Companies, Users using Microsoft WinXP, Office XP and Internet Explorer have been warned that documents containing personal information could be sent to Microsoft along with debugging information in the event of a program crash. The feature that reports errors sends crash and debugging information back to Microsoft to help the company detect and fix bugs in its software. But the U.S. Department of Energy's Computer Incident Advisory Capability office (CIAC) has released a security bulletin reporting that the debugging information includes an image of the current contents of the PC's memory, which may include all or part of the document being viewed or edited.
Microsoft bug reports may get personal data
| Author | Comment | ||
|---|---|---|---|
 dat21(d) |
Microsoft bug reports may get personal data |
Lead | |
|
Posts: 630 (10/19/01 11:40:51) |
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/19/01 14:09:56) |
Was just reading up on this also Microsoft bug reports may get personal data I suspected something strange about the way it was functioning last month and had Add/Remove Programs uninstall it.
Btw: My browser just crashed again and it looks as if there are some remnants of that Error Reporting Bug still on my system. The reporting details says among other things; "your Digital Product ID, could be used to identify your license; and the IP address of your computer. We do not intentionally collect your files, name, address, email address or any other form of personally identifiable information. However, the error report could contain customer-specific information such as data from open files." There is also a reference being made to a peculiar systems file named "wps.dll" Am wondering whether any one has this file in their system and what its function may be? |
||
|
mrpcman |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 1819 (10/19/01 22:39:46) |
well, that's why I don't send the "data" to ms when my software craps out.
Alex Worthen
 |
||
|
xpfreak(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 99 (10/20/01 01:58:23) |
While Win98, 2000 or IE5.5 doesnt have this capability unless you install SP2, WinXP, OfficeXP and IE6 has this feature built-in and it will sent out information on every crash automatically even if you dont.
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/20/01 03:48:15) |
From what I am able to figure out, it can only send the data to MS if one has outbound port 445 tcp/udp Microsoft-DS open and the browsers Advanced Options; "enable third party browser extensions" ticked.
This wps.dll file must be some powerful application extension because when it is removed from my systems directory no connection can be made to the internet, also my firewalls and blockers malfunction, are rendered useless, and can not be re-enabled! What I find very strange is that the files properties lists the Company source name as; Sygate Technologies, Inc. 2000 which is a company who claims to provide more than two million networks worldwide with high-performance Internet access management and security products? |
||
|
jasoned(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 104 (10/20/01 08:26:41) |
Just to set the records straight, IE5.5 SP2 doesnt have Error Reporting built in, unless off-course you opt to install it which is available seperately at Windows Update.
IE6 which is the default Browser for XP has this feature built in and features that some may find useful but not without a price. There are many more secret extensions and files which are very questionable. As MS have publicly stated, they're taking a tough stand againts warez & XP is designed fight and resists all attempts of doing so. In my personal opinion, its better to stick with IE5.5 with SP2. At least you wont have to worry about the possibility of your privacy being invaded. |
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/20/01 11:31:16) |
If all else fails I will attempt to reinstall IE5.5(SP2) but first I would like to try and disable this feature via the registry if at all possible. Was looking through; HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\ but was not able to find anything. Would anyone have any suggestions of where we may be able to locate the key(s) pertaining to this Error Reporting feature in the registry to modify or delete it and/or where the application extension files are in the Windows Systems directory?
|
||
|
jasoned(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 104 (10/20/01 21:34:41) |
I dont think that you can disable "ER" in IE6 as its built into its core system files and there's nothing in the Registry unless off-course someone have found a workaround.
|
||
|
cr7 |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 113 (10/20/01 23:28:55) |
To be honest, I never liked IE6 anyway.
UnIdENtiFieD SuPeR GeEK!!!
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/21/01 04:24:20) |
Well I guess that settles it, I am going to leave it on for a little while longer because it does have its positive sides compared to previous browsers and if it is being largely used by MS to acquire data then I will use the IEradicator to remove all traces of it from my system and reinstall IE5.5(SP2) plus update the security patches i.e. Q306121.
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/21/01 06:42:03) |
Sad to say that sometimes a new or improved versions of anything related to Computers does come with a price.
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/22/01 04:04:04) |
I finally managed to identify the files which were left behind after removing the tool "ledw.exe" using the Add/Remove Programs applet in Control Panel. If anyone would prefer to clean their system of this ER Tool then in order to complete the job the following files also need to be manually removed:
C: \ProgramFiles\InternetExplorer\1033\Dwintl.dll, version 10.0.2118.2. or higher C: \ProgramFiles\InternetExplorer\Dw.exe, version 10.0.2118.2. or higher C: \ProgramFile\InternetExplorer\DW15.EXE C: \ProgramFiles\InternetExplorer\Iexplore.exe, version 5.51.3 (Delete then restore from the Recycle Bin after removing the others) Addendum: Just couldn't wait to give you the results. Since I manually removed all traces of this ER Tool my IE6 and Outlook Express6 are both working very, very well now. I highly recommend that you search your main drives program files and manually remove those files because they seem to also slow down and hinder the efficiency of the browser! It must have continually been contacting home base and who knows what else? Thanks David  for starting this thread otherwise I would still be plagued with this constant problem. |
||
|
mrpcman |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 1819 (10/23/01 21:50:04) |
manually remove internet explorer? My firewall has never reported any of those programs except for IE trying to contact the internet.
Alex Worthen
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/24/01 03:36:37) |
Removing those files will not remove Internet Explorer from your system, just the ones responsible for reporting data to MS. IE should not be acting as a server unless you want it that way?
|
||
|
mrpcman |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 1819 (10/24/01 14:09:12) |
isn't Iexplore.exe the browser? no, wait...it's ie.exe......nevermind.
Alex Worthen
|
||
|
Unregistered(d) |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 0 (10/29/01 07:41:14) |
You're right Alex I have edited the post so not to confuse anyone. I forgot to mention that in order to ensure the proper removal of these files that "Iexplore.exe" be temporarily deleted, the other files should then be removed and Iexplore.exe should then be restored from the Recycle Bin.
|
||
|
mrpcman |
Re: Microsoft bug reports may get personal data | ||
|
Posts: 1819 (10/29/01 11:49:51) |
okay, that makes more sense.
Alex Worthen
|
||
|
RunningHoove |
Uhh.. Didn't you mean to say [THEIR]... | ||
|
Posts: 3 (05/16/02 12:13:49) |
"...well, that's why I don't send the "data" to ms when MY software craps out."
Is it YOUR software? Or is it theirs? I wouldn't take the blame by calling MS crap YOUR software, otherwise it's you I should file suit against for wasting my life away when their software craps out. Non-MS software doesn't send error-datagrams, just Microsoft's. And YES, they CAN trace your identity based on information gathered, of particular interest are the crackz, appz and warez you have loaded, they claim not to report this data, but the SPA: www.spa.org/piracy/ is very aware of who YOU are based on information from Microsoft's various data tracking mechanisms. Big Brother is watching. And the invasion of privacy is that little annoyance called the "Microsoft Error Reporting Tool." Get rid of it now, it's stone-age prying at it's worst. Better yet, acquaint yourself with open-source Linux and join the free, modern world. My 2 cents, -- RunningHoove... |
||
Quick Reply
Contact Us | MainPage | Register An Account
CyberwizardPit.Net
