windows XP - feel like someone is watching me

[Guns Aximbo]

This new version ov Windows XP makes me a little nervous. My PC transmits back and fourth with Microsoft adding bits and bytes of programs designed to protect my PC from hackers, viruses and the like.

The problem I have is; how do I know that it's not the government spying on us? I know I know, I'm paranoid. Well MS is a very RED company. Who knows what kind of agreement they have with the fascists that run our Country?

[BurgherHoldtheLies]

1. Who cares...it's called freedom of speech. nt

[inslee08]

2. Red company?

Why do you say that Microsoft is a red company, at least more than any other corporations? It seems that the tech industry has found hotspots in the bluest of places: Seattle, the Bay Area, parts of the northeast, etc. So I don't know why you consider them a red company, though I do imagine it has something to do with the antitrust problems...

[InvisibleBallots]

3. So switch to Apple or Linux

http://www.mandrakelinux.com

[Guns Aximbo]

8. don't know how to use LINUX

It's all Latin to me... Would all of my programs work with Linux?

[InvisibleBallots]

10. it looks just like Windows, you can switch easily

You click the "Start" button and make you programs work. Any program you use Word processor, Excel spreadsheet, whatever, you can use a program in Apple or Linux too.

[Solon]

19. Here's an Idea...

If nervous of switching, try this, there are Live CD versions of Linux, what you do is download the ISO, burn it, then boot straight to CD, test the system out without fear of damaging your hard drive. I would recommend possibly KANOTIX, it has the best hardware detection, can be installed on your hardrive, even dual boot with Windows if you want, and its Debian based, which has the largest selection of software availuable, like well over a thousand packages.

[Guns Aximbo]

22. Maybe I'll try it.

[Solon]

25. Not that hard, it uses a GUI that is superficially similar to windows...

called KDE, its excellent, of course the best part is that the full system is free of charge, and free as in freedom to do whatever the hell you want with it, comes with openoffice which reads files from Microsoft Office, and like I said, is open source, more stable, and more secure than Windows could ever hope to be.

[Warpy]

4. Do you have any idea how many people they'd have to hire

to spy on all PC users, all the time?

Hell, we'd have half the population of this country employed full time to watch the other half.

Think of it, low unemployment, and all the Puritans would be too tired to write crank letters to the FCC about programs that aren't Jesus all the time.

I think anybody who tried spying on me would be bored to tears in no time. They'd end up sleeping on the job, and that's just fine with me.

[Guns Aximbo]

11. e-mail scan

scanning that the FBI does. What's it called? Panther or something.

[Huckebein the Raven]

51. Isn't it called Carnivore ?

[Journeyman]

12. Ah, but who’s to guard the guards? . . .

Juvenal asks: Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?

[InvisibleBallots]

21. about 20 or so

It would take about 20 or so people to spy on the majority of Americans through their online activities. Maybe add a guy to bring coffee and donuts in the morning.

[kuozzman]

5. People don't receive some of my emails for hours and

My website (tripod)now won't let me type-at all-in the text box.
Most of the stuff is about the stolen election.......
Hmmmmmmm......

[LibertyorDeath]

6. They are

Top-47 Windows bugging functions', and then some. There is also an appendix on forensic methodology and Magnetic Force Microscopy (MFM).



http://www.indymedia.org.uk/en/2004/10/298702.html

[Guns Aximbo]

13. in english please? I'm not savy cimosabe

[kittykitty]

50. I'm not savy, Kemosabe Those over 60 know this name.

[Guns Aximbo]

18. Holy SHIT! I was right!

look at the Link and weep boys...! I was right!

[Guns Aximbo]

how do you know so much about this?

let me know. will you?

[LibertyorDeath]

45. Here

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=103&topic_id=93856

[BattyDem]

7. Turn off automatic updates

That will help stop a lot of the MS communication.

BUT ... make sure you remember to manually check for updates, especially if the MS security features are the only ones you're using to protect you.

[samwisefoxburr]

9. Think about it...

...Windows runs on 90%+ of the worlds PCs, HOW are they going to sort through all that data? And how are they going to decide whether it's a virus, hacker, or trojan doing anything bad? And if you aren't doing anything bad, why worry?

