IE 6.0 New Security Zone? Your Computer?

Discussion in 'other software & services' started by dog, Jun 17, 2004.

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  1. dog

    dog Guest

    Hi All, :)

    Quick Question ... I went to the Security section for IE ... and for reasons unknown to me ... I have a new zone listed ... My Computer (Pic attached)

    Can anyone explain the where, what, whys to this?

    TIA, ;)

    dog - *puppy*
     

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    dog, Jun 17, 2004
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  2. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    Hi dog,

    Actually, I have a "Your Computer" zone, as well on my XP Home, IE6 system, but I deliberately created it. First some background. Internet Explorer always has 5 security zones at installation, but usually only 4 of them are visible: Internet, Local Intranet, Trusted and Restricted. Now some people "un-hide" the fifth zone, which is called the "My Computer" zone. So, those are the five zones that are always configured by default for IE, but Microsoft allowed for people to create additional zones if they wanted.

    It is as simple as adding (copying) a registry key, and suddenly you have a new security zone in which you can make custom security settings and add sites to it so that they are treated with that zones security level. I created mine to be a "partially trusted" zone. Absolutely no ActiveX or Java, but Active Scripting is enabled there. It's for use with sites that require Javascript, but that I don't want any ActiveX or any other things enabled.

    An extra zone can not turn up on its own, however. Either you had to have run a new utility that created it, or perhaps it's some kind of new hijack mechanism. What new utilities have you run since the last time you checked that screen in IE? How long ago were you in there and that zone did not exist? What have you installed or tweaked since then?

    Also, you should select that zone's icon, then go into Custom Level... and see just what security is set there. While the icon looks like a Restricted Zone one, if this is a hijack, it can fake that but then set very insecure settings. Also, check the Sites... button there to see if any sites are registered to that zone.
     
    LowWaterMark, Jun 17, 2004
    #2
  3. MikeBCda

    MikeBCda Registered Member

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    You've got me there, dog -- my IE-6 (under XP-Home, both with all updates) is still showing just the "standard" 4 types of zones, i.e., everything but your new one.

    Since there's already a "local intranet" zone, I can't believe it would have anything to do with use of a router or its relatives.

    Hmmm, one thought -- anything to do with web pages saved offline? Particularly if you also opted