# Windows protocols and my Mac **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 21, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296 "2004-04-21T21:46:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296/1 "2004-04-21T21:46:10Z")
Questions about a couple “error” messages I’ve seen recently on my Mac (PowerMac G4, Mac OS X 10.3.3). These errors actually appear in the Firefox Web browser, and I suspect at least one of them has more to do with the “beta” state of Firefox than with my Mac. These error messages appear when certain Web pages begin to load. The first error message reads, " **‘ms-its’ is not a registered protocol**". What is the purpose of the protocol “ms-its”? I’m guessing that when I see this message, the Web page is attempting to create a popup window or some other such thing. The “ms” part tells me it’s a Microsoft protocol. I suspect this is some new attempt by M$ to create a new Web “standard” which hasn’t yet become common enough to be implemented in Mac browsers. This particular message appears to be generated by the Firefox browser, and is simply telling me that it can’t interpret some command. The Web pages always function, so I suspect that whatever “ms-its” is trying to do is not essential to the functioning of the Web page. The second error message reads, “Sorry, your computer is not Win32 compatible”. This message seems to be generated by the Web page itself, telling me that it wants to do something that will only work on a Windows machine. I just dismiss these messages, and the pages work like any other Web page. My first thought upon seeing this message is that, if I were using a Windows machine, the Web page would be trying to install spyware or something similar on my computer. Executable Windows files are the only reason I can think of for needing to be “Win32 compatible”. Any M$ IT types out there who might have a clue about what’s going on here? ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296/2 "2004-04-21T23:09:28Z")
I’m wondering if you might need a Java machine for Mac? On which pages do you get the errors? ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [April 21, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296/3 "2004-04-21T23:20:40Z")
Uh, let’s just say that the links aren’t “work safe”, so I won’t post them here 😉 Mac OS X does have a good Java machine, so I don’t think that’s the problem. ---
**Author:** ![larsenmtl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d78d45/32.png) [@larsenmtl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/larsenmtl)\ **Post date:** [April 22, 2004, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296/4 "2004-04-22T03:53:50Z")
I believe that ms-its (Microsoft InfoTech Storage) is a protocol that allows you to open MS CHM (HTML help files). It is possible that the web page was trying to open it’s own CHM file or a windows CHM file residing locally on your PC (if it was a PC). It is also quite possible that the page was trying to execute malicious code. Let me google… Check this - [http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070](http://www.kb.cert.org/vuls/id/323070) Go FireFox. I’m running FireFox in Linux and when I clicked a hyperlink with the ms-its protocol I received the same error message as you. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [April 23, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/windows-protocols-and-my-mac/241296/5 "2004-04-23T00:16:13Z")
> [@Phase42](#): > > The second error message reads, “Sorry, your computer is not Win32 compatible”. This message seems to be generated by the Web page itself, telling me that it wants to do something that will only work on a Windows machine. I just dismiss these messages, and the pages work like any other Web page. My first thought upon seeing this message is that, if I were using a Windows machine, the Web page would be trying to install spyware or something similar on my computer. Executable Windows files are the only reason I can think of for needing to be “Win32 compatible”. I’ve been seeing this one quite a bit lately, too. I think you’ve already nailed it on the the head – something’s trying to install something nastly.