Limiting number of concurrent connections

[kenbrody]

Is there a way to limit the number of concurrent connections a workstation is using? (Wingate Plus for Windows 5.2.2, 6 users.)

Recently, one of our workstations has starting to make dozens of concurrent connections to different servers, thereby causing WinGate to use all available resources on the WinMe box it's running on. (Both system and user go to 0% after several minutes. GDI is fine.)

I would be happy with any configuration setting, whether it be network-wide, at the workstation level, or even at the application level.

Any help is appreciated.

[adrien]

sounds like this workstation either has a virus, or some peer to peer sharing software installed.

What port numbers are the connections being made to?

if it's 25, then that sounds like a virus with an email engine in it.

If another, you may be able to simply block that port.

otherwise WinGate 6.0 has bandwidth control, so you could upgrade to that and simply choke back the traffic.

Adrien

[kenbrody]

Yes, it's a P2P program doing this. (I'll keep an eye on what's being transferred.)

However, will bandwidth throttling help? While the transfer speed will be slower, won't it still open just as many connections? Is it the speed of the data coming through that's causing WinGate to eat up resources, or is it the number of connections?

[adrien]

The connections themselves don't chew much, it's normally the bandwidth associated with them that is the bigger drain on more limited resources.

So choking the speeds right back should help quite a bit. Plus it will often reduce the rate at which new connections are made.

Adrien