Re: MSCONFIG and Startup

From: John (john@thisismychance.com)
Date: 11/15/02 

From: "John" <john@thisismychance.com>
Date: Fri, 15 Nov 2002 11:46:40 -0800

Thanks for the advice and info. I really appreciate it.
>-----Original Message-----
>
>"John" <john@thisismychance.com> wrote in message
>news:25c401c28cd7$2f0b6b50$8df82ecf@TK2MSFTNGXA02...
>> Does anyone know a good reference place for
understanding
>> all the cryptic programs that are in the Startup tab in
>> MSCONFIG?
>>
>> There's also a services tab that I'd like to get figured
>> out.
>>
>> In both, I have to figure out what is needed and what is
>> not, because some of those little buggers are bogging
down
>> several computers of mine. They tell me the .exe name
and
>> where it's installed, but not what the thing does, what
>> will happen if I disable it.
>
>That's a little tricky. Your best bet is to use an
antivirus and
>anti-trojan scanner such as Norton or www.grisoft.com
[free AV] and
>www.pestpatrol.com to confirm that the programs are not
hostile... and also
>try searching for the program name in www.google.com,
although note that
>programs can be renamed by hackers, so that researching
by name is not
>always reliable.
>
>You can also try right-clicking on the program to get
more information on
>it, try comparing the file size and date of the program
with another
>computer running the same version of Windows to try to
confirm if it really
>is a legitimate file.
>
>There's also a program called STRINGS which I think is
from
>www.foundstone.com/knowledge that should output any plain
text messages
>found within the program. While you're there, check out
the Vision program
>from the same URL to see if any of those programs or
other suspicious
>programs are using any IP ports to communicate. [both
programs free]
>
>The different tabs in MSCONFIG refer to where in the
computer the programs
>are being started... from an icon in a startup folder
somewhere in the user
>profiles at c:\documents and settings, from the registry
keys that control
>installed services, from the Run and other keys in the
registry, etc.
>MSCONFIG documentation isn't going to tell you what those
programs do, it's
>a manual process.
>
>Just about all of the programs there can probably be
safely disabled. I
>don't think any of them should prevent your computer from
rebooting, even
>into safe mode, so that you can undo the change.
>
>Last, you could try posting the name and full directory
path to the file
>here and ask us. However, www.google.com should be
informative. If google
>doesnt find any file of that name, that sounds very
suspicious.
>
>
>
>.
>

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