> > > > Microsoft officials confirm that beta versions of Windows 95 include a > > > > small viral routine called Registration Wizard. It interrogates every > > > > system on a network gathering intelligence on what software is being run > > > > on which machine. It then creates a complete listing of both Microsoft's > > > > and competitors' products by machine, which it reports to Microsoft when > > > > customers sign up for Microsoft's Network Services, due for launch later > > > > this year. This is another example of one of the things we should all be aware of in the computer security business. Although Microsoft might me a poor example, it is unbelievably easy for the author/manufacturer of any so-called "trusted" piece of software to place "trojan - code" which may be harmful to us, or beneficial to them without us realizing it. Often it may heppen unintentionally. Don't we have enough problems keeping our information private without having to monitor high profile vendors (or all vendors for that matter) for occurrences such as these. But I guess thats an inherent limitation with people... You just can't trust 'everyone' :) I'm just glad that with the large number of us out there who examine/explore code interactions, that people catch these things and that we share this information. FWIW, the Microsoft "registration wizard" in Windows 95 preview does not indicate in any way, shape or form that it will send your directory structure out over the net. I'm reminded of Prodigy's big scare a few years back in which their caching algorithm had some 'bug' which wrote the contents of a users memory to the cache file (hello... Zero the Memory =) ), and allowed Prodigy to retrieve the contents of this "cache", thereby allowing them access to your sensitive data (ie: Whats in your SmartDrive cache at any given time?? Payroll/HR Data... A new high tech discovery??) Cheers ...Jan Bloodhounds International Inc. Protecting your Information and Communications Calgary, Alberta CANADA 403-660-7801