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Probably through the MRU :) It's a prime area for forensics and the first place most investigators look. If he also used a program like MRU-Blaster run from a USB memory key (which also holds your secure eraser) will help to remove the chance that "they" could find out you're using the programs.

I install this hosts file also which is a list of sites that the browser shouldn't access because of ads or other similar things. A quote from the site says it best:

The Hosts file contains the mappings of IP addresses to host names. This file is loaded into memory (cache) at startup, then Windows checks the Hosts file before it queries any DNS servers, which enables it to override addresses in the DNS. This prevents access to the listed sites by redirecting any connection attempts back to the local machine. Another feature of the HOSTS file is its ability to block other applications from connecting to the Internet, providing the entry exists.

Visio was started in 1990. You are saying that Visio wanted to sell themselves to MS PRIOR to MS buying up companies? That is called urban myths.

Likewise, Flight sim was started in 1980 for Apple II's. It had NOTHING to do with MS. So you are suggesting that Bruce Artwick did Flight Sim in 1980 KNOWNING that MS would be running around buying up companies?

In fact, rather than putting out garbage facts, take a closer look at the dot.coms. The companies that did well are those that did NOT go down the MS path; Google, Yahoo; Amazon; etc. The numerous companies who survived AND used MS where those that had a real storefront combind with a virtual one. Plain and Simple, the vast majority of those that went under were MS, even though windows never accounts for more than 50% of all webs (and IIS throughout the 90s as in the 10-15% level). If anything, MS is a good predicator of impending failure. In fact, if you are doing something inovative, and you are on Windows, MS is far less likely to buy you than if you are running something with OSS. Consider the cases for all the anti-virus that MS bought. All were on Linux. All the Windows based ones, MS is about to put out of business, rather than buy them. See a pattern there? I do.

That's what you get for running the first beta of Internet Explorer 7 illegally. Here's the fix. It wasn't Firefox's fault, it was your fault for running the first beta of MS IE7 using the iexplore.local trick.

Try this for your Microsoft Keyboard...
http://www.mvps.org/jtsang/flock.html
The site has a nifty little registry key that swaps the funcionality of the F-Lock button. (When it's off, the F-Keys function, When it's on, it's the "special" functions)

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

You are correct. Qualifying a supplier is painstaking and expensive for a good reason.

Note that back in the 80s, many large computer and electronics companies had an internal component qualifying department from which all parts had to be ordered. The qualification and purchasing depts each took their markup. And unfortunately, they didn't have much incentive to keep costs down, since they were the only game in town for their captive markets (the company). These little empires were destroyed when manufacturing was outsourced. Outsourcers saved money by having lightweight qualification processes... and so fake components started to find their way into reputable brands' products. Often, subassembly suppliers are themselves victims of counterfeits.

Remember the bad capacitors issue? Although not strictly the same problem (bad caps are due to incorrectly formulated electrolyte thanks to klutzy industrial spies getting spotted and stealing a purposefully faulty formula), it had very much the same effect as fake parts, and reputable suppliers (MSI, ABit) got hit.

The link that should probably have been put in the article is: http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/temp/zango.htm

Of course, if Hemos had actually looked before posting...

On the blog, just click the link that says "Very thorough runthrough", which links to the following url: http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/temp/zango.htm

I think this link is actually pretty good. I agree, the blog wasn't the most clear.

Yeah, not sure why they linked to that blog. The blog does however have a link to the useful info. This is it.

180 is suing ZoneLabs for a very specific and narrow statement as far as I can tell. ZoneLabs says 180 is monitoring key and mouse info, 180 says it is not.
The analysis linked from TFA explains that he found evidence of setting a windows hook. The question is, does Zango use that hook to collect mouse and key info, even for a short time, or are they using the hook for other purposes? What would those purposes be?

Why link to some guys blog with inane comments, when you can link to the page he refers to? Lots more information there.

What is it with blog pages that link to another blog, which links to another blog, and so on? If this is how things are done in the blogosphere, then my already low opinion of bloggers just slipped a little. Just provide a link to the original f**king information!</rant>

The windows hosts file is the best blocking method I've found. I use the hosts file from here: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm Its the best popup and spyware blocker around.

Adblock, Privoxy and a hostfile that I update each month from http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt

Still I get some advertising that is embedded into the site. :-(

Geocities and othe rsuch cumminites don't clutterup search engines?

And if it does? Just add -geocities.com to your terms and watch them vanish in the haze.

One, I'm not sure what you mean by "add -geocities.com to your terms" and two I find some of those sites interesting and/or helpful. If you're talking about some way to block results from these types of sites then the same can be done with person websites. Also I use a Host file on my computer and with it I block ads and such from different domains, most of which are ad sites like doubleclick.

