What's what

[Bill Gordon]

I'm running El Capitan OS X 10.11.2 and just downloaded and installed Little Snitch. Now, everything in the world wants to connect-most of which I've never heard of.

How do I know what's necessary, and what will cause problems.

Thanks

 

[Cory Cooper]

Hello Bill,

Little Snitch is a great piece of software. However, if you aren't familiar with some of the technical processes of your Mac, it can be a little daunting. Many of the alerts are self-explanatory, but some are a little cryptic.

We would be glad to try and decipher any that you don't recognize. Just post them here, and we will help identify them if we can. Don't get too freaked out by the sheer number of alerts that appear.

C

 

[Bill Gordon]

Ready? Here is the list that happened just now. And every time I get a barrage, I NEVER see the same one again. Here goes:
googleapis.l.google.com 80
fonts.googleapis.com 80
s,skimresourses.com 80
pagead46.doubleclick.net 80
incoming.telemetry.mozilla.org 443
service.addons.mozilla.org 443
aus5.mozilla.com 443
plus.google.com 80
blocklist.addons.mozilla.com, 443
ww-google-analytics.l.google.com 80
geo.mozilla.org 443
shaver.services.mozilla.com 443
plus.google.com 443
connect.facebook.net 443
platform.twitter.com 443

It only quit because I hit the "Deny Any connection forever" button

 

[Cory Cooper]

Most of those are normal and OK, since they are from Google, Mozilla (Firefox), Facebook, and Twitter. They are simply the normal operating connections/communications to use those apps/services. If you hit Deny - Any Connection - Forever, you may end up blocking your access to some Internet services.

The numbers are the ports the services are using: 80 is Internet/HTTP/web, 443 is secured Internet/HTTP/web. The only two you may have wanted to block are: s,skimresourses.com 80 and pagead46.doubleclick.net 80. While not harmful to your Mac, they are simply connections back to Internet ad services, wich track how many visitors there are to a website.

-Did you purchase Little Snitch, or is it a trial?
-Was there a specific need to install it?

Most general users can be totally overwhelmed by the number of alerts, and if they block the wrong ones, it will slowly cause their Mac to not function properly with network and Internet services. Because of that, I usually only recommend that folks with more advanced knowledge install it. If you are unsure about a connection, you could try denying Once, to see if you are blocked from something you use. During an Internet browsing session, you can easily have hundreds of pop-ups and decisions to make.

If you are trying to block Internet pop-up ads/ads on webpages, things like uBlock and Adblock Plus are better for that, as they are automated and basically require no user interaction.

C

 

[Bill Gordon]

Is there any way to "undo an oops?" I might have hit the wrong button at least once

 

[Spawn_Dooley]

Yes just look for the Little Snitch icon in the right side of the Finder menubar, it looks like 2 level meters, green/red. Click on it (not right-click) & select Little Snitch Rules ... make sure "All Rules" is showing in the pull-down menu in the upper left ... then just scroll down to see what connections have been allowed/denied & just double-click on an application to see the options window where you can change various rules ...