I installed XP on my machine at home for the first time last night. All went great, and I like it so far but…
First thing I did was install Zonealarm. And first thing on reboot, it came up saying an unamed proggy was trying to act as a server on some wierd port. Ie also, was trying to act as a server.(it shouldnt). I told it no, and then it cut off all internet access. I rebooted, and once again had access, and Zone Alarm is still blocking it from being a server. Thank God for zonealarm.
That was probably one of those auto-update programs. Check your start-up program list and uncheck it.
Nah…The autoupdate things are named when they come up and they don’t try to act like servers. I’ve been playing with XP for a while now, only before I was at work on a dedicated network(with no internet access…A secure network between us and the other Defense contractors involved in the JSF program). Since I am the domain admin, I could monitor what it did pretty well. Anyway, this time, since it was on the net, I wanted to see what sorta spyware MS has put in, and it looks like they have a couple. IE, for instance, should never try and act as a server, and not on port 32xxx or whatever in any case. Just goes to show, you cant trust anybody these days(MS and spyware? I’m shocked…)
You know what’s funny? Netscape 6.1 tried to get server access on my system as well, and it triggered Zone Alarm. I said yes at first to see what it would do. Never again; the popups went around my Proxomitron proxy. One of those windows asked for a personal profile. Monopolies are thinking alike, no.
So, let’s seee. Windows XP has spyware, in addition to being an mp3 crippler as well as being a hassle to upgrade parts. Hmm, I’ll hold back until I get a computer that I know I won’t be changing parts or download music in.
XP has NO spyware and in NO way cripples XP, and I disagree about reactivation being a hassle.
Gee, we’re back to step one.
Oops. “in NO way cripples XP” should be “in NO way cripples Mp3’s”.
Well, I like XP, and I like Microsoft(it is because of them that I can make my mortgage payments). The activation thing is a non-issue for me. I will never use it, there are easy ways around it. It doesnt effect someone like myself. I have enough music software to do anything I want with MP3s. I am not one of those paranoid microsoft sucks and is trying to take over the world types. BUT…to say it doesnt contain spyware is naive. The fact that unidentified apps try to open up non-standard ports upon the os being installed is a security hole, and is in fact, spyware. There is no justifiable reason that an os should do this, and since network security is a part of my job and my training, I have to be a little concerned about this. Once again, thank God for zonealarm.
Well, it’s odd, because my Windows XP didn’t try to load any unidentified apps that try to open non-standard ports. Neither did my friend’s computer.
Thanks for the info. Thats good to know. What security apps were you running to alert you to it? I know you have been running it since before Zonealarm came out with an XP version, because I seem to remember you posting about running it back when I first started running it at work. Incedentally, since Zone alarm first shut down those first too or three attempts, it has be pretty well behaved. The network I ran it on at work I wasnt too worried, because like I said, it was a secure isolated network, so I didnt worry about not running Zonealarm.
Currently I do not have net security apps installed on my computer, as I have my router/firewall with NAT as my default gateway. The firewall is set to log any incoming/outgoing access attempts, and it logged nothing that resembles the behavior you described.
Is Windows Update set to check for updates automatically?
I’m sorry, Monster104, but I don’t think that you can really say this with any authority unless you have thoroughly browsed the entire source code of XP.
One of the problems with proprietary software (in this case I mean any software that is not supplied with the source code) is that you can never know what it’s doing under the covers. ZoneAlarm has caught two instances of attempted external connections. Without seeing the source code, it is not possible to say what these were, and how many others there are buried in the code.
Well… maybe… maybe not. it does have a function that if you get an error that ends a program it asks you if you want to sent that to microsoft for their database (so the common errors can be fixed) if you do opt for that (which on the surface DOES sound good) it for SOME reason records your IP… Hmmmm…
and then theres the whole authentication thing that records many hardware aspects about your computer including mac address and such and if you replace some hardware your required to authenticate again… though I dont have to worry about that with my ahem final version of pro I got weeks ago. hehe.
