I have a few questions about the Port Forwarding and routers in general. I have changed the actual port numbers on the picture below to maintan privacy and security (but this was probably unnecessary, right?).
As you can see on the picture below, the internal and external UDP and TCP ports have the same number in my router settings for Skype. But in Skype, under the Connections, I have a different port number (6677). Should I change and enter the number that I’ve found under the UPnP settings of my router to make Skype work better?
I am pretty new to networks but it seems to me that even though the UPnP is enabled in my router Skype didn’t get set up properly - as the port numbers differ. Or am I wrong?
Also, why is the number after the IP address :5698 and the port’s numbers are 56985 (with the additional number 5)? What’s the deal here, which port is opened then, 5698 or 56985?
Would my internet connection be (much) more secure if I would disable the UPnP completely and open the ports for Skype manually (if yes - how & do I have to do it for each computer on the network respectively)?
In general, is it true that one should always open only the ports above 6000 (for Skype and such)?
A little off topic: how can I check which Channel is best for my WiFi broadcast? Is there a (free) utility that would find the best possible channel for my wireless network? Or should I leave it on the Auto setting?
I see, thank you polonus. But, is it true that the programs which feature UPnP will open a certain port (or ports) when they need them (when that certain program is used) and then close the ports via UPnP after they are closed (when I quit the program)? So, would it be safer to use the UPnP then or to manually open the needed ports and have them opened at all times?
PS: I’ve read a bit more about port forwarding and only now realised that when you open a certain port you only open it for a certain computer on the network. Right? We have 3 computers at home connected (one by cable and two wireless) to the router and if I want to open a port for Skype only on my computer I have to set a static IP for my computer. Could this bring me any trouble (security & convinience-wise)? And how do I do that? Thank you!
Polonus (as usual) is right about UPnP. There was a big security flaw found a few years ago, and you certainly shouldn’t use it if your router was made before that date, as it might have the vulnerability.
Yes, Polonus was often helpful for me, in the past, much appreciated! And since I’m appreciating I can’t appreciate enough all the help I recived on the Avast forums from DavidR. Thank you! This is probably the nicest forum I was ever on, seriously. And thank you too, for helping me. But now I’m getting too off topic.
UPnP seems to be disabled in Skype by default, but what opened the supposed Skype ports in my router then? Maybe Skype from another computer?
What do you mean by “DHCP will mess it up”?
What do you mean by “a white patch after the port numbers in your image”? There’s a digit missing in my router, I don’t know why. Is it a glitch or does it mean something?
