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wustat/wutrack.windows.com - What are they Used For?

Posted by Cliff on from the I-spy-bill's-secret-little-eye dept.

An Anonymous Coward asks: "On Windows XP today when i ran 'netstat', I noticed an http connection to wustat.windows.com. Several minutes later when i tried again I had an http connection to wutrack.windows.com. A search on google yields few results. Since windows.com is registered to microsoft, it makes me curious to know what wustat and wutrack stand for and what their purpose is. Is it Windows Usage Statistics/Tracking?" Has anyone else seen this on their XP systems?

9 of 106 comments (clear)

  1. Killa bees on a swarm by ObviousGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    They use that to track how many Wu Tang MP3s you've pirated.

    But seriously folks, that's to track updates for Windows Update. Basically it keeps a line of communication open so that if there is an update on the windows.com website, you will be notified ASAP.

    --
    I have been pwned because my /. password was too easy to guess.
  2. There's really only one solution to this problem: by hackwrench · · Score: 4, Funny

    Slashdot it!

    and if we're lucky, someone will pop around to see what happened to their server that we can tie up and grill mercilessly

  3. It's Quite Elementary by jcenters · · Score: 5, Funny

    This is all part of Microsoft's plans for world domination. Observe:

    Step 1: Use Windows XP to gather information on and track its users.

    Step 2: Annex the Fatherland.

    Step 3: In a twist of brutal irony, step three is a hostile takeover of Apple.

    Step 4: There is no Step 4.

    Happy Microserfing!

    --

    vi ~/.emacs

  4. Re:There's really only one solution to this proble by Jester998 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Unfortunately, I get a 403 Forbidden when trying to access that site... not even an authentication dialog, it's just denied. Someone should reverse engineer the authentication protocol so that we can REALLY Slashdot it (I would assume that valid traffic consumes more bandwidth than just sending a 403 page...???).

  5. Does it happen with windows update disabled? by hawkstone · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Just curious -- there are radio buttons under the Windows Update setting that let you choose from "whenver you feel like it, oh mighty XP" or "not on your life; I update myself". If you have it set to check it automatically own its own, it could very well do it on many of your random connections to the 'net, several times a day.

    If you disable it, does this still happen?

    In fact, is this reproducible enough that it happens whenver you run netstat?

  6. Microsoft deserves serious criticism: by Futurepower(R) · · Score: 4, Informative

    Microsoft deserves serious criticism:

    Windows XP Shows the Direction Microsoft is Going.

  7. Break It and Find Out by yancey · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Edit the C:\WINNT\System32\drivers\etc\hosts file so that the line reads thusly...

    127.0.0.1 localhost wutrack.windows.com wustat.windows.com ... and then see what breaks.. or doesn't.

    --
    Ouch! The truth hurts!
  8. disable it. by Neck_of_the_Woods · · Score: 4, Informative


    To turn off automatic updates for your computer:
    Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click System.

    Click the Automatic Updates tab, and then click Turn off automatic updating. I want to update my computer manually.

    --
    Neck_of_the_Woods
    #/usr/local/surf/glassy/overhead
  9. Better Still by DrSkwid · · Score: 4, Interesting

    route it to a proper machine and log what comes out

    --
    There are places where the networks are not touching,and there are places where they are-Boeing's Lori Gunter