Yeah, that’s so sinister. It should be stopped, at all costs. In fact, there’s another, terrible, horrible, evil, Nazi-worshipping group that also records your IP for SOME reason. You can find their website here.
Scary, no?
And I counter that people cannot say that there IS spyware in XP without some kind of proof. Right now, only bdgr has some kind of indication that there is spyware. This has my interest, as everything I’ve read indicates no spyware, and my personal experience with the software indicates no spyware.
I am completely willing to withdraw my statement in the future if it comes to light that there is a strong possibility of spyware. And since I can’t say for sure whether there is or not (since, like you said, I haven’t browsed the source code), I will simply revise my statement to “everything I’ve researched indicates that there is no spyware in Windows XP”.
Whammo: Since both of those functions are well-known (the first also being completely optional), they are not spyware. Also, activation does not send any personally identifiable information.
Ahh…You see, if it setting it self up as a server, trying to monitor an incoming port, then the firewall wont know a thing about it until something tries to hit it. Since it is not sending anything out, the firewall cant detect it. I have a firewall too, but that is why I keep running zonealarm, because it can detect things a firewall can’t. Download it and install it for a while. Let me know what it catches(or doesnt). Since I first installed zone alarm on my machine a while back, I have caught several spyware proggys from all sorts of places. One of my kids games (from a well know software company), installed a spyware app. Zonealarm caught it right off the bat.
Hey, thanks, I didn’t know that. I’ll install ZA and let you know.
By the way…from CNET.
You might want to check these out. I’m wondering if these might be causing the alerts you caught. (I have these updates, and ZA hasn’t detected anything other than another computer on my network trying to access a share).
Ok, I work for MS, but nothing I am about to say is in no way to be taken as official MS.
I have been using XP Pro since beta1 (and .Net/2002 server since build 1580) and even if you think that there maybe “spyware” or anything else going on behind the scenes you still must admit that it is a much better and more stable OS than any of our previous offerings. All of my information (including MSONLY info) indicates that there is no “spyware”.
Can you give a specific port number(s)? I may be able to find out exactly what you blocked with some more specific info.
If you have access to it as an administrator I would suggest installing NetMon to see what traffic was being passed on the port, but usually ports that high are ephemeral and used for things such as streaming media (not only streaming media though).
this may very well have been the code checking itself at boot (which it does). How do you know that something did not have a connection to your machine prior to installation and after the reboot it was not just trying to re-establish the connection. This would not be our software, but rather you possible being scanned/attacked externally prior to the reboot and then you new software notifying you and closing the port.
The hardware information is not uploaded to us. It is set as an encrytion key that is specific to the hardware in your machine. The encrytion key is sent to the database and then an activation code is generated based on the encryted string of bits uploaded. We cannot see what kind of Video card you are using, and frankly we don’t care. The reason it makes you reactivate is so that when you give your copy to someone else or install it on another one of your machine, it will generate a different encrytption key (based on the new machines hardware) and try to match that key with what was uploaded during the original activation. When these do not match you are asked to call and activate it over the phone. This is just to keep the honest people honest.
What exactly do you mean by crippling MP3s? I have ripped CDs to MP3 and am listening to my MP3s right now. I don’t know what you are referring to.
I am not nitpicking the posts. If it seems I am then I apologize, I am just trying to get more information in most cases or clear up misconceptions in others.
Regarding the MP3 issue, I have to base this on my memory (of reading the news wires, not “this is what a friend told me”) that Microsoft’s audio software allows for the recording of MP3s, but the result will not be as good as what you can get currently with existing software.
I can’t give you the exact information, whether the article was referring to a reduced bit rate or mHz, but this is what I do remember from the article.
Any MP3 ripping capabilities that are provided by Windows XP are in the Operating System as a “value-add” component. They are not intended to be the top of the line, premier application of this sort. If a user is a true audiophile and needs superior quality then it is recommended that they use a 3rd party application for their needs.
Just like Word Pad was never intended to be a true word processor. It is honestly in the OS for us to test fonts when a customer has problems. It is the same type of thing.