I have an ad-blocking `/etc/hosts` file which makes that page, and most others, quite readable. Still a lot of crap on the page but I know I blocked two IFRAME ads and maybe a few embedded images as well.

- Use Adblock and CustomizeGoogle (removes all Google ads) to block ads on Firefox
- Use the hosts file to block them on MSIE and Opera (a bit ugly but works)

AdBlock: www.mozilla.org > Products > Firefox > Extensions
CustomizeGoogle: http://www.customizegoogle.com/
The hosts file: http://mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

If your OS can handle a large HOSTS file, then check out http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm. I find that nearly all annoying ads are removed, leaving the ones I honestly don't mind around (various simple banners, etc.). That and FlashBlock are all I need to surf happily.

I agree with you. But there are places available online that maintain lists of addservers. For example, http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt is one such place. There is also software available to do this automatically, ZoneAlarm6 Pro can block certain adds. I've seen another, but can't remember the name of it, because I'm hungover.
If the hosts file allowed regular expressions, it would be wonderfull, but it doesn't. I had a quick google for other methods of filtering adds, checking sourceforge there is, http://adzapper.sourceforge.net/ , http://filterproxy.sourceforge.net/ and maybe some others. I don't think those two mentioned run under windows though.
Anyways, good luck and thanks for the reply.

Come on, the only people that are thinking Google is evil are other companies that have to compete with them.

Actually, there is a growing number of people who think that Google is evil, but it has nothing to do with how much it pays its employees.

http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/betagroups.ht m
http://www.somethingawful.com/articles.php?a=2858
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2003/05/09/google_to_ fix_blog_noise/

That last one was from two years ago, and Google still hasn't fixed that problem.

Rob

Its created when you install the .NET framework 1.1 and used to run ASP.NET programs (so it doesn't run them under administrator). Or, if you read the discription: "Account used for running the ASP.NET worker process (aspnet_wp.exe)"

See here.

As to why its showing up as a login screen, its because there's more than one account and you've got the welcome screen enabled.

Internet users are deleting cookies en masse and causing serious problems for advertisers.

I never touch my cookies. But I'll bet advertisers would be bothered by my use of a custom /etc/hosts file.

Your complaint about the F-Lock key stirred up my own longtime irritation with it. It's the only thing I dislike about my MS Natural Multimedia Keyboard.

Realizing how many others were bothered by this prompted me to Google "F-Lock key" and discover this wonderful little registry hack. Note that there are several versions -- be sure to use the right one.

This works! A quick 30-second test of F5-Refresh and PrtScn image pasting have yielded perfect results. My function keys now behave like function keys regardless of the status of the [F] LED.

Now if only this worked when trying to hit F6 during SATA driver initialization in WinXP setup, and F2-activated BIOS access.

Google will get you everywhere - here is how to disable f-lock, I use it for my keyboard.

http://www.mvps.org/jtsang/flock-e.html

They haven't, but others have, more or less. That's my personal favorite /etc/hosts file (works on Win, Mac, & Lin) but there are many others to choose from.

http://vb.mvps.org/

I'm thinking the rest of the crowd just relearned how to use vb, and he and a handful of stickouts kept trying to use the old VB and now look what's happened.

vb.net will work in the next version of windows. vb6 won't, or something, they have some petition. I haven't read it.

I remember being afraid of .net for the longest time.

Anyway, the point is MS doesn't care what this guy or anyone else thinks. His little revolt reminds me of the tiananmen square guy.

unnecessary, just block the sites they originate from. I reccomend the mvps hosts file http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.txt

This hosts file is updated regularly, and after putting it on a box you will find that adaware needs not be run anymore. And you block lots of ad sites as well. Why this isn't a more common simply solution I'm not sure.

no, it does not
well, kind of

it opens a port for remote desktop IF you enable remote desktop.

so, the question is, does this exploit affect xp sp2 if rdp has never been enabled ?

Well it will also lead to innovations in new types of ads. I personally don't block google ads because not only are they lightweight and unobtrusive, but many times I find relivent information. Innovations need to come from comprimises, not from force like charging to view a web page.

Evem though I block ads in two ways, with the ad blocker in Mozilla and with a Host file, like you I don't intensionally block Google ads. To me they aren't that bad with their small sizes, thier placement in out of the way places, and they don't pop up. I even occasionally click on a Google ad though I normally won't look at resulting page, instead just let it open in the background before closing it. They are the only ones I will click on intensionally.

maybe not his, but a good one nonetheless

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

Still doesn't explain why my choices are all ghosted out, while logged in as administrator.

