How risky are these open ports for online gaming.

My PC XPsp2, has a up to date firewall and antivirus.
I want to play and host games online, but the gaming arena/website requires
me to open these ports:
6667 (IRC) TCP
3783 (Voice Chat Port) TCP
27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat) UDP
28900 (Master Server List Request) TCP
29900 (GP Connection Manager) TCP
29901 (GP Search Manager) TCP
13139 (Custom UDP Pings) UDP
6515 (Dplay UDP) UDP
6500 (Query Port) TCP
how risky is this, and is there a way of still being secure with the ports
open.
Thanks.

Dave
Wed Feb 02 16:14:53 CST 2005

having the ports open is only as risky as the software that is using them.
it depends entirely on how secure your gaming software is since that is what
will be using those ports.

"Wardy" <Wardy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9D9B6A94-8E08-45EF-BA80-3BB3B5EA6CF5@microsoft.com...
> My PC XPsp2, has a up to date firewall and antivirus.
> I want to play and host games online, but the gaming arena/website
requires
> me to open these ports:
> 6667 (IRC) TCP
> 3783 (Voice Chat Port) TCP
> 27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat) UDP
> 28900 (Master Server List Request) TCP
> 29900 (GP Connection Manager) TCP
> 29901 (GP Search Manager) TCP
> 13139 (Custom UDP Pings) UDP
> 6515 (Dplay UDP) UDP
> 6500 (Query Port) TCP
> how risky is this, and is there a way of still being secure with the ports
> open.
> Thanks.

Steven
Wed Feb 02 23:47:02 CST 2005

Anytime you open ports you increase your risk. However if you want to play
those games you don't have a choice. Keep current with critical updates, use
a strong password for your user accounts, and configure your antivirus to
run in "live" mode and the risk will be minimal. --- Steve


"Wardy" <Wardy@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:9D9B6A94-8E08-45EF-BA80-3BB3B5EA6CF5@microsoft.com...
> My PC XPsp2, has a up to date firewall and antivirus.
> I want to play and host games online, but the gaming arena/website
> requires
> me to open these ports:
> 6667 (IRC) TCP
> 3783 (Voice Chat Port) TCP
> 27900 (Master Server UDP Heartbeat) UDP
> 28900 (Master Server List Request) TCP
> 29900 (GP Connection Manager) TCP
> 29901 (GP Search Manager) TCP
> 13139 (Custom UDP Pings) UDP
> 6515 (Dplay UDP) UDP
> 6500 (Query Port) TCP
> how risky is this, and is there a way of still being secure with the ports
> open.
> Thanks.