Although I'm not familiar with ZoneAlarm, I think you're misinterpreting the
message. ActiveSync it never accessible from outside the building. In
fact, it only supports direct connections between the device and the PC,
Bluetooth and USB.

However, the means of communication between the device and the PC is, by
default, network-based. That is, when you plug the phone into the PC, it
acts like a new network card. The PC now has two network cards, the one
that you normally use, presumably, to access the Internet, and the device,
which can only be used to talk between the device and the PC. When you make
this connection, ActiveSync on the PC opens some TCP ports that the
ActiveSync program on the device uses to establish communication between
them. I would guess that this is what ZoneAlarm is complaining about. You
could, perhaps, limit ZoneAlarm's activities to just the main network card
that is normally installed in the PC and have it ignore the device
'network'. It might also be possible to configure, on the device,
ActiveSync to disable "advanced networking" (something like that), in the
ActiveSync application. This causes the device to no longer appear as a
network card and instead appear like a serial device. Since it's not a
network card any more, ZoneAlarm shouldn't care what it does.

Paul T.


"HA" <HA@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:5210767C-2FD8-4526-8F62-45F952696A71@microsoft.com...
> How do I configure ActiveSync so that it enables my PC and smartphone
> (Palm
> Treo Pro) to communicate, but it does not attempt to establish internet
> access or server rights?
>
> I want to sync my smartphone (Palm Treo) with my PC. ActiveSync is the
> software that sits on the PC and that I was instructed to use. Even
> though,
> I wish to connect the two devices (smartphone & PC) together, ActiveSync
> insists on being available for third party devices to connect to it via
> the
> internet. I learned this because I installed ZoneAlarm software that
> requires any applications on my PC to ask for permission before connecting
> to
> the internet. ActiveSync not only requires that it be able to access the
> internet (which is a potential security risk) but also that it be able to
> accept connections from the internet (which can be a major security
> downfall). This setup could allow a random person on the internet to
> access
> any and all data on the PC and smartphone. Since the PC and smartphone
> are
> connected directly and can communicate via the USB cable, there is no need
> for additional internet connections.. only greater risk. How do I
> configure
> ActiveSync so that it does not attempt or allow any third parties to
> establish internet connections?