I ran across this recently as well, on a machine that was sysprepped for me by my university's IT staff. I found this link useful: http://windowsxp.mvps.org/aupolicy.htm

wanna remove banner ads. modify your host file, add 127.0.0.1 adservername.domain.tld

A good start is this file

yeah, I know it is off topic. I got Karma to burn

Here is a pre-compiled list that can be added to your /etc/hosts file and points those sites to 127.0.0.1.
MVPS.org

I personally use this hosts file. (Currently 239 kb, Last Update: 04-15-05)

Check out here for more INFO on hosts files.

The only thing I hate about hosts file blocking is, that when a site with an offending address is blocked, I can't access that site at all. I wish there was a way for my browser to continue loading the site while ignoring any blocked connections.

I personally use this hosts file. (Currently 239 kb, Last Update: 04-15-05)

Check out here for more INFO on hosts files.

The only thing I hate about hosts file blocking is, that when a site with an offending address is blocked, I can't access that site at all. I wish there was a way for my browser to continue loading the site while ignoring any blocked connections.

Mod parent up! In addition, one doesn't have to manually add urls to the host file when such gems like this hosts file already exist, a simple cut and paste is all you need. I don't need extensions, I just use that hosts file and update as needed (it works on Linux and Windows) and it blocks 99% of the ads on the net that I've seen in my surfing. I think the reason many of us are depressed/over stressed is because all of the visual advertising that our mind retains in constant bombardments. Advertisers? Talk to the host file hand.

Any other tips?

Without a doubt, the single most effective anti-spyware tool is a customized Hosts file. (you may have to turn off any proxy server settings in order for it to work, but that's worth it).

>Safari:
>-No way to block annoying Flash popups

It won't fix everything, but a custom /etc/hosts file like this one will kill a lot of ads, including lots of Flash. Takes a bit of work on OS X--you can't just 'sudo cat hosts.txt >> /etc/hosts', you have to 'sudo -s' and actually *be* root before you add their hosts file to yours. Not sure why, but once it's working, it's great.

Yes. Every geek should know Catmull-Rom splines.

For example: http://www.mvps.org/directx/articles/catmull/

A bit like if we were talking about Jim Gray, Gaston Julia or Boris Delaunay.

I just use this host file, which I've found to be one of the best at blocking most ads on-line. I use it both on my Windows and Linux boxes.

Keeping an up to date hosts file - good one's with hundreds of ad server entries can be found on the net such as here - is probably still the most effective way of killing most ads on your computer.

The problem is MOST of the time those are quickly out of date and you are updating them all the time.

Also many are just wrong.

Like lets say I do not like blah.slashdot.org. Some of these files add in slashdot.org. They are attempting to block *.slashdot.org (which some also put in their files) which is also wrong.

These also only work to a point. For example many sites will just redirect on an ip when you request a page from their site. So now your adding in IP addresses. You can not clobber whole ranges in the host file (at least not nicely).

Also once that file gets rather 'large' on a NT type box forget any sort of speed. I doubled my surfing speed by going to a more simple solution (pac files btw).

But if your hell bent on using one try this one
winhelp2002. It also snags about 90% of the spyware out there. The problem is that its VERY large...

The other problem with hosts files is as these sites more and more of the adverts to their 'own' servers you can not filter them as easy.

About the only time I see popups these days is if I turn off my handcrafted pac file javascript.

Pop-up free for me, but adblock did block two javascript items which is probably why. With a combination of adblock and userContent.css in firefox I'm still pop-up ad free.

You might want to try something similar. If things get really desparate, using an blocking HOSTS file can help as well.

This may be of assistance to those wishing to block connections to adware sites: hosts.

I can say from experience that this guy's done a pretty good job, and I've also written an 'installer'.

Microsoft could be forced to change Internet Explorer and make it incompatible with some web pages

That's not even correctly worded though. back when this story was new, MS released a preview of IE which conformed and didn't violate the terms of the case. all it did was throw up a message box saying "do you want to load this plugin content"

so it doesn't actually make the browser "incompatible", just makes flash content infinitely more annoying when viewed in IE. note the "without prompting" bit on this summary

Found this site that has a link for a hosts file that will automatically block most adware/spyware/malware: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm

The easiest way is to download something like IESPYAD which puts a whole bunch of domains into the restricted sites zone in IE. Just open the data file and start browsing. You can download it here:

https://netfiles.uiuc.edu/ehowes/www/resource.htm# IESPYAD

Another alternative is one of the many HOSTS files out there. Unfortunately, many of those also contain sites that serve ads, so you'll have to filter them yourself. Here are a few:

http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm
http://www.dozleng.com/hpguru/

Installing a hosts-file will make your parents browsing experience a lot more pleasing to the eye. The non-internet generation seems to get a lot more distracted than us slashdoters by blinking ads in the visual field. It might save you from some trojan URLs as well. And while you are at it, remove shockwave flash.