Re: Alcatel 'frog' query

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Colin Wilson wrote:

[unattributed quote:]
I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error
with my modem and to go to the website and download the latest
driver.

This sounds suspicious to me -

Very likely! I saw alerts just like that, being blocked by my
firewall, when I ran ethereal on my BB network.

If I'm right, then these are using the Windows Messenger Service. Not
to be confused with other MS ways of getting instant distractions,
such as IM and suchlike.

We don't see them on campus - when I enquired, I was told that they
are blocked at the border router for security reasons. Very wise too.

Before reading this related web page, I'd take care to disable cookies
- the site attempts to dump a skip-load of the damned things on you.
But the content seems OK, even though it's talking about adverts,
rather than about these misleading requests to download software from
disreputable sites to "fix" (le mot juste) your Windows software:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/ht/msgsvc.htm

Could be a false alarm, but better be safe than sorry.

If you're running a supported version of Windows, you would do better
to install Microsoft Update. Use the custom updates option, and
updates to hardware drivers usually appear as optional "hardware"
updates. (I'm familiar with /2K and /XP - no idea about other versions
nowadays).
.