Re: [fw-wiz] Annoying pop-ups

From: Crispin Cowan (crispin@wirex.com)
Date: 10/29/02 

From: Crispin Cowan <crispin@wirex.com>
To: David Hawley <rhino007_us@yahoo.com>
Date: Tue Oct 29 09:25:19 2002

David Hawley wrote:

> What is the port(s) that is used to send those annoying pop-ups in
> Windows XP? Will the firewalling SW builtin to XP
> stop them, or must one use a personal firewall (I am on a short term
> contract, and the DSL router/firewall is back at
> my home base).

Neither XP nor personal firewalls will stop annoying pop-ups, and they
have nothing to do with ports. They result from having javascript
enabled in your web browser. You have several choices:

    * Disable javascript. There is a myth that this breaks a lot of the
      web; it is only partially true. For a very long time, this is what
      I did, enabling javascript only for web sites that I trusted and
      really, really needed to access.
    * Use Mozilla: it has a configuration setting that lets you allow
      javascripts to run, but prevent them from opening windows that you
      did not ask for. I currently use this, and it is highly convenient.
    * Products like Junkbuster likely do something about popups, but I
      have no direct experience.

I wish a filthy pox on the web developers who decided that javascript
was an acceptable way to do web site navigation.

Crispin 

-- 
Crispin Cowan, Ph.D.
Chief Scientist, WireX                      http://wirex.com/~crispin/
Security Hardened Linux Distribution:       http://immunix.org
Available for purchase: http://wirex.com/Products/Immunix/purchase.html

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Sygate Free PFW
    ... switch to the windows XP SP2 firewall? ... How do you solve the mentioned security design flaws of Sygate? ... Don't install applications you cannot trust in. ... I'm testing "how good is the 'Personal Firewall', ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: [Full-Disclosure] January 15 is Personal Firewall Day, help the cause
    ... is more to security than a virus scanner you deploy once and leave it as ... MS Windows is a secure operating system. ... Let me show you how this "Personal Firewall Day" idea hit my mind: ... By the time I get to install and explain a personal firewall, ...
    (Full-Disclosure)
  • Re: Why hasnt Symantec addressed nastier Messenger spoofs
    ... > DirectAdvertiser, sold by Zoltan Kovacs through an outlet in Floridda, ... Windows users, type "net help send" in a DOS ... > share -- because although the majority of personal firewall users ... TO* a low port address on a server. ...
    (comp.security.misc)
  • Re: NIS will not let me synchronize the PC Date/Time
    ... In a case of a desktop PC connecting through modem that is true. ... gave example of a situation where Windows firewall without additional ... there is no good personal firewall. ... every solution have security holes. ...
    (comp.security.firewalls)
  • Re: Security
    ... It contains advice ... using Windows XP "prettifications". ... FIREWALL ... Kerio Personal Firewall ...
    (microsoft.public.security)