Unwanted Windows XP connections to sa.windows.com
This is probably an old piece of information, but it was fairly new to me. I’ve found that my computer was periodically connecting to (and attempting to connect to) a site called sa.windows.com. After many Google Groups searches it appears that the Windows “Search Assistant” is constantly updating itself through a web service located at that machine. Thankfully it’s easy to turn off. Go to the registry key “HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Explorer\Cabinet State” and add a String key named “Use Search Asst” with the value “no”. Do it for all the users on your system that login.
This is one of the things that piss me off about web services - they’re a total bitch to block with a firewall since they all use port 80 and most of them use the system URL fetching utilities.
matt said,
December 19, 2003 @ 10:55 am
i dont seem to have a Cabnit state.. hmm maybe thats good ..
snail said,
January 15, 2004 @ 7:42 pm
quote:>This is one of the things that piss me off about web services - they’re a total bitch to block with a firewall since they all use port 80 and most of them use the system URL fetching If you use sygate’s firewall it will block it even though it uses port 80 because it blocks anything trying to access the net ((just check remember my answer and check no))that you have not already ok’d and oking the browser will still catch new programs trying to sneak thru, it also has anoth way to block using advanced rules which over-rides all other settings and it does it via IP single,mask or range of IP’sutilities.end quote<<
snail said,
January 15, 2004 @ 7:47 pm
Sorry it looks like the above un-quote jumped out of place (but I guess you -all can figure it out))
outopst firewall user said,
January 20, 2005 @ 5:26 pm
You might try outpost firewall from agnitum (agnitum.com).
It is policy based and blocks by application so even though the communication with sa.windows.com is attempted though port 80, it is comes from windows explorer and not internet explorer… so outpost picks it up as a violation and notifies the user. That’s how I first found out about this issue in the first place.
Did I mention that agnitum outpost firewall is free for personal use :)
The Dewman said,
April 14, 2005 @ 11:31 am
Source:
Instructions to turn it off are below:
Collection of Information
Using Microsoft Windows XP Search Companion, you can search for all types of objects, from pictures, music, and documents, to printers, computers, and people. You can search your own computer, other computers (if you are connected to a network or workgroup), and the Internet. You can also choose to search with the help of an animated screen character.
No information is ever collected by Search Companion when you search your local system, LAN, or intranet for any reason.
When you search the Internet using the Search Companion, the following information is collected regarding your use of the service: the text of your Internet search query, grammatical information about the query, the list of tasks which the Search Companion Web service recommends, and any tasks you select from the recommendation list. Search Companion does not record your choice of Internet search engine, and does not collect or request any personal or demographic information. Information collected by the Search Companion can not be used to identify you individually, and is never used in conjunction with other data sources that may contain personal data. All information is retained for twelve months, and discarded in the thirteenth month following collection.
The information collected by Search Companion when you search the Internet is used by Microsoft for the operation of the service, to maintain quality of the service, and to provide general statistics regarding its usage. The Search Companion Web service can not be effectively operated without the collection of this information. By using the Search Companion Web service, you consent to the data practices described in this statement. If you wish to disable the Search Companion Web service, you can do so by switching to Classic Search for the Internet. Microsoft Windows does not collect any query information when you use Classic Search. You should consult the privacy policy of your Internet search engine to determine what information that Web site retains.
To use Classic Search for the Internet, follow the instructions below:
Click Start, and then click Search.
Click Change preferences.
Click Change Internet search behavior.
Click With classic Internet search, and then click OK
r00ted said,
June 16, 2005 @ 11:09 am
Or, you can just add sa.windows.com to your HOSTS file using
127.0.0.1 sa.windows.com
be sure, to include a hard return/blank line at the end of that file….also be sure that
127.0.0.1 localhost
exists as the first line (well, first line before any hostnames….. the commented (#) lines are ignored.