Trafcking Software Alert

We received a Microsoft Alert message that just popped up
while operating on Explorer. The Alert said a simple test
had been done and identified a cookie on our computer that
allowed tracking of all of our on-line activity. It
allows people to track what we input on-line. It said a
tracking software was detected. A link was provided to do
a free download of a scanner that would remove all spyware
programs. Is this something we should fololow through
on? Is it a legitimate alert?
Thank You

Lanwench
Fri Nov 28 22:09:50 CST 2003

No, it's not legit - it's a protection racket, at best.

Does the window title say anything about Messenger? If so, you need a
firewall. 'Messenger spam', is not in itself harmful, but is symptomatic of
a larger problem - your computer has ports open from the Internet.

You can disable the Messenger service, but that is unwise as a solution as
you'll still have the underlying problem that caused you to get the messages
in the first place - consider the messages a useful warning that you have no
protection from the Internet. This is all too important now, given the
recent rash of RPC worms....

For a standalone machine, see www.sygate.com for a free personal firewall,
or if using Windows XP, you can enable the built-in internet connection
firewall (ICF).

See http://securityadmin.info/faq.htm for more info. Also,
http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/nopopups.htm is a good resource - although
for browser popups, you might want to consider http://toolbar.google.com -
it works like a champ and is also handy for searching.



bluehmann (anonymous) @mchsi.com wrote:
> We received a Microsoft Alert message that just popped up
> while operating on Explorer. The Alert said a simple test
> had been done and identified a cookie on our computer that
> allowed tracking of all of our on-line activity. It
> allows people to track what we input on-line. It said a
> tracking software was detected. A link was provided to do
> a free download of a scanner that would remove all spyware
> programs. Is this something we should fololow through
> on? Is it a legitimate alert?
> Thank You

N
Sat Nov 29 22:24:17 CST 2003

In article <002b01c3b629$5adb1f10$a001280a@phx.gbl>,
anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com says...
> We received a Microsoft Alert message that just popped up
> while operating on Explorer. The Alert said a simple test
> had been done and identified a cookie on our computer that
> allowed tracking of all of our on-line activity. It
> allows people to track what we input on-line. It said a
> tracking software was detected. A link was provided to do
> a free download of a scanner that would remove all spyware
> programs. Is this something we should fololow through
> on? Is it a legitimate alert?

To add to Lanwrench's response; if you have a high speed Internet
connection, cable or xDSL, consider an inexpensive router. If your modem is
of the USB variety, consider beating up on your provider to exchange it for
an Ethernet modem, then install that inexpensive router. A hardware NAT
device between your computer and the Internet is much better security than
just a personal firewall.

--
Norman
~Win dain a lotica, En vai tu ri, Si lo ta
~Fin dein a loluca, En dragu a sei lain
~Vi fa-ru les shutai am, En riga-lint