Does WindowsXP(SP2) make WWDC, DSOstop2, HTAstop2003, XPdite, and others obsolete?

[Devinco]

Hi Everybody,

Will SP2 encompass and therefore make obsolete the following excellent utilities?

WWDC
DSOstop2
HTAstop2003
XPdite
DCOMbobulator
SocketLock
ShootTheMessenger
Unplug UPnP

[ronjor]

Devinco

Good question. Not a peep from Steve Gibson.

[Devinco]

Perhaps there is a brave soul out there willing to try them out on SP2 and tell us if they are no longer needed?

[Tassie_Devils]

-{ Quote: "Perhaps there is a brave soul out there willing to try them out on SP2 and tell us if they are no longer needed?" }-
Exactly what i was thinking... it can't hurt.. just open them, they give a message first up anyway.....

says he who does not have to reformat

TAS

[se7engreen]

I tried htastop 03 and it seemed to work fine. Also, not on your list but I downloaded xp anti-spy and tried it. It must be ready for sp2 as there is an option to disable the security center.

[Devinco]

Hi se7engreen,

It's not whether they would run in SP2.
Would all the new security bells and whistles in SP2 make it unnecessary to run them?

[se7engreen]

Opps,
Misunderstood. Must've been on the usual caffine buzz...

[jamie slate]

hello, my girlfriend and i are about to download SP2. do you see any reason for our not installing these patches? thanks again.
jamie

[jamie slate]

hello, has anyone upgraded to SP2 while these utilities have been installed. thanks : )

[bigc73542]

I had about half of them installed when I installed sp2. Have had no problems at all.

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "hello, my girlfriend and i are about to download SP2. do you see any reason for our not installing these patches? thanks again.
jamie" }-
Hi Jaimie,

No, I think SP2 will be great once all the other software programs get versions that don't have any compatibility issues. Just search the forum for SP2 and find out what issues people are having with programs that you use.
I am just waiting until things settle down a little.
If you have the ability to make a backup image of your hard drive before, I would do it. That way you can restore the computer back if something doesn't work out.

These other programs listed in this thread title closed serious holes on previous versions of windows, but I don't know if they are still necessary with SP2 and that's why I asked. I will eventually install SP2 and find out (it would probably need a clean install), but until then, I'll wait a little.

[Devinco]

SP2 is just a service pack that goes over windows. If you already had these programs installed before SP2, it would not be fair to say that they are obsolete because they already closed the holes. The only way to be sure is a clean install of Windows XP, then SP2, then running these utilities to see if the holes were already closed by SP2.

[jamie slate]

thanks for your quick replies. i feel a little better now : ) i'll do a search of the forum and upgrade in a month or so.

[gerardwil]

One tool not mentioned here is SafeXP.


What's New
Version 1.4.8.20 - August 17, 2004



Fixed Windows XP Service Pack 2 Automatic Update issues.
Made some cosmetic changes.
http://www.theorica.net/safexp.htm

[gerardwil]

I think some answers you can find in this thread started by Ronjor:

http://www.wilderssecurity.com/showthread.php?t=46557

[Devinco]

Thanks for the cross reference Gerardwil.
That is a GREAT article!
Using that article and BlackViper's SP2 update (when he completes it) should making tweaking SP2 a breeze.

Based on this info, after adjusting all the SP2 settings for security, I would still run these utilities just to check that the security holes are closed. If there are any still left open then just use the utilities to close the hole.

[Devinco]

Update from Steve Gibson himself: Here is the interview (http://www.firewallleaktester.com/gibson_interview.htm)
-{ Quote: "
Nevertheless, Service Pack 2 is a HUGE step forward for Windows security. It obsoletes all of the other freeware I have written over the past few years (DCOMbobulator, Shoot The Messenger, Unplug n'Pray, Xpdite, etc.) to lock down and disable many unnecessary and insecure services that should never have been running in the first place." }-
Okay, that leaves WWDC, DSOstop2, HTAstop2003. Are they obsolete due to SP2? It would need to be tested fairly on a clean install of SP2 that did not have these utilities on them. I know some of the options in WWDC duplicate Gibson's utilities, but not all. And what about DSOstop2 and HTAstop2003?

