it's hard to tell the difference between having your computer compromised, and just running Windows (which many might consider a huge compromise in itself) ;-)

Regards,

John, who has 1 XP machine (because he needs it for work) but prefers *nix (Mac OSX, Linux)

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