How Windows 7 Knows About Your Internet Connection 434
An anonymous reader writes "In Windows 7, any time you connect to a network, Windows tells you if you have full internet access or just a local network connection. It also knows if a WiFi access point requires in-browser authentication. How? It turns out, a service automatically requests a file from a Microsoft website every time you connect to any network, and the result of this attempt tells it whether the connection is successful. This feature is useful, but some may have privacy concerns with sending their IP address to Microsoft (which the site logs, according to documentation) every single time they connect to the internet. As it turns out, not only can you disable the service, you can even tell it to check your own server instead."
Re:The relevant bits (Score:5, Funny)
It is possible to disable NCSI by a registry setting if you don’t want Microsoft to be able to check your internet connection.
* HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\NlaSvc\Parameters\Internet
* Under the Internet key, double-click EnableActiveProbing, and then in Value data, type: 0.The default for this value is 1. Setting the value to 0 prevents NCSI from connecting to a site on the Internet during checks for connectivity.
Oh, the user-friendlyness of Windows. Everything is so simple on Windows, while I imagine that on Linux (if it had such a feature), you would need to edit a text file with comments in it. Horrible.
Re:privacy concerns? they know your IP from update (Score:3, Funny)
Shush! Don't inject logic into the discussion - let the zealots show the world how paranoia and hate infects the Linux world. After a while you realize why ordinary people don't want to use Linux if there's a risk of becoming one of these losers.
Re:The relevant bits (Score:2, Funny)
Dear lord, please forgive those who use emacs. Not that I am one, but those souls endure so much already...
Re:The relevant bits (Score:5, Funny)
Sound breaks? Bash, Wireless fucks up? Bash. Video problems? Bash. Hell the answer to EVERY question in Linux is bash.
Life getting you down? Bash.
Boss riding your ass? Bash.
Spouse getting on your nerves? Bash.
Co-worker won't shut up about pet llama? Bash.
Hell. The answer to EVERYTHING is Bash!
Re:The relevant bits (Score:5, Funny)