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Thread ID: 51974 2004-12-06 04:39:00 MS Word internet "loopback" argus (366) Press F1
Post ID Timestamp Content User
300017 2004-12-06 04:39:00 Copying some text from a website article into MS Word and get the "Word is trying to access the internet" message from Zone Alarm. At first I denied it access and the application just hung.

Restarted and tried it again; this time said OK, and after a short pause the text pasted. Look at the ZA log and there's the outward request by "Microsoft Office Word" with the destination IP 127.0.0.1:1146 and the destination DNS "loopback".

Why did Word need permission to access a port on my local host, and what was it doing?

The document, though outwardly a standard "printer-friendly" plain text, pasted with the text enclosed in a fussy rectangle on each page. Being a UK article (about millions spent by a govt agency to little effect) it also includes a £ symbol.

Was Word simply fetching either of these 'special features' from some other part of my system, or what?

No big problem; I just like to know these things.

Argus

Standard AMD PC running Win XP Professional and Office 2003. Permanent cable connection through Paradise.Net

The article concerned is at: networks.silicon.com/broadband/print.htm?TYPE=story&AT=39126179-39024661t-40000016c
if anyone else wants to give it a go.
argus (366)
300018 2004-12-06 06:46:00 > Why did Word need permission to access a port on my local host, and what was it doing?

It does it to me, too. I am not sure where it is wanting to go but I always block it, along with Windows Explorer and any other MS app that tries to wander.
Susan B (19)
300019 2004-12-06 06:53:00 I suspect its because the text being copied is HTML, and originating on the web? It's not actually getting it local, from your video memory. godfather (25)
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