Winblown

I present this information I found as is with no way of verifing its authenticity.<br />n<br />n<a href="http://www.pcwelt.de/know-how/extras/103039/" target="_blank">PC-WELT discovers and fixes serious security issue in Windows XP SP2</a><br />n<br />n<i>"Windows XP Service Pack 2 with Advanced Security Technologies helps you protect your PC against viruses, hackers, and worms." – this is how Microsoft promotes its Service Pack 2 on its website. What the company does not say: Instead of viruses, worms, and hackers, the supposedly safe SP2 for Windows XP invites any Internet user to have a look around your PC.</i><br />n<br />n<i>As soon as you install SP2 on a Windows XP PC with a certain configuration, your file and printer sharing data are visible worldwide, despite an activated Firewall. This also applies to all other services. The PC only has to provide sharing for an internal local network and connect to the Internet via dial-up or ISDN. Users of DSL services are also affected, if a firewall is not integrated into the DSL modem or a common modem instead of a DSL router is used. Additionally, Internet Connection Sharing of the PC has to be disabled.</i><br />n<br />nThe instructions on how to fix this are not real clear so since I didn't need file sharing I just unallowed all of it. The only thing I needed on my Winblown computer was to print to my linux print server which I do via IPP so I just turned off sharing internally and externally. Hopefully somebody more informed than me about Winblown can help figure this out.<br />n<br />n<b>Every great mistake has a halfway moment, a split second when it can be recalled and perhaps remedied. Pearl S. Buck</b>