[Guns Aximbo]

14. again... e-mail scanning

They're already scanning and reading ALL E-MAILS in the world and there'es more of that than humans - EVER.

[InvisibleBallots]

17. It's EASY for the government to spy on us

It doesn't take thousands of people or even much computing power. It's EASY AS PIE. Everything you post here is archived somewhere, and they know your email address, your IP number, and your credit card number.

EASY. Let's not pretend the government - and all of the Fortune 500 - doesn't do it.

[Guns Aximbo]

20. You're right!

Absolutely. Now I am scared. Any way to hide my identity?

[InvisibleBallots]

29. sure

You can camp out in federal parks and stuff, and barter with the locals. If you plan on being a normal, functioning member of American society, then no, there is no way to hide your identity.

You can send email that's mostly private using GnuPG http://www.gnupg.org - but they will still know who you are sending it to, if not what's in the email.

[Guns Aximbo]

33. what about encryption programs?

[RebelOne]

15. You are definitely paranoid

Ain't nobody watching you. That is, unless you feel you have something to hide.

[Spacemom]

23. My mom always told me

Just because you aren't paranoid, doesn't mean they aren't out to get you. :P

[Occulus]

49. Or, to make it more palatable,

"Just because you sense an enemy behind every bush, it does not follow that you are wrong."

[dkofos]

16. One way to know for sure

Send yourself an e-mail with the word bomb in it.
If you get a visit from the FBI within a week, you know you are being watched.

:evilgrin: :evilgrin:

[miss_kitty]

24. Ditch IE

Use Firefox for browsing, Thunderbird for email: http://www.mozilla.org/
I'm not saying they can't look at FF if they want, I'm saying FF is more secure than IE. Leave IE on your box-only use it for M/S updates.

Also, you can close down a lot of exploitable shit on your M/S box at Gibson Research: http://www.grc.com/default.htm

use a firewall-not the M/S weak-ass firewall. Something else. There is ZA-which I am dumping because it's incompatible w/ my system, Black Ice, Kerio, Sygate.

Get Adaware and delete the M/S Spyware it finds...
I am going to post this, then find an excellent link to a thread here at DU about computer security.

On Edit: here's that thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x447

Bookmark it.

[Guns Aximbo]

27. Thanks

I used to use Firefox but it was flakey and crashed a couple of times.

[miss_kitty]

37. That can be due to a bad install

or it was a preview version. and let me assure you-the flakiest FireFox install comes nowhere near the heartache and bullshit IE can cause.

If you try FF again, and you have probs-Uninstall and reinstall. Very quick and easy.
OR you may want to look at the Avant Brower, which runs off of IE, but is way more secure, has tabbed browsing, flash and pop-up suppression, etc: http://www.avantbrowser.com/

[idiosyncratic]

38. Try the Opera browser instead and you will never again use IE

I've been using Opera for more than two years and it is fantastic.

I tried Firefox, but it didn't compare to the sophistication of Opera.

Opera is free to use with a little Google text ad . . . however, it was well worth the price to me and I bought it just four days after downloading it.

[LibertyorDeath]

40. Firefox is many things but flakey isn't one of them.

Lets have a poll :)

[Acryliccalico]

26. Relax they can not watch half the population

of the US and everything that is going on, in every country, all at the same time. If they could we would all be working for them because it would take that many people to do the job. It would just be too much information to go through. Maybe they would find your posts, say in the year 2025. Besides do we care? This is free speech still, isn't it?

[Guns Aximbo]

30. you're wrong

[indigobusiness]

44. The problem is, if you pique their interest...for any reason,

they can easily sniff around.

[Guns Aximbo]

48. sounds stepfordish to me

F@%k them. To what extent can they "snif around"?

[indigobusiness]

53. To a great extent. Midland, Texas is most stepfordish.

More Stepford than Stepford. * was steeped in the fine art of sniffery before the tools of tecnology and power fell into his lap.
They can sniff in ways you wouldn't believe.

