Solaris 8 named is ignorant

[DrSpock]

If someone has the spare bandwith would you please review the routing
table I created in
my $HOME directory inside Cygwin's virtual filesystem below.  I have
modified it for my
own security reasons, and to make it more difficult for hackers to
attack my ISP, so
some of the netmasks may not be accurate, I get a little fuzzy beyone
class B & C
but will in no way affect understanding of the questions any any
answers generated
I hope.  I will nest the questions inside standard C programming
comments.

I won't even post what Cygwin "thought" should be my routing tables as
they made no
sense.  I imagine that this was created (by Cygwin, as it was found
inside my Cygwin
$HOME) so that X Windows, and other network traffic would work inside
cygwin's "world"
on my PC.  Testing shows that ping's, FTP's and telnet works (in
cygwin) from my PC now.

  Later today I will read what Microsoft says about XP routing. My
technical experience is mostly inside the world of UNIX, but hopefully
routing tables are standard.  my comments
follow the routingtable entries.

===========================================================================
Interface List 0x1 ........................... MS TCP Loopback
interface
0x2 ...00 11 5b 48 cc e9 ......
SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
===========================================================================
===========================================================================
Active Routes:
Network Destination    Netmask          Gateway            Interface
       Metric
0.0.0.0                0.0.0.0                     70.24.50.1
70.24.50.33	  3

/* ^^^^^ This seems to be some kind of default route to the outside
world.  I pointed it
at my routers Internet facing interface.  Is Metric the hop count from
my PC's
interface?  I count (1) the PC's interface (ifc) (2) my LINKSYS's
inside ifc, and
3 the LINKSYS's outside ifc.  Is that right?   */

71.24.50.0       255.255.254.0           192.169.17.1
71.24.50.33	  3

/* ^^^^ this is the network where my ISP's router is located, and where
you go to get
DNS information.  I pointed it at my router's outside ifc, or so I
think */

71.24.50.4     255.255.255.255          192.169.17.1
76.24.50.33	  3

/* I'm not sure what this is, but I suspect it's a broadcast address
for the subnet
my router is on with the ISP.  I don't find "4" anywhere in my routers
tables? */

71.255.255.255  255.255.255.255      192.169.17.1        76.24.50.33
3

/* I'm not sure what this is, but I suspect it's a broadcast address
for the highest
level of network at my ISP?  */

127.0.0.0           255.0.0.0        127.0.0.1           127.0.0.1	  1

/* localhost (MY PCs own self)  I heard once that this is used for some
kind of
loopback test???  Perhaps the kernels BUSS interface to the network
card? */

224.0.0.0           240.0.0.0        192.169.17.100   192.169.17.105
1

/* Multicast address? */

255.255.255.255  255.255.255.255     192.169.17.0     192.169.17.105
1

/* My PC's address for broadcasts, inside my internal private subnet?
*/

Default Gateway: 255.255.255.0       192.169.17.1     192.169.17.105
2

/* I set this to my LINKSYS as my default gateway, and packets go out
my PC's IP, this router is 2 hops (interfaces) away. correct? */
===========================================================================
Persistent Routes:
  None
Route Table   /* This section was blank.  I will read up on how Windows
XP does
static routing */

Thanks to everyone for helping me understand XP/Cygwin routing.  I hope
others
who read this group find it and the answers usefull.

Cheers, DRyan