Outbound Connections

[chuckbear]

When using the current version of Firefox browser, my Comodo Firewall shows 60 to 80 outbound connections and 0 inbound connections. Checking the log shows a variety of IP destinations for these outbound connections. I run a number of Malware programs and use Comodo anti-virus and all seem to show the system clean. The outbound connections are from Firefox, Window Mail and svchost.exe. Is this normal or should I be looking for a problem? The connections can drop down to 1 or 2, then go back up. Thanks for any help. Chuck

 

[Tookeri]

Browsers can create lots of outbound connections depending on what site(s) you're visiting. Some sites create only 1 or 2 connections while others might create much more. It has do to with how every web page is built and the content in it - if it's from the same site or from an external site: advertising, images, videos, javascript etc. Browser plugins can create connections too. And the OS, and your AV etc.
And if you have more than 1 window/tab open you'll see more connections of course. Restart Firefox and visit one site at a time and you'll see the difference.

An outbound connection is when a program on your computer makes a connection to the outside.
An inbound connection is when something outside of your computer tries to connect to it. For example if you had a local web server running on your machine and people could connect to it from the Internet. If you have a router that blocks all incoming traffic you'll never see inbound connections from the Internet, but perhaps from your local network.

 

[chuckbear]

Many thanks. That helps a lot. Chuck