Ipconfig.exe tries to connect to the Avast Website IP address

General Topics
1

I have Zone Alarm installed and lately it has been asking me if I want to allow ‘ipconfig.exe’ to connect to ‘75.126.53.163 DNS’ shortly after booting. The address is owned by Softlayer Technologies who seem to host the Avast Website as the address above takes you to the Avast homepage.

Can anyone explain this? Does anyone else have the same issue? Is it safe to let ipconfig make the connection?

I know a bit about networking, but I don’t think I’ve ever heard of ipconfig connecting to the internet. I thought it was just an internal connection management process. Zone Alarm has certainly never reported it before.

I’ve said ‘no’ every time without any real problems (although my Belkin wireless utility keeps crashing, but I’m sure that’s something else). I still get the program and definition updates ok.

I connect via broadband via wifi.

I have WinXP Pro sp2
Avast 4.7 Home
Build: Apr2007 4.7.986
VPS: 000735-2 (23/04/2007)
I have all of the scanners (‘Providers’) running except the Outlook/Exchange one.

2

First, I think it’s not common to have an ipconfig.exe automatically starting… Did you set so?
It will be good if you download, install, update and run AVG Antispyware. Some users recommend SUPERantispyware, Spyware Terminator and/or a-squared (take care about false positives).