Author Topic: Cutting the chord.  (Read 3352 times)

seeker1

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Cutting the chord.
« on: July 16, 2002, 01:38:47 PM »
Since I had previously uninstalled Windows Media Player due to the issues that have arisen lately over DRM and their EULA, it is expecially strange that I just found another one of MS's insideous little files that somehow appeared on my startup menu as a running process called WMENCAGT.EXE, which is an administrative encoder for remote control of the computer. This is odd indeed, since I never permit anything of this nature, and I don't believe that I overlooked it while uninstalling WMP. I had also found a DRM Plug-in in Opera, after having removed them.  Therefore, I want to remove the possibility of any communication between my computer and MS.  I looked over the blocklist file and then the topics on this board, but it appears that Proxo can only block certain matching expressions and not on a blanket basis by url.  Is there a way that this can be configured?

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><

altosax

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #1 on: July 16, 2002, 02:28:56 PM »
add in your hosts file the entry:

127.0.0.1 www.sitename.ext

the hosts file is in c:windows
for win9x/me or in C:windowssystem32driveretc for winnt/2k/xp

if you find a file named hosts.sam remove the extension renaming it to hosts.

regards,
altosax.

 
 

hpguru

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #2 on: July 16, 2002, 02:30:45 PM »
quote:

I want to remove the possibility of any communication between my computer and MS.  I looked over the blocklist file and then the topics on this board, but it appears that Proxo can only block certain matching expressions and not on a blanket basis by url.  Is there a way that this can be configured?


You need a firewall to accomplish what you described. BTW where did you get your information regarding "WMENCAGT.EXE"?

Facing each other,
a thousand miles apart.
Facing each other,
a thousand miles apart.

seeker1

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #3 on: July 16, 2002, 03:25:08 PM »
AS I said, I found the presence of it in the msconfig>startup and TaskInfo, but I found the description of it here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/en-us/wmencode/htm/remoteadministration.asp

I use the Kerio Firewall, but I have only used it to create rules for protocols and not URLs.  How is that done?

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><

JakBeNymble

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #4 on: July 16, 2002, 05:17:13 PM »
Hi "Friends",

            I have noticed something also. Proxo can block URLs and keep the browser from accessing a site, and the host.file can stop any app from accessing the sites. However, I found that if I'm using a Remote Proxy to surf with, the host.file doesn't block the sites. And when I realized it that's when I started blocking them by writing Fall-Wall Rules.
I don't know if others experience this when using a Remote Proxy or if it's just something that's particular with my machine. But I thought it was important enough to mention. Either way, my Fire-wall will stop my machine from accesing Urls I add to the restricted sites list.

Have a Great & Wonderful Day,
"Jak"
PS: "Dear Altosax, Great work on Your New Default.configs! They are Fast!"

 
 

dave1006

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #5 on: July 16, 2002, 10:06:01 PM »
Hi Jak,
the Hosts file blocks connections to specific IPs. But, if you use a remote proxy - you will only connect to the remote proxy and not the IPs in the host list.

dave
dave at smokeajay.co.uk
dave
dave at smokeajay.co.uk

seeker1

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #6 on: July 17, 2002, 02:57:58 PM »
Since there probably will be times that I am forced to access MS, I was hoping that there was a convenient way to block them  other than the host file, that would be easy to switch off and on.  I know that I can do this with SpyBlocker, but I'm not too fond of the program, because they block half of the internet for reasons that sometimes escape me.  Jak, if I can use Proxo for this purpose, what blockfile list should I use?

"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><
"Let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath"

James 1:19 <><

pooms

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #7 on: July 17, 2002, 03:42:53 PM »
You shouldn't depend on Proxo as a way of blocking access to MS for
your computer. First of all, Proxo only deals with HTTP access, and
secondly, it can only control access for software programs that you
explicitly configure to go through Proxo. For example, Windows Media
Player can use a number of different protocols, including HTTP, and
when using HTTP it will only go through Proxo if you configure
it to. Even if you tell it to use Proxo for HTTP, it can still use
any of the other protocols (and bypass Proxo) unless you explicitly
disable the other protocols. And then, of course, who knows if
all the protocols that it can use for all communications can be
disabled via the Options menu?

You really need to use something like a firewall for this.

 
 

JakBeNymble

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #8 on: July 17, 2002, 05:20:40 PM »
Hi "Friends",
           
            If You would use Proxo to block, I would use the URL Killer list in Proxo "Seeker1", but I would add it to the host.file also. If You don't have a Fire-wall, I might suggest ZoneAlarm or tiny-personal Fire-wall. They are both free for Home Users.  http://www.zonelabs.com/store/content/home.jsp or http://www.tinysoftware.com/home/tiny2?la=EN. However, I'm not sure how much either of the Free version will let You block. Both are very easy to set-up.

To "dave1006": thanx for the explanation on the Remote Proxy issue, I thought that was what was going on but I wasn't sure. My machine does some "weird-stuff" from time to time.

Have a Great & Wonderful Day All!
Best Wishes,
"Jak"

 
 

hpguru

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Cutting the chord.
« Reply #9 on: July 17, 2002, 11:46:49 PM »
quote:

I use the Kerio Firewall, but I have only used it to create rules for protocols and not URLs.  How is that done?



Well for example to block access to the entire microsoft.com domain you could create a rule blocking access to 207.46.0.0 with a mask of 255.255.0.0. This will block access to www.microsoft.com, support.microsoft.com & "everythingelse.microsoft.com". When you need to access MS just disable the rule.

Facing each other,
a thousand miles apart.

Edited by - hpguru on 18 Jul 2002  01:10:25

Edited by - hpguru on 18 Jul 2002  01:12:37
Facing each other,
a thousand miles apart.