Yes or no to firewall request to "act as server?"

It's Thursday, so there's a new "LangaList Plus" column posted at WindowsSecrets.Com.

Reader Maurice Carson ran into one of those all-too-common, half-explained firewall queries:

"What about programs wanting to 'act as a server'? I have ZoneAlarm as a firewall, and many programs want to act as a server. Why?"

That's the in-depth topic this week: How to find out why a program wants server status; and when your firewall alerts you that an application wants to act as a server, two simple ways to determine the correct response.

Also in this column:

Halting an infinite software-install loop

Do solid-state disks need to be defragged?

Why is Windows Search 4 so sl-o-o-o-o-w? (and ways to speed it up if it is!)

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