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#1
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MS programs that bug and call home
I just shifted from 98se to xp and am amazed at the number of MS
programs that try to call home or, if you shut them off, bug you. I have startup cop and am using it to control several of these programs, but have some basic questions on what I can shut down and not have a problem. Are there any that are critical to leave open? I note that I have six svchost.exe open in task manager being used as system (3) Network (2) and local(1). Why so many? What are they doing? How can I find out what is using them? There certainly are quite a few programs in Task Manager. Is there a good site to describe them and what is not essential? 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. 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? It will do it with AVG updates, also, even though AVG does it too (with a black icon in systray). 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. GA -- My address is spoofed, so do not reply directly. |
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#2
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MS programs that bug and call home
Try this: http://support.microsoft.com/?kbid=314056
and this: http://www.liutilities.com/products/...brary/svchost/ "Gordon Abbot" wrote in message ... I just shifted from 98se to xp and am amazed at the number of MS programs that try to call home or, if you shut them off, bug you. I have startup cop and am using it to control several of these programs, but have some basic questions on what I can shut down and not have a problem. Are there any that are critical to leave open? I note that I have six svchost.exe open in task manager being used as system (3) Network (2) and local(1). Why so many? What are they doing? How can I find out what is using them? There certainly are quite a few programs in Task Manager. Is there a good site to describe them and what is not essential? 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. 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? It will do it with AVG updates, also, even though AVG does it too (with a black icon in systray). 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. GA -- My address is spoofed, so do not reply directly. |
#3
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MS programs that bug and call home
Please specify which programs are calling home.
Svchost is a basic system process that supports running programs and it is not unusual to see several instances. I have 40 or 50 processes running at any given time. Don't panic. -- Colin Barnhorst [MVP Windows - Virtual Machine] (Reply to the group only unless otherwise requested) "Gordon Abbot" wrote in message ... I just shifted from 98se to xp and am amazed at the number of MS programs that try to call home or, if you shut them off, bug you. I have startup cop and am using it to control several of these programs, but have some basic questions on what I can shut down and not have a problem. Are there any that are critical to leave open? I note that I have six svchost.exe open in task manager being used as system (3) Network (2) and local(1). Why so many? What are they doing? How can I find out what is using them? There certainly are quite a few programs in Task Manager. Is there a good site to describe them and what is not essential? 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. 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? It will do it with AVG updates, also, even though AVG does it too (with a black icon in systray). 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. GA -- My address is spoofed, so do not reply directly. |
#4
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MS programs that bug and call home
Gordon Abbot wrote:
| I just shifted from 98se to xp and am amazed at the number of MS | programs that try to call home or, if you shut them off, bug you. | | I have startup cop and am using it to control several of these | programs, but have some basic questions on what I can shut down and | not have a problem. Are there any that are critical to leave open? I | note that I have six svchost.exe open in task manager being used as | system (3) Network (2) and local(1). Why so many? What are they | doing? How can I find out what is using them? | | There certainly are quite a few programs in Task Manager. Is there a | good site to describe them and what is not essential? | | 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. | | 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? It will do it with | AVG | updates, also, even though AVG does it too (with a black icon in | systray). | | 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. | | GA http://www.blackviper.com/index.html |
#5
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MS programs that bug and call home
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 |
#6
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MS programs that bug and call home
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 -- My address is spoofed, so do not reply directly. |
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