[FWD] SoftNews

============================================================================== * Forwarded by Eudgine Palenock (500:95/468) * Region : MAGGOTS.COLONY.INFO (MAGGOTS.COLONY.INFO) * From: Dmitry Perevertkin, 2:5020/1652 (27 Jul 99 12:27) * Who: All * Topic: SoftNews ============================================================================== I ────────────────────────────────────∙ │┘∙°Promoted by person Dmitry Perevertkin°, from station: 2:5020/1652 │∙°Echo : 1072.COMPNEWS° ("News of the computer world") │°From : Andrew Worobyew°, 2:5020/1072 (Mon Jul 26 1999 20:04) │∙°В : All° │┐∙°Topic : SoftNews° ї└─────────────────────────────────── ────────────────────────────────────∙ ·────────·══■∙ ∙■══·────────· │ My respect to you, dear All! │ Remember the storm of angry responses about processor identification numbers PIII? It looks like something similar is brewing now, only regarding Windows 95. The company published very interesting information on its server Electron-Service. There were rumors about Windows 95 that this operating system collects and sends information about the user and the configuration of his computer to Microsoft. The issue about the 95s is still being resolved, but about Windows 98 we can say with confidence: Yes, he collects and sends. This inconspicuous but interesting feature of the system was discovered by the president of the companyPhar Lap Software Richard Smith. Browsing content Word and Excel documents, Richard accidentally saw the number of his network card in them and wondered: what, exactly, is he doing there? It turned out that The number is part of a 32-bit identifier called Globally Unique Identifier (GUID). If your computer does not have an Ethernet adapter, Word and Excel substitutes a fictitious card number in the GUID, the same for all machines. Windows online registration utility called Registration Wizard (regwiz.exe), generates two more identification numbers. First, Hardware Identification Number (HWID) also depends on the computer configuration and may in most cases, it is unique to characterize it. Second, Microsoft ID (MSID), is determined by the information entered by the user himself. All the described numbers, including GUID, are sent to the website when registering the OS Microsoft. Smith called all these facts unprecedented in the computer business, and added, that he is not aware of any other company doing this. He also announced that he was quite confident that Windows NT does not collect information about user, but he doubts about Windows 95. Microsoft responded very quickly to these messages, admitting that Windows collects and sends computer identifiers to the company serverusers. However, these identifiers, according to company representatives, disappear into oblivion, are not entered into any databases, and in general all this is just bug, oversight of programmers. The fix, the company promises, will be released and posted on the site within a few weeks. However, the story does not end there - new intriguing details. It was observed that the HWID and MSID generated by RegWiz when Windows 98 registrations are placed in the cookies of the Internet Explorer browser and can be read from there on any Web site. Moreover, the server can not only count, but also change this data. If the change is meaningful, sites they will begin to mistake you for someone else. All specified manipulations in detail described and demonstrated on the website security.pharlap.com/regwiz/index.htm. To the message that user IDs are not only collected, but also are demonstrated to everyone, Microsoft again responded promptly. Firstly, the company announced that it will stop reading HWID and entering it into their databases (which somewhat contradicts the message that this number is not taken into account in any way). Secondly, within two weeks Microsoft promised release a utility that erases HWID from the Windows registry. However, this operation can be done “manually”, and quite simply:you need to disable RegWiz by removing the link to its library regsvr32.exe from the registry -u c:windowssystem egwizc.dll (to turn it back on you need the -u key replace with -c). And if you run Regedit, you can look at your HWID and MSID: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINESoftware MicrosoftWindows CurrentVersionHWID, HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftware MicrosoftWindows CurrentVersionMSID. After looking, you can change or completely erase them. -+- Now from Jav you can wash your keyboard. + Origin: I boarded the plane and tried to save... (2:5020/1072) ∙·········································· ∙ Hello, (All) That's it, blah. Everyone knew about it, but didn't know where to look. ================================================================================ Hello, All! Best regards, Evgeniy aka EVP.