LJ has been under attack

If it upsets you that some malicious shit is attacking your LJ service then you owe it to yourself to get ZoneAlarm (it is free) and to read Steve Gibson's chilling description of a pathetic loser who tried to play the evil emperor by sending hordes of zombies to attack Steve's internet presence. When you have read that you might be interested in the technical details (actually quite easy reading).

If you are using WindowsXP it is worth considering ditching that astonishingly insecure operating system and getting something a bit safer. But if you are loathe to do that then at least fix one of the glaring faults that lets someone turn your machine into a weapon for attacking others. Note that XP has other problems too, for instance this and this