[rman]

52. Don't need people to do the watching

It isn't hard to gather the data in a database and have it analysed by software. Ashcroft/Gonzalez don't care about false positives.

[indigobusiness]

54. That's the creepiest aspect of all:

"Ashcroft/Gonzalez don't care about false positives."

[spanone]

28. R U a Terrist? Chill.

[Guns Aximbo]

32. no ... but

but i am a fervent anti bush, anti fascist, anti religion, radical democrat. and that is obviously enough to have me watched or put on a list of one kind or another.

[Name removed]

39. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[LibertyorDeath]

43. "i am a fervent anti bush, anti fascist, anti religion, radical democrat"

Now that's the kind of newbie talk I love to hear !

W E L C O M E ! to DU

Microsoft claims that all info it gathers is for a better end user computing experience & to improve future products.

This may be true to an extent but all info gathered can be used for a dual purpose. If any Federal or State agency takes an interest in you for ANY reason there is Absolutely nothing stopping MS from sharing this info with interested parties except their mission statement which like most is complete and utter bullshit.

This site is monitored. I'm sure all Left of center sites in America are.
They have to do something to justify the billions & billions of taxpayer $ they get year after year. Think of it as a make work program.

Happy New year Agent Mike :hi:

[Guns Aximbo]

47. I don't want to be monitored

How can I get around being monitored? There has to be a way.

[Taxloss]

31. Must be one of those freedoms they hate us for.

I had a paranoia attack today. I live in central London, and around the corner from me an old building is about to be torn down to make way for another bland block of luxury flats. Anyway, I went down there with my camera to photo the old shop signs (some of them are gems) before they're destroyed forever. While I was there, I spotted a boundary stone I've never seen before (these mark the parish boundaries and are often decorative). I walked over to photo it and suddenly realised it was actually on part of the Military Police barracks (which looks like a Victorian apartment building) and that I had about five CCTV cameras zeroed on me. I had never realised how many cameras there are in my area; if I hadn't been trying to focus on the stone, I wouldn't have noticed the one next to me move. Eerie.

[Cleita]

34. My experience was,

because I disabled the ability to get MS updates, my security couldn't update itself along with the MS updates and I found myself combating all kinds of spyware. I ultimately got the Sasser virus. So since I enabled it again, I haven't gotten anymore viruses.

So I guess Microsoft Windows has got us by the cojones.

[Guns Aximbo]

36. and who wants to be controlled?

[miss_kitty]

42. I guess you missed this thread in the computer group and my prev post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=242x447

I also HIGHLY RECOMMEND GRC (Gibson Research) to turn off the M/S Networking, sharing, Plug and Play, extra Ports only hackers will exploit, safely reconfigure your Bios and scan yourself for vulnerabilies. http://www.grc.com/default.htm

There's also this test site: http://www.jasons-toolbox.com/BrowserSecurity/
that will show you your browser's vulnerabilities. If you are still using IE, expect many red Xs

[HysteryDiagnosis]

35. If you run a program such as Ethereal, you can log your packets both

in and out... and you can look at them, I mean EXACTLY what is in them, filter for particular IP's, programs, etc. If you are computer savvy, or if know someone who is... you can check out Ethereal at

www.insecure.org

Trinity did it right in the second Matrix release.

So I was shocked to find that Trinity does it properly in The Matrix Reloaded. She whips out Nmap version 2.54BETA25, uses it to find a vulnerable SSH server, and then proceeds to exploit it using the SSH1 CRC32 exploit from 2001

[indigobusiness]

41. Today there were repeated attempts by whitehouse.gov to connect

to my computer, which were blocked by my recently installed Peer Guardian. I don't how well the attempts were blocked, or what it means, but it's creepy as hell. No wonder they can't pull this country together, if they're wasting time worrying about me.

[Feron]

46. Just get a firewall

Not only will it protect your computer from unwanted visitors ,but it will protect your computer from nasties as well. You can also log intrusion attempts. If something is really secret or valuable then only a dummy would put it on an internet-connected computer anyway. Microsoft can't spy (which i don't think they do) on you without the internet.

Really your data is far more at risk from a cracker/script kiddie trying to get your credit card/bank account number than anything else.