How Do I Close All the My Ports And Harden Security On My Ppg4?

[bordee]

Powerbook G4 17-inch 1.33mhz 2GBram 60GBhd(new) ... all info backed up, will erase this drive in a heartbeat.

I have spent the last week at the Apple Store in Burlingame and in Palo alto while the Geniuses try to tell me that everything is fine... I went and bought some thick books on Unix and BSD from B&N, but I need more time to learn, I want to take maters into my own hands now... my computer is like an open-back door... I replaced the hard drive and installed Tiger 10.4.2 and the update, and enabled the firewall with all the advanced settings, and turned off all the ports and bluetooth, except for this airport that I'm online with, disabled all the Directory Access options too. Also, I have Safari set to now cookies. I want my life back, I need to do some design work. By what I can tell, from the moment I start loading(after using the disk util. off the X cd) it find's a wireless airport or and starts downloading crap. I thought I was burning a dvd/disk image of a clean install, it was running my cpu like at 99... but it was taking like an hour? To find out it really it was loading stuff adding like 8gbz on top of the 2.3 install! It didn't even burn the CD.. Now I have all these ports open and there's probably a party on my laptop right now and I can't even join in =( not to mention that they've disabled my ability to burn CDs.. There's 2 other connections in the Network Utility, other then the Hotspot(en1)10.220.43.174, I'm connected to. There also is also (fw0)144.3.8.0 and (en0)144.3.8.0 from the drop down which provide different results in the Netstat output. Please Help! SOS! Send me a link to your wish list!

 

[symphonix]

Is this some sort of spam-program generated gibberish, or a real problem? If so, what exactly happened and when or how did it happen? Bordee, did you have reason to suspect something was wrong with your Mac? If so, what were the symptoms to begin with? When did the CPU run at 99%? Does it still do it now? If so, can you run Terminal.app and type in "top" to find the process that is responsible? What is it called?

We really need some details, rather than just a collection of comments in random order.

 

[lurk]

Also just related to the last fw0 and en0 bit, those are your wired ethernet and IP over Firewire interfaces. All that is saying is that the hardware is present.

 

[nixgeek]

Why are you killing yourself doing all this stuff using BSD commands? You might as well install NetBSD on that thing. Even Linux would make it easier to secure your machine without going through the nightmare you are making for yourself.

Get yourself a beginner's guide to the Macintosh and Mac OS X. Learn how to use the interface...it's to your benefit. Once you are familiar with the interface and managing OS X, then go and try to do some advanced stuff from within the Terminal.

Don't try to build a skyscraper from the top down, man. And take a chill pill...you sound a bit paranoid with all this locking out of your own account from certain things. Might as well be working with a Tandy 100.

 

[barhar]

'Powerbook G4 17-inch, 1.33 GHz, 2GB RAM, 60GB hard disk drive (new)' (some corrections), thank you - you have no idea how many persons post problems and do not provide such information.

' ... all info backed up ...', very good action, ' ... will erase this drive ...', Ok, but only after you are sure of a solution to your current problem(s).

'I have spent the last week at the Apple Store in Burlingame and in Palo alto while the Geniuses try to tell me that everything is fine', OK - Apple Genius(es)? [does the word 'oxymoron' come to mind?] ... hmmm, need I say more? Ok, let us get to your problem(s).

'I want to take matters into my own hands now... my computer is like an open-back door...' - I doubt such, any version of MacOS X when installed by Apple or a user (and whether updated or not) is set with the (nearly, if not) maximum protection settings possible. Yes, some commercial software publishers do want you think otherwise.

'I replaced the hard drive and installed Tiger 10.4.2 and the update' - this is all that was needed.

'... and enabled the firewall with all the advanced settings, and turned off all the ports and bluetooth, except for this airport that I'm online with, disabled all the Directory Access options too.', unneeded actions (by you) - unless you are truly an advanced user or system administrator of a network consisting of Macintoshes.

'Also, I have Safari set to no cookies.' (corrected), a personal choice; but, not really really really needed. 'Cookies' do all you to revisit web sites, which require an password and / or id, without always having to 'log in'.
I am not a 'Cookie' advocate - I am merely explaining, at least, one benefit of such.

'I want my life back, I need to do some design work. By what I can tell, from the moment I start loading (after using the disk util. off the X cd) it find's a wireless airport', if you have an Airport card (or equivalent 802.11 ... device) installed and 'Airport' turned ON - then yes, your PowerBook will find any nearby networks - automatically. That is how it was, by default, set.

'... or and starts downloading crap.', well, select from the Apple menu 'Software Update...', and then select 'Software Update's 'Software Update, Preferences...' menu item. If not already selected, click on the 'Update Software' tab. Does the 'Check for update:' check box have a check mark in it?, if so, click on the check box to remove the check mark.

'I thought I was burning a dvd/disk image of a clean install, it was running my cpu like at 99... but it was taking like an hour?;, "danger will robinson!, danger!" - please note, what you want / expect may be different than what you instruct the Mac (via its related applications - 'iTunes', 'Finder', 'Disk Utility', etc.) to do.

'... To find out it really it was loading stuff adding like 8 GB on top of the 2.3 install! It didn't even burn the CD..', while is not clear as to what you mean by 'the 2.3' install - you do say above 'I thought I was burning a dvd/disk image of a clean install'. By this, you must be aware that an installation without any 'Customize...' (installation panel) editing - you will have many many many language, printer, and font files installed. Using the 'Customize' feature of the installation process can reduce the base installation to under 5 GB.

You then seem to have jumped back to the subject of ports (mentioned earlier) ...
'Now I have all these ports open and there's probably a party on my laptop right now and I can't even join in =( not to mention that they've disabled my ability to burn CDs..' - no, not at all.
If you made all the setting changes you mentioned above; or, if just had let the default settings alone - no one (or 'party' members as you may refer them as) has access to your 'root' level, or most - if not all user accounts.
And no one no way has disabled your ability to burn CDs. Again, no one - not at all. You may have a problem burning CDs / DVDs; but not as the result of others. Such may be the result of you (directly or indirectly) or a 'feature' [an Apple term. The rest of us say 'bug'] of 'Tiger' on your PowerBook.

'There's 2 other connections in the Network Utility, other then the Hotspot(en1) 10.220.43.174, I'm connected to. There also is also (fw0) 144.3.8.0 and (en0) 144.3.8.0 from the drop down which provide different results in the Netstat output.', well you did say you have Airport installed and it is ON - thus '10.220.43.174' is within the 10.0.0.0 ti 10.255.255.255 range assigned to such items a a wireless router. The wireless router in this case - is the one you are using!
'144.3.8.0', according to a 'whois 144.3.8.0', via 'Terminal' is NS01.ARMY.MIL.

'Please Help! SOS!' - use of 'SOS' or 'Mayday' outside of a bona fide emergency is frowned upon, and downright wrong.

'Send me a link to your wish list!' - possibly an attempt at humor.