Stop Microsoft
All Things Microsoft => Microsoft Software => Topic started by: trickyt on 14 October 2002, 01:27
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I would live to find a program that can monitor and tell me the text of what has been sent OUT of my computer. I am very suspicious of all those flashing lights when I am not touching the keyboard.
I have a broadband connection, supposedly with a firewall, but I know nothing about that or whether it is on and safe. It is just "there" - apparently. But why do the lights flicker so much. Is someone, or M$ reading my hard drive?
I upgraded to a brand new 1600 AMD Athlon pc in May and am very happy. As I live in France, the Op system XP came in French. "Just buy the English upgrade" said the man. Which I did. But when I got it home the MS message refused to install it saying it could not install a different language on the old one. It would not even let me try a re-format and new install. After a while I found some codes in the registry relating to laguage, and by changing them to the codes for English, I tried an upgrade again. This time MS did not notice the op system and upgrade were in different languages and proceeded to give me lots of FINAL WARNINGs, and danger signs before it would "re-format" my hard disk and everything would be lost. I did not care. Go for it I shouted as I smashed the format key. And away it went. It took ages to format the hard disk, but when it was done, up came the lovely Windows XP logo in English! But guess what - I now have a dual boot option on start up English or French. So the format was not a full FDISK format after all. It merely renamed the French Windows to a new directory "Windows.0". Since that date I have hardly had one problem. The only real issue I had was installing the HP PSC950 printer where HP thoughtfully failed to supply an XP disk and offered no uninstall utility to get rid of the Windows 98 installation. This took me weeks to work out. But all is working like a dream for a family of four all with our own accounts and user names, e-mail and browser preferences.
Apart from the well documented privacy issues (deleting browers files and websites does not remove them from the hard disk) I am extremely happy to have upgraded to Windows XP (http://smile.gif)
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I bare witness to the flames coming.
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It's well known that MS are collecting *all* of your personal data when you are using Windows XP - that includes credit card numbers, personal emails, your Pokemon erotic fan fiction etc. This isn't illegal though; it's all laid out in the MS EULA which you agreed to, probably without reading it, thereby authorising them to invade your privacy.
I use Linux and my lights never flicker.
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quote:
Originally posted by Happy XP User:
I would live to find a program that can monitor and tell me the text of what has been sent OUT of my computer. I am very suspicious of all those flashing lights when I am not touching the keyboard.
I have a broadband connection, supposedly with a firewall, but I know nothing about that or whether it is on and safe. It is just "there" - apparently. But why do the lights flicker so much. Is someone, or M$ reading my hard drive?
I upgraded to a brand new 1600 AMD Athlon pc in May and am very happy. As I live in France, the Op system XP came in French. "Just buy the English upgrade" said the man. Which I did. But when I got it home the MS message refused to install it saying it could not install a different language on the old one. It would not even let me try a re-format and new install. After a while I found some codes in the registry relating to laguage, and by changing them to the codes for English, I tried an upgrade again. This time MS did not notice the op system and upgrade were in different languages and proceeded to give me lots of FINAL WARNINGs, and danger signs before it would "re-format" my hard disk and everything would be lost. I did not care. Go for it I shouted as I smashed the format key. And away it went. It took ages to format the hard disk, but when it was done, up came the lovely Windows XP logo in English! But guess what - I now have a dual boot option on start up English or French. So the format was not a full FDISK format after all. It merely renamed the French Windows to a new directory "Windows.0". Since that date I have hardly had one problem. The only real issue I had was installing the HP PSC950 printer where HP thoughtfully failed to supply an XP disk and offered no uninstall utility to get rid of the Windows 98 installation. This took me weeks to work out. But all is working like a dream for a family of four all with our own accounts and user names, e-mail and browser preferences.
Apart from the well documented privacy issues (deleting browers files and websites does not remove them from the hard disk) I am extremely happy to have upgraded to Windows XP (http://smile.gif)
lolol :D Now that's ironic or not ? :confused: :D
[ October 13, 2002: Message edited by: Panos ]
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If you want to use a crappy OS without proper language support then fine, I don't need to do all that work. I use programs that want to support different languages.
And what are you talking about - you got copy of the OS in French then brought an english upgrade - talk sense you gibbering idiot - there is no for sale upgrade to XP - or are you talking about Office - In which case - more gibberish French is a supported language.
Your firewall is just there. What a dumb FUCKING IGNORANT CUNT. That is the XP 'firewall'. It is not a proper firewall (even M$ say this). It will not close off most of the ports to your computer, and will not tell you all the virri and trojans you pick up just because you are stupid enough to surf PORN SITES with IE.
