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using the question form to submit your questions.




  1. Can ComSocks automatically dial my ISP when there is a request from my client computer? Could you make ComSocks keep my Internet connection all the time?

  2. Can your proxy server automatically disconnect when it has not accessed the Internet for a specified amount of time? If so, how do you do this?

  3. Are there any special configurations that need to be setup to share a cable modem connection ?

  4. Does ICQ work with ComSocks? Also does ComSocks support file transfer such as WS-FTP for uploading files from pc to program directories on the NET?

  5. I have done everything in your help file and my network still doesn't work, what is my next step?

  6. My OutLook Express doesn't work, what could go wrong? If I have multiple email accounts, how can I set them up?

  7. Why do I get a blue screen sometimes?

  8. How do I know my ISP's DNS IP address?

  9. Why doesn't my RealAudio player work?

  10. What is the weakness of ComSocks v2.5? How will you address them in the next release?


  1. Can ComSocks automatically dial my ISP when there is a request from my client computer? Could you make ComSocks keep my Internet connection all the time?
    The first feature is called Dial-On-Demand or Autodial. Windows 98/NT has this feature built-in. For Windows 95, enable Show Dial Box As Needed and Auto Connect in ComSocks, then from your client computer, click START button->RUN->ping www.linkbyte.com. After a few seconds, you are connected to Internet. The second feature is called Keep Alive. You can work around this by enabling your email client to check your email every 5 minus. It should be OK for most ISP service.

  2. Can your proxy server automatically disconnect when it has not accessed the Internet for a specified amount of time? If so, how do you do this?
    You can set auto-disconnect in the Internet Properties (go to control panel and double-click the Internet Icon) for Dial-up Settings which is under Connection tag. Check <Disconnect if idle for xxx minutes>. The connection must be using a modem.

  3. Are there any special configurations that need to be setup to share a cable modem connection ?
    Normally, you need to have two NIC (Network Interface Card) in your gateway computer, one is for the cable modem, another for local network. It may be possible to use only one NIC if your ISP assign you more IP address for you to use in your local network. You may also need to set up DNS IP address in the <DNS Route Property> in ComSocks because the broadcast IP can't pass the ISP's gateway for the cable modem.

  4. Does ICQ work with ComSocks? Also does ComSocks support file transfer such as WS-FTP for uploading files from pc to program directories on the NET?
    Yes, we do. Configure ICQ to use SOCKS 5 and set the proxy host IP to the gateway's IP. We DO support FTP from any client computer. When you ftp to Internet from your client computer, you ftp to the gateway at first, ComSocks will prompt you to enter your user id, at that time, enter remote_user_id@remote_host_name. You can configure WSFTP client program to use proxy by enabling Firewall setting under Firewall Tag(put gateway's IP in the Host Name, ignore UserID and Password, select USER with no logon).

  5. I have done everything in your help file and my network still doesn't work, what is my next step?
    Well, sometimes it happens. Let's face it. We always try hard to find a systematic way to trouble shoot every individual problem.
    1. You only need to run ComSocks in your main gateway computer.
    2. You should have no problem to access Internet from your gateway computer by its own.
    3. Ping your every computer from each other. If it doesn't work, it is a TCP/IP network setup problem. Make sure you only have TCP/IP in your Network property and remove any NetBEUI or IPX/SPX protocol binding. Make sure your subnet mask is 255.255.255.0 and every computer has a unique IP address in your local network(something like 192.168.0.x). Gateway may have multiple IP addresses, because it connects to multiple networks. You can run "winipcfg" to inspect the network setting from Windows 95/98.
    4. Ping an Internet IP (ig. www.yahoo.com) from your client computer. If you see the alpha IP is translated to a numeric IP (ig. 204.71.177.71) before you see "Request timed out", the DNS route works in ComSocks. If it doesn't work, you forget to enter your ISP's DNS server IP into < DNS Route> Property in ComSocks. you may also enter Microsoft DNS server 131.107.1.7 and/or your Default Gateway IP into the list (it is not the IP of your gateway, please use winipcfg on your gateway to find out the IP). Don't forget to enable Broadcast. For the client computer, always use your main computer's IP (running ComSocks) as its Gateway and DNS server. You can run winipcfg to verify it.
    5. If you see an error like "Bind error #10048", you have a port number used by other application, try to change the default port number to something after #5000.
    6. In the proxy configuration in your client web browser, make sure you have seen the following setting:
      type Address of proxy to use   Port
      HTTP: [empty] : 0
      Secure: [empty] : 0
      FTP: [empty] : 0
      Gopher: [empty] : 0
      Socks: [your gateway's IP] : 1080

      if you see an error like "Wrong socks version", you have a client using HTTP or other protocol connecting the SOCKS port (#1080).
    7. Last resort is filling out our question form. Since we have a high volume of emails and questions every day, please select an appropriate priority for your question.


  6. My OutLook Express doesn't work, what could go wrong? If I have multiple email accounts, how can I set them up?
    You should set PORT MAPPING property in ComSocks. Try to change those two examples in the list for pop3 and smtp. You will need to put your ISP's pop3 and smtp server name into the REMOTE SERVER NAME respectively. If you have only one remote email account, you don't need to change other port setting. If you have more remote email accounts (such as one at ISP1, another at ISP2), you can add more Port Mapping into the list. Remember the INPORT setting can't be the same number again, so you may start at #5001 (Remote Port is OK as the same). Don't forget to enable your port mapping service (click Enable button).You can verify your POP3 route by doing the following:
    1. In your client computer, open DOS Prompt session
    2. type "telnet gateway_ip 110" (replace the gateway_ip by your gateway's IP)
    3. If everything is OK, you should see: +OK xxx.xxx.xxx POP3
    4. If you enable logging, you should see: Port Mapping Request from


  7. Why do I get a blue screen sometimes?
    If you are running Windows 95, you need to download Microsoft latest WinSock 2 library from its web site. But you shouldn't install it on Windows 98 or Windows NT 4.0. If you are running Windows 95 with version earlier than OSR2 (OEM Service Release 2 version 4.00.950B ), you may also want to update Kernel 32 library from Microsoft.

  8. How do I know my ISP's DNS IP address?
    Enter your ISP's domain name without WWW in the front (ig. ISP.NET) into the following box or go to www.internic.net. Your DNS IP will be shown at the bottom. You may try to use a DOS command "winipcfg" in Windows 95/98 to display your default DNS IP.


  9. Why doesn't my RealAudio player work?
    ComSocks 2.5 doesn't support RealAudio, since it doesn't use SOCKS protocol. The next release will support it (by Feb. 1999).

  10. What is the weakness of ComSocks v2.5? How will you address those in the next release?
    ComSocks 2.5 doesn't have its own cache system, which may be a performance issue for a large local network or a slow Internet connection. It doesn't support RealAudio and RealVideo. Email (POP3 and SMTP) and Newsgroup proxy settings need to use POP MAPPING. ComSocks doesn't support multiple subnet proxy (you have multiple local networks). ComSocks doesn't support native HTTP protocol (it supports web browsing by SOCKS protocol). ComSocks doesn't support proxy cascading (you may be able to do so by using a third-party SOCKS library, ig. Hummingbird's SOCKS library). Dial-on-demand is very primitive for ComSocks (client can't disconnect Internet connection except timed out). POP MAPPING doesn't support UDP connection (Internet game may need this). There is no strict access control except DNS routing blocking for specified IP addresses. ComSocks can't be started as a system service (you need to manually start it or put it into the Startup folder). In summary, we consider those issues are important for a full-scale proxy server. So we need to address most of them in the next release. If you have other requirements you would like to be mentioned, please file the question form).

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