[AxeSlinger]

Could someone tell me what WWDC is? Thanks.

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Could someone tell me what WWDC is? Thanks." }-
you can read and download here (http://www.firewallleaktester.com/wwdc.htm). be sure to read all the page
:)

[AxeSlinger]

Thanks Iceni60, I wasn't aware of that one. I wonder if you still need it with sp2?

[iceni60]

-{ Quote: "Thanks Iceni60, I wasn't aware of that one. I wonder if you still need it with sp2?" }-
i dont know, but id bet that its still needed for most, if not all the fixes.

[iceni60]

i know Steve Gibson's word should be final, but could someone just say it's true. here is an extract from the gkweb-Steve Gibson interview

-{ Quote: "Service Pack 2 is a HUGE step forward for Windows security. It obsoletes all of the other freeware I have written over the past few years (DCOMbobulator, Shoot The Messenger, Unplug n'Pray, Xpdite, etc.)" }-

[Tassie_Devils]

I would take that as a given, but you can always check with each app.

Simply opening/testing will indicate if there's a problem.

With WWDC, the same thing, if you run it, it will still tell you and more than likely you will still show 445 as not CLOSED. [edit: I mean if it has NOT been previously closed by the use of WWDC, as opposed to just being 'Stealthed' from the outside looking in]

If you have SP2 and have those programs, give them a try. :)

Cheers, TAS

[Tassie_Devils]

DSO

:)

[iceni60]

thanks Tassie, i'll give it a go. but i already had them when i installed SP2, so maybe we wont know for sure until someone reinstalls OS with SP2. are you willing to give it a go(a reinstall?) go on TASSIE, it would take a great weight off my mind :D . i just checked and they are all still disabled. thanks Tassie :)


i know i'm going off topic now sorry, but if you miss steve gibson's software you could always download ASPI_ME Media Demo from this page...
http://www.grc.com/freepopular.htm

[Tassie_Devils]

-{ Quote: "are you willing to give it a go(a reinstall?) go on TASSIE, it would take a great weight off my mind :D " }-

Thanks for the offer, but.................Pass......... LOL..... ::) :o

One thing, at least SP2 did not alter any of the settings for you. ;)

TAS :)

[iceni60]

i did a reinstall, installed SP2 first, and this is what i needed to use, these arent obsolete,

WWDC
DSOstop2
HTAstop2003
SocketLock
Unplug UPnP

[gkweb]

Hi,

sorry I didn't see this thread.

WWDC is not obsolete with SP2, it's true that SP2 closes by default more things, but not everything.
WWDC is compatible with SP2, and if a new remote vulnerability appears (usable by worms) WWDC will be updated, it's not a "finished forever" tool :)

regards,

gkweb.

[erikguy]

I just thought you guys might want to see this...

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "i did a reinstall, installed SP2 first, and this is what i needed to use, these arent obsolete,

WWDC
DSOstop2
HTAstop2003
SocketLock
Unplug UPnP" }-
Thanks Iceni60 for the update.
It is very strange that SocketLock and Unplug UPnP are still needed when Gibson himself said they are all obsolete.
Did you do a clean windows reinstall(reformat)?

[Devinco]

-{ Quote: "Hi,

sorry I didn't see this thread.
WWDC is not obsolete with SP2, it's true that SP2 closes by default more things, but not everything.
WWDC is compatible with SP2, and if a new remote vulnerability appears (usable by worms) WWDC will be updated, it's not a "finished forever" tool :)

regards,
gkweb." }-
Thank you gkweb for letting us know! :)
I (and I am sure everyone else here) appreciates your very useful program.
It is good that it is still useful. (not so good that M$ still leaves the holes!)

[Devinco]

Thanks erikguy for confirming Dcombobulator.

[JRosenfeld]

I looked at wwdc with SP2. Stand alone PC, USB DSL modem ZA (free) 5.1.033.

On my system (where I had already disabled some of the services I don't need), it showed RPC locator and NETBIOS ports open. However, the related MS patches to which those entries link are included in SP2, so it's not clear whether one would be vulnerable. Anyway, I let wwdc disable both (required reboot). It does not seem to have caused any problems as far as I have been able to tell. Ports checks showed all ports stealth to incoming traffic before and after using wwdc.