JT wrote:
Gordon Abbot wrote:


There certainly are quite a few programs in Task Manager. Is there a
good site to describe them and what is not essential?


Hello Gordon,

The following site is excellent in this regard.
http://www.answersthatwork.com/Taskl...s/tasklist.htm


Currently, just about every help or search program, including windows
explorer, tries to call home when I use it. I have Zone Alarm set to
make them ask, so it is just a minor hassle to control them.


For Windows Explorer, I set Zone Alarm (ZA) to allow trusted access
and block Internet access. This allows Windows Explorer to search my
LAN (which I put in the trusted zone) but prevents any "phoning home".
Not that Windows Explorer would phone home, mind you, but given
Microsoft's poor track record in such matters it pays to be vigilant.
The Spooler SubSystem (spoolsv.exe) is another service that works just
fine with trusted access only. Same with Services and Control
(service.exe). Note that my trusted zone in ZA only contains locally
routable IP addresses (192.168.x.x), i.e. they route over my LAN but
not over the Internet.

For most users, there are precious few other applications and services
that need LAN or Internet access. I have given full access to my
newsreader (Agent), my default and secondary web browsers (Firefox,
IE), my email app (Thunderbird), and Microsoft Help and Support. Note
that Microsoft help and support works just fine with Internet access
blocked but you wouldn't get the Knowledge Base references. Also note
that NONE of the applications or services mentioned above should
require server access to the Internet.

Oh yes, there's Microsoft's Media Player. I do know that it loves to
phone home and report to Microsoft just about everything you hear and
watch. At one time, in fact, it was appending a globally unique
identifier as well, but I've not kept abreast of that matter as I
stopped using Microsoft's Media Player long ago. The privacy issues
are just to great with any product that insists on "phoning home", by
default, virtually everything you see and watch. Sure, the ostensible
reason for such reporting is to merely "enhance the user's
experience", but given Microsoft's history and ambitions, I just don't
trust them with such information.

Remember, too, in regards to Zone Alarm, that you can remove any and
all programs from ZA's programs pane and have ZA rediscover the
programs. Consider it "clutter removal". I do so every few months
because there are programs that run just once (setup programs and
such) that will persist in the ZA program pane until you remove them.
Not that there is any harm in having the unused programs in the ZA
programs pane, but, as one who seems keen to know what's going on with
his machine, I'm sure you can see the benefits of such occasional
cleansing.


If I set Automatic updates to off and let me do it, Security Manager
pops up and bugs me about as much as Robbie the Robot (remember "Danger
Will Robinson!). How can I shut that off?


I agree, very annoying. Go to Control Panel - Security Center and in
the Resources pane click "Change the way Security Center alerts me".
I have all three options in the resulting dialog box unchecked -- no
more silly shield icons in the system tray popping up balloon messages
every few minutes warning that the world will soon come to a
cataclysmic end if I don't enable automatic updates etc.

There are, no doubt, some here who will warn of dire consequences if
MS Update is not allowed unfettered and automatic access to your
computer. That is, of course, total BS. But, if you do turn off
automatic updates you should be diligent and update at least once per
week if your computer is frequently connected to the Internet:
Start - Help and Support - Windows Update.


One other observation. I have certainly had more hits with Spybot,
adaware and A2 with xp than I ever had with 98se. The bad guys really
like it. Which is one reason I am trying to shut down as many programs
that like to call home as I can, since all can be infected and look like
they are nice guys trying to call home, including windows explorer (BTDT).

Sorry for so many questions in one post, but they are all related.


You are quite right to be concerned, and you should be concerned as
well with the information that Microsoft gathers, or tries to gather.
Hopefully, you did not elect to register with Microsoft when you
activated your software.

Microsoft's desire to leverage their huge customer base as a revenue
vehicle for online information and media delivery and, yes, even to
seek revenue through the brokering personal web surfing habits (read
as "information shared with affiliates" in the Passport EULA) is well
documented (just google Passport or Hailstorm). How ironic that
Microsoft's new Antispy Beta is now busily hunting and removing the
same Gater-like tracking software, cookies, and "helper apps" that
until only recently were the very centerpiece of Microsoft's grand
public vision.

Indeed, it is only recently that the persistent nag to sign up for a
Passport account was removed from XP -- a nag, it should be noted,
that was couched in words that made the "free" account seem, to all
but the technically savvy, to be utterly necessary for Internet
access. It is only through the vocal outcries of privacy groups and,
more recently, through similar outcries from the blogging community
that such Orwellian Microsoft initiatives have been somewhat tamed.
But don't think for a minute that Microsoft's *ambitions* in this area
have been similarly suppressed. Quite the contrary, only time will
tell what new privacy invasions and solicitations for invasive
services will be foisted upon the technically naive in Longhorn.

It should be noted, Gordon, that many of the regulars in this
newsgroup have their livelihoods tied to Microsoft -- some are even
Microsoft employees -- and as such are quite defensive in all matters
regarding Microsoft. Therefore, don't be surprised if a few of them
try to discount my little rant as the ravings of an uninformed
paranoid.

Lastly, you may find it interesting to learn that some of the
companies you mentioned in your query that make spyware removal tools,
such as AdAware and SpyBot S&D, have recently been sent letters by
attorneys representing some of companies whose products are targeted
for removal by such tools. The letters threaten legal action if the
represented companies' products are not removed from the respective
programs' databases. The sad result is that, in a few cases, products
that are indeed spyware by any reasonable definition have been removed
from such databases under threat of legal action. This is a fairly
recent development which bears watching. At the very least, it will
be interesting to watch the matter play out.

Regards,

JT

I appreciate your detailed answers to all my questions. Lots of things
to digest.

Again, Thanks.

GA


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