Of course M$ can read your data (but then how would you know the difference between needed data and data being sent out unknowingly). And you want what - you want a text print out - what the fuck...are you on drugs...you wouldn't understand a good answer to your question.
Ferme la bouche.
Are you XP Luser - or just another remnant from a night of bad Vindaloo.
[ October 13, 2002: Message edited by: pkd ]
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Hey does Windows 2000 do this phone home stuff, sending out data without your consent etc.
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Heh.. I never really 'saw' any data being sent. It was never proved (not to me, at least). I think it's just a concpiracy theory.
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would it work to find out what my winders are revealing by setting up a packet sniffer on my proxy to sniff packets from my windows computers??
I would then have to resolve all the IP addresses and find out which packets are legit and which are not?
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quote:
Originally posted by The Master of Reality / Bob:
would it work to find out what my winders are revealing by setting up a packet sniffer on my proxy to sniff packets from my windows computers??
I would then have to resolve all the IP addresses and find out which packets are legit and which are not?
You know MOR, this sound's like a worthy cause. Someone should do an indepth search into the sort of Data being transmitted by XP.
I'm sure it's not quite as bad as we think, but whatever it is, it can't be good. Just like the WMP stuff, not necissarly an NWO type operation, but certainly an invasion privacy.
GO FOR IT!! :D
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in reply to the original poster.
XP is full of things that you should be able to do but cannot.
XP is full of spyware.
XP comes with a Microsoft firewall, and do you think that that firewall stops microsoft (or judging by the reliability of their products in the past, anyone) from collecting data from your machine? Of course there are hundreds of undocumented security flaws in windows XP! it is a closed source system which means that flaws will be cropping up for years to come. If it were an open source system, people would read through the code and spot most, if not all, of the flaws very quickly. Those people would probably come up with a fix as well.
answer: No firewall is perfect, no system/browser/program is 100% secure.
The options for someone who has got Windows XP and is worried about security are as follows:
1) live with it, and never find out how many security flaws are in your operating system. Hope that you never fall prey to any security breaches and that you never find out how much of your data is being sold on to third party researchers.
2) refuse to live with it, and get a system that supports permissions, proper encryption, open standards and which has people who actually give a shit about something other than lining their own pockets developing software for it.
Now, a word to the regulars,
i don't think that the original poster in this thread deserves any flames, it is a legitimate question to which i think i have given a legitimate answer. All too often in the past we have seen people posting a legitimate question here and then they get their legitimate anser and then all of a sudden they start foaming at the mouth and spewing insults. This is no reason to tar all newcomers with the same brush. Until and unless they actually do start being offensive and or stupid, i think that it is only courteous to treat them in the same way.
The minute they start foaming though, the gloves are off. Just my two pence..
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Having M$ cull data from my PC is very unsettling. I use (don't yell at me, I'm moving away) Quicken for my financial information and then I thought, the c***s at M$ probably know where that file is and even if they don't they would be able to find it and I am sure there is stuff in there they would like to get their hands on. I do not trust M$ one bit and I have no respect for them either. Bad enough their products are shit and full of holes but now they want to spy on us ? Kick them into touch.
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I wondered how many flames I would get with the "Happy XP user" name. This is a forum and I can say if I am happy and I respect the rights of others to be unhappy.
No thanks to PKD for the rude, abusive and useless reply. Thanks to Calum for a decent reply. Thanks to the others who made thoughtful contributions.
In response to PKD - although such language really does not deserve a response - I bought a new pc with Windows XP in French pre-installed. I then "up-graded" it with Windows XP in English. I.e. exactly the same program and version.
PKD has been given a one star rating for his foul mouth and I urge others to do the same. Calum gets 5 stars.
The firewall I have is on a separate box - they call it the router or hub or modem for the broadband internet connection and there are several pcs plugged into it.
Back to my question: No one has really proven either way to me that data is or is not being sent out. Just a lot of hearsay. Has anyone ever tested or examined the data going out to see what is in there, or is there an ex M$ employee who can tell us? What are all those flashing lights when I am inactive? Is data leaving my pc? If so where is it going? Can I see it on my screen with a spy?
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quote:
Originally posted by Happy XP User:
I would live to find a program that can monitor and tell me the text of what has been sent OUT of my computer. I am very suspicious of all those flashing lights when I am not touching the keyboard.
It's called "tcpdump". tcpdump is a packet sniffer. It comes with Linux. Another example of basic tools included with a free operating system that are not included with an expensive operating system. A nice graphical frontend for tcpdump is "ethereal". ethereal also comes with Linux. "KSnuffle" is another good one that comes with some distros but can be downloaded and installed in any of them.
Here is a screen shot of an Ethereal capture:
http://www.ethereal.com/image/mainwin-20020929.png (http://www.ethereal.com/image/mainwin-20020929.png)
KSnuffle:
http://www.quaking.demon.co.uk/ksnuffle.html (http://www.quaking.demon.co.uk/ksnuffle.html)
[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]
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quote:
Happy XP User:
PKD has been given a one star rating for his foul mouth and I urge others to do the same. Calum gets 5 stars.
well thanks for the good comments, however i think you are being a bit harsh on pkd, but then you know it wasn't me he was being foul mouthed at so i can't really comment. Anyway, what i mean is that being foul mouthed is not in itself cause for complaint in my opinion, whereas being offensive is. After all, this site is the fuckmicrosoft.com board!
quote:
Back to my question: No one has really proven either way to me that data is or is not being sent out.
nor will they. the system i closed source. the only way to prove this is happening is to log incoming and outgoing stuff and then figure out what it all is. I am not sure how to even begin doing this, but anything void main says is sure to be of help in this matter. quote:
Just a lot of hearsay. Has anyone ever tested or examined the data going out to see what is in there, or is there an ex M$ employee who can tell us? What are all those flashing lights when I am inactive? Is data leaving my pc? If so where is it going? Can I see it on my screen with a spy?
i am hesitant to say it, but maybe a question this specific should be posted on windowsbbs.com although they are not very good at answering specific questions of this nature to my knowledge, they do deal specifically with windows questions...
[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: Calum ]
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Anyone know a good packet sniffer for Winblows? Can you actually get the packets that are coming out of the computer you have the sniffer on?
It would be interesting to run something like this in a closed environment. And better, because there is less garbage network traffic.
Happy XP User: I'm glad you are happy with what you are using now, but have you tried a flavor of Linux? You might find that it's better and you like it, or you might hate it, and at least you can say you tried it. If you want to try Linux, we will all be glad to help you out (http://smile.gif)
[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: The_Muffin_Man/B0b ]
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quote:
Originally posted by The_Muffin_Man/B0b:
Anyone know a good packet sniffer for Winblows? Can you actually get the packets that are coming out of the computer you have the sniffer on?
I actually use a good one that runs on Windows. It's currently owned by NAI but used to be it's own company called Network General. Here's a link:
http://www.sniffer.com/products/dssrmon-analysis/default.asp?A=1 (http://www.sniffer.com/products/dssrmon-analysis/default.asp?A=1)
The one we have I believe runs us around $20,000 yearly.
Also Microsoft has their own version of a sniffer called "Network Monitor" but would you trust it if you are trying to sniff suspicious Microsoft activity? It's included in Server versions of their OS and with SMS.
Of course if you don't want to pay that much I believe there is a Windows version of Ethereal which is Free/free. See http://www.ethereal.com/ (http://www.ethereal.com/)
You don't have to run it on the machine you are sniffing. You can run it on a different machine as long as the two are on the same non-switched network segment (plug both boxes into a hub, not a switch).
[ October 14, 2002: Message edited by: void main ]
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A quick 60 second scan found something interesting:
I'm IP scanning everyone on my netblock and reporting it to the first addy in my netblock. WTF?
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HappyXPUser: During a Windows update where M$ claims that no info is being sent back to M$ (except maybe packet responses on HTTP), there are loads of TCP transmissions going on from my computer to M$.
Data sent from M$ to my computer is sent securely on SSL, but when I send data to M$, it's not secured.
Does that help?
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Happy WP user, want to switch your OSes language? Its easy easy easy, no need for reboot. Just Hold down Ctrl Alt and F2, then log in as root, enter
/usr/sbin/localedrake
choose the language
killall X
done!, only took 20-30 seconds...
Oh wait, maybe this won't work for you.
V
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quote:
posted by flap:
..your Pokemon erotic fan fiction etc.
You mean like this (http://users.goldengate.net/~abraxis/pokegals01.txt)?
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Happy XP user, try tiny personal firewall 2. It's free, knows just about every program that accesses the internet, and hopefully it will stop XP from sending stuff off without your knowledge (they may have your consent in the EULA) until you know what they're getting from you. Or you could possibly just block microsoft.com at your firewall and unlock it only to check for updates.
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Well thanks everyone for the handy advice. Looks like my next step is to get a sniffer (some are listed in earlier posts), and see what is REALLY leaving my pc. Also it sounds like I ought to be installing Linux. OK, I'm up for it maybe. But do I have to remove my installation of windows XP. XP is so much better than the previous version, that i am loath to wipe it out. Can I install Linux and have a dual boot option with XP or Linux?
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Cool. Mandrake Linux and a number of other distros can resize your Windows XP partition (to make room for Linux). This thread has lots of info on Linux installation in general, but most of it is on partitioning.
http://forum.fuckmicrosoft.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=13&t=000057 (http://forum.fuckmicrosoft.com/cgi-bin/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic&f=13&t=000057)
Thanks for having an open mind!
Have Phun!
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Special thanks to the following: (I have given you all stars)
Flap
Psyjax
Calum
HibbeeBoy
VoidMain (5 stars)
The_Muffin_Man/B0b (5 stars)
SpeeDFreaK
So glad to hear that I can make a separate partition (re-sizing the old Windows one), to make space for Linux. My disk currently shows 59GB out of 80GB free. How much space do you recommend setting aside for Linux?
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Wow you really have a lot of space there! Leave 30 GBs for Linux I don't know or divide it equally. with so much space I wouldn't even think about it!
Go ahead and good luck with Linux (http://smile.gif)
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I say 20 GB for Linux. I would only recommend 30 GB if you plan on spending more time in Linux than Windows.
Erm...my rating dropped in stars but went up in #s...how odd! :confused: :D
I rated you Happy XP. You can figure out what I gave you. You are open minded and not stubborn...very good qualities in a person.
Back on topic: If you need help, we are here. No matter how much of the installation you get through you can get back to Windows to get help.
[ October 15, 2002: Message edited by: The_Muffin_Man/B0b ]
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Happy XP, welcome to the forum. WinXP is what drove me to Linux. I bought my daughter a WinXP computer when she got ready to leave for college this fall. I installed TPF, a freeware Windows firewall. The damned computer was dialing into Microsoft.com every 20 minutes that she was online. Ridiculous! Obscene too. Of course I set the firewall to deny dialouts to Microsoft. I have no idea just what information was being sent, but seriously resent the fact that M$ felt that they had the right to use my (well, my daughter's) bandwidth to dial home... for whatever purposes.
In addition to that nonsense, WinXP was a hog. Her computer had an Athlon XP 1.8 GHz processor and 256 MB of RAM and was slow as hell. Even adding another 256 MB of RAM only made it acceptable. Add to that the fact that the OS limits, or at least attempts to limit your ability to remove the OS or many of its components, and you have what is, to me at least a totally unacceptable excuse for an OS.
If you happen to be happy with WinXP, then good for you. I've been working and playing with computers for a long time. I used to be a real believer in Microsoft products for desktop computer applications until Win95, and continued to use it until WinXP. I even have a Win98 computer in my house, one of 5 desktops, but am working very hard to get free of Windows totally.
Look hard at partitioning your HD and giving Linux a serious try. It affords a lot of advantages and may well be a serious competitor to M$Windows in the near future for desktop purposes.
I'm sitting in fromt of an OLD P166 w/48MB of RAM, I have a AIM "window" open, am posting to FMS.com and listening to a CD. Linux works. WIndows is broken. Give it a fair shot and you may well find yourself changing your name to "Happy Linux User" or something similar.
Jim
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quote:
Originally posted by DOSman:
In addition to that nonsense, WinXP was a hog. Her computer had an Athlon XP 1.8 GHz processor and 256 MB of RAM and was slow as hell. Even adding another 256 MB of RAM only made it acceptable.
Intriguing. My 900mhz, 512mb ram goes silky smooth. Over half of the Ram going unused right now.
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happy xp user, i just thought... if ou are considering linux, i should tell you to go and have a read through the FAQ pages at www.faqfuckmicrosoft.tk (http://www.faqfuckmicrosoft.tk) which is a new site, wheresome of the regular posters here have contributed answers to many questions that people frequently ask.
Just thought of it, maybe i should get into the habit of letting new posters know about it!
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"Microsoft windows is sending a report about the problem to Microsoft. This is done with sending all your money and credit card details." or something like that. Ever notice that if you get that message (or a similar one!) and you then click cancel, it sends some data anyway? (what is it? who knows, i can't find out as i will never be installing any Microsoft *** XP products on any computer i ever own! :D )
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OK Bob, what is BUG BUDDY? I guess it is a Linux prog, but please enlighten us uninitiated future Linux users what it does. p.s. I have rated you 5 stars!