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Today something weird happened to me. I loaded up my computer to windoze xp and when it got to the logon screen, a permission screen popped up from my firewall. I didn't log on and a program was executed. Is this supposted to happen? I am running tiny personal firewall 2.15 A.
Thanks,
when you say a prog executed i'm assuming you are concerned about your firewall...and not some other prog...
under xp and win2k...firewalls and av services load on boot...so you don;t need to logon on to "activate" them...
i think this is probably a good thing...means your firewall is active before logon...unlike ZA...which as we discovered some time ago isn't active before logon....under w98 anyways...za is loaded as a service on boot by win2k...so it is "ok" except for the big hole you can find by searching the ao archives..
:D
Question:What EXACTLY did the Permision Box say?
It could have been a 'server' starting, and your firewall seeing that it was "accessing the internet." if you didnt accept the connection, you should be safe.
You said you didnt 'logon'? And then a program ran, or it ran before the logon screen? Anyways did your computer lag heavlely? How did you know a program was being launched?
does this mean u could easily write a key logger for XP???
that would realy suck...
I want to know more...
i dont know about your winxp, but when i turn on the computer nothing..and i mean nothing (other then system needed files) are loaded up..the firewall program and router programs do not load up until i have loged in. Even my antivirus software does not load up until i log in
XP and 2K both run on NT technology. One of the benefits of NT over 9x was the Services. The services are programs that startup on bootup. They do exist in 9x, but not to the same extent. If you are using a 9x machine as a print server, you don't have to log in to use the printer from a remote machine. That is because networking and the print spooler both startup on bootup. Well, thats the same as what happens on NT/2K/XP, except you have a lot more control. One of the programs in the control pannel (can't think which one right off hand) has a list of services. You can control is something starts on boot, on login, manually, or disabled. You can also restart services that are already running, shut down running services, etc. Among other things, this is how you disable the net send incomming messages.
Well, tiny personal firewall (tpf) starts as a service on bootup, as zigar stated. You can disable this, but I wouldn't do that. I am not sure, but I don't think it loads as a service on 9x machines (in other words, you have to log in first). With Zone Alarm, you have to log in, no matter what OS you are using, but you can make a service for ZA, and tell it to load on bootup insted.
Here's the thread about the giant unpublicized hole in ZA if you are using win98...(i'm using sygate now... :)
Win98
Start>Run>Msconfig
I agree with souleman on his comments about services. If you are at all firmiluar with NT than you know that services start at the boot proccess not after the logon point. It has to due with how the executive services and the O.S. itself was designed. For mor information in the topic of how NT was designed here is a link. You might also want to pick up a book on 2000 server since it is built on the same technology.
http://www.microsoft.com/NTServer/Pr...troduction.asp
My firewall said that my computer was sending a udp diagram. Im sorry i don't remember the port number. But i never gave tiny personal firewall permission to load at boot or make it a service. as JinX said there may be a way to run a keylogger from boot as a service to capture the password. .... very interesting.