Firewall rule created-question

NIS 2011
Vista Ome Premium 32bit
Vista SP1
IE8 browser
I use a router

Ok before I ask my question, I googled about this and info was conflicting. Also know I asked something about this before. But on my not so smart phone and cant look at older posts. Wont be on my desktop for a few days. So:
noticed an entry in my history that indicated firewall rules were automatically created for-
taskeng.exe to ACCESS THE INTERNET. One rule for port 53 and second rule for port 80 I think. thhese rules were created once before, but I had deleted them about a month ago.

Googled about taskeng.exe and some info on how taskeng.exe could be disguised malware. It is that info that scares me… Now I know taskeng.exe is important part of Vista system, as well.
Now when I look at firewall activities around the same time these rules were automatically created, I see nothing unusual. No other programs appear to be trying to access the internet at that time.
So thhinking that the rule was created for some windows activity, but not sure.
Mostly concerned why taskeng.exe would need to access out to the internet?
or is this a case where acessing the the internet really means just my PC to router?
As I said, I had deleted this rule about a month ago and it just came back now. so makes me wonder if its something malicious that needs access every month?
I do full system scans few times a week and all are clean except for tracking cookies

HI Calls,

 

If you look at enough search results on the internet, just about every legitimate file you can think of could also be malware.  Some of this information is useful, as there are malicious files that do take the names of real ones - although the bad ones will usually be located in the wrong folder -  but often the online descriptions overstate the danger in order to sell you something.  In your case of taskeng.exe, when the program asked the Norton Smart Firewall for network access, Norton checked that the process was the legitimate taskeng.exe and not a fake, by using a hash scheme to positively identify the program.  If the firewall allowed access, then it was a legitimate program and there was nothing suspicious about the traffic that should cause you any concern.


Calls wrote:
NIS 2011
Vista Home Premium 32bit
Vista SP1
IE8 browser
I use a router

Um, Support for Windows Vista with Service Pack 1 ended on July 12, 2011. To continue receiving security updates for Windows, upgrade to Windows 7 or update Windows Vista with Service Pack 2 (SP2).

Maybe, SP1 is just a typo?

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/935791

Cheers

 



 Mostly concerned why taskeng.exe would need to access out to the internet?



It's the Task Scheduler. It runs all the tasks that are on a schedule. There are more than 40 tasks in the Task Scheduler by default in Vista and Windows 7, and many of them connect to the Internet. They probably don't need to - blocking them does not  actually stop them running or prevent them from doing what they are supposed to - by they do connect out by default, as per Microsofts instructions, and Norton creates a rule for it when it happens.