Microsoft Blunder

Windows... First of all, welcome to Anti-Online. Im sure most of you here dont like windows for one and a million reasons. For one, they spend most of their time making windows more user friendly and giving it new looks, but they dont spend time in fixing those darn loop holes and some other security flaws.

For those of you who just got your Windows 2000 Professional / Advanced Server boxes, you people should watch out coz by default your hard drive is on public sharing. Thats right, public sharing.

This means any twirp can stuff up your hard drive without you knowing what the heck is happening to your computer... A lot of my friends (and enemies) fell for that lame security flaw.

What kind of OS designers would put the hard drive on public file sharing by default?

Only Microsoft... I have used and violated all the different Microsoft Windows O/S. From Windows 95 all the way through Windows NT to Windows XP. And still they have security risk issues.


Take Windows XP for instead. Every one is very excited about windows XP coz its new and has new features, and somehow hoping its more secure. But really? Its not secure... as usual Microsoft made another silly mistake by putting in a Desktop Sharing service.

If you dont know what Desktop Sharing is.. It is a feature where in another user can control your PC as if they were actually sitting infront of it... In english, its a thinga-majig where some person who also uses Windows XP can controll your PC which has Windows XP in it.

Surely it sounds so dumb. Their reason to put this service was to make technical help a lot more easier. But without knowing that it also makes cracking a lot more easier for lammers who have no life but just pestering normal innocent users. Surely it is turned off by default. But what makes you so sure that no one will develop a worm/trojan that would turn the Desktop Sharing services on?... Another dumb mistake done by Microsoft.

So for all those Windows XP users, dont be surprised that one day your mouse would suddenly move by itself and start deleting your system files. Blame it on the "new technology" Microsoft developed.

I too use Windows...

I have Windows 2000 Professional, Windows 2000 Advanced Server, Windows 98 and Red Hat in one box and a Windows XP on another. And if there's anyone who knows alot about Windows in here, that would be me.

I use windows coz 80% of the software around is Windows compatible and doesnt run on Linux. But i would never use Windows for security, I use my Linux. As of now, Im still learning my Linux.

And I tell you... the security is a lot more better here considering you can configure 80% of a linux O/S. So do yourself a favour. When using Windows... make sure that Mr. Gates didnt leave any rat holes... coz who knows.. one day a rat might come in and mess your systems up..."

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If you dont know what RAS is it stands for Remote Access Services. In english, its a thinga-majig where some person who also uses Windows XP can controll your PC which has Windows XP in it.

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RAS does not allow you to take over the computer to my knowledge. RAS is for remote access to the network. So you can use RAS to dial into your computer from a location and print to your home printer or access the net...

I believe what your refering to is Remote Assistance
Click here to read Microsoft's Step by Step guide to Remote Assistance

Remote Assistance will allow you to control the computer.

hmm i think i mixed up RAS with Hyper Terminal Emmulation..

well its something like Hyper Terminal Emmulation actually than a RAS..


But with RAS u can also mess up a server who has RAS enabled depending on your rights and privilages..

I sometimes enable the RAS on our skool's server so the admin can administer it from home.

But it wont be like Hyper Terminal Emmulation where u can actually see what is going on and see what the user can see.

Windows security lacks a lot, but then again moving everybody to Linux is not so easy. Yes you can configure Linux a lot (80% like you say) but then again how many ppl know how to recompile a kernel or eventually know how use the power of Linux?
A Mac could come in handy for anybody trying to ditch windows.

Sure, Windows is not the most secure OS, but look at it this way. It made stupid people look smart by using computers and changed the industry forever.

As far as I know, Remote Assistance feature put in by Microsoft (I'm on XP now...but haven't yet tried out this myself) is just like the "del *.*" command - you use it in the right directory, it works. You use it in the wrong directory - it takes you with it.

Same can be said about practically every feature in every OS. No use crying over it I guess.

Actually I have a copy of XP home, and the remote assistance function was turned ON by default. . . ooops.

And as far as my opinion goes on all this, I honestly I belive that Microsoft's OS's are good. . . for the end/home user market. It gives the public something easy to use that is not as expensive as MAC's.
Businesses are a whole other matter, I hope that they will move away from Microsoft, and discover that there are more powerfull alternatives out there. I think XP will help this come about, cause who is going to use an OS with lots of cartoony stuff designed for multimedia, as a server?? The public on a whole just has not realized yet that the "innovators" at MS, have actually been behind in the industry. Their "new" multimedia support is still behind what Apple has always had, and thier networking and server power is still behind what is available in the Unix/Linux platforms.
I do not want MS gone, because the idiots out there need something to use, but I do belive that those in a position to make a better technical decision need to stop listening to the propaganda and look at the hard facts.

Oh, and has anyone with XP taken the "tour XP" with the sound and animations? I swear it sounds like an AOL comercial "the easiest just got easier!"

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hmm i think i mixed up RAS with Hyper Terminal Emmulation..

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Are you you didn't mix it up with terminal services?

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Originally posted by deadpaperplate
I think XP will help this come about, cause who is going to use an OS with lots of cartoony stuff designed for multimedia, as a server??

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The XP-server or .Net-server which it's called don't have the 'cartoony stuff'. The GUI is just like win2000. Just a comment, and not important.....:)

I totally agree with all you guys on this issue. I think it would improve the windows platform if stupid stuff like RA could not just be not activated, but not installed at all. So if you liked this feature you could install it, and all of us who think it's a joke, we could just let go of it. That should be possible, perhaps a later release if we're lucky.....

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Originally posted by s0nIc
If you dont know what RAS is it stands for Remote Access Services. In english, its a thinga-majig where some person who also uses Windows XP can controll your PC which has Windows XP in it.

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A company called TridiaVNC has a product that offers this service also on other Windows' and Linux. Use it if you dare.......

or..
VNC from AT & T
:cool: & Free! (under GNU)

VNC is the ****, heh, anyway.

XP is an activated terminal server by default, though I think they call it remote desktop sharing or some such nonsense. It's not a door left wide open, it does require authentication.

Windows 2000 does not share it's drives publicly by default, it has four administrative shares, the root of the drive, the systemroot, the printers(if you have any) and IPC. Connecting to any of those shares requires authentication by an administrator.

While windows may have it's security problems, it's not just something you can point your remote control clients at and take over.

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Originally posted by uraloony
Sure, Windows is not the most secure OS, but look at it this way. It made stupid people look smart by using computers and changed the industry forever.

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hear hear.. I agree
but can you at least give them some credit? They are a primary cause for the internet boom. It allowed mainstream users easy and simple access.Poeple who are Doctors and Lawyers do not have time to become computer DWEEBS.

I feel sorry for the people at microsoft. They have good intensions in mind, but have no idea that these could cause huge security problems. You wonder if anyone at microsoft even thought that this might be a problem as the product was being released. The people on the lower levels probably gave warnings, but the corporate wanted results and that is what the got. If this was a baseball game microsoft would have been struck out a long time ago for their poor security.

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Windows 2000 does not share it's drives publicly by default, it has four administrative shares, the root of the drive, the systemroot, the printers(if you have any) and IPC. Connecting to any of those shares requires authentication by an administrator

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im not sure what u meant by "drives" but im damn hell as sure that the Hard Drive or the C: drive is on public share.. i encountered this problem a lot of times.. I checked the sharing permissions and it says "everyone" has full access just like the admin does.. they can read, write, modify, delete and all that..

oh yeah.. about XP.. yeah the so called "desktop sharing" does require authentication. you need to have a login name and password to be able to remotely access the computer..

but then.. even computers w/o those kinds of services can even be remotely accessed by malicious crackers.. what more if this XP already have it installed in its System as part of its system...

as far as i know the ras command is auto turned on... but you have to dial into it.... there is another option where you can give people access to your puter so they can fix problems for you.... it is dangerous.... but it is hard to hack it though... it's was a permission thing...

s0nIc.. they aren't public shares... I believe they are hidden.. if you prefix a $ to the name of a share, it isn't viewable from Network Neighborhood... I don't know if *nix or that recognise the $, they might still show the share....

Anyway, who leaves the default settings for things?? That is just beggin' for trouble, no matter what OS your using....

Either way, an OS is only as secure as you configure it to be in my opinion... I run Window 2K Advanced Server, and I've never had anyone break in and its only crashed once on its own accord...

A tip... if your not gonna use a feature.. disable it.. :D Remember to check the dependencies on it first however, as you can cause a lot of things to stop working.....

well i would consider it public share since it did say that "everyone" has full rights to the C: drive..

and we do both know that one way or another that folder can be maliciously tampered, its just a matter of knowing HOW to see that folder...

there is a tutorial that i read on how to access file and print sharing of someone's computer over the net.. and i personally tried it on my Win2K professional box and it did work.. i managed to access my C: drive at home from skool and i can delete and add files and even modifly the files as if i was in the computer myself.

i tested it since i heard a lot of complains from my friends that their files have gone missing and someone hacked in.. as soon as i checked their computer the C: drive was on share and gave everyone full access to it.. and these people dont know anything about computers and they couldnt possibly set this sharing up themselves... and this has always been the case.

i havent heard such complains like this about Win2K Advanced Server.. and as far as i know.. the last time i installed the Advanced Server and checked the settings, the C: drive wasnt on share. but the printers were...

its pobably all comes down to the distributor of the Win2K Prof O/S CD.. since i heard that some of you here have your C: drive unshared by default..

Same case as the XP... on the last post some guy said his "desktop sharing" was set on by default.. which is wierd coz as far as i know.. they are set off by default..

Too many innocent users have been victimized by these default settings... and too many of us (well me and my friends) have sent a complain to M$ but so far they only gave my friends $1,000.00 compensation..

its good for my friends.. but what about the other normal users that havent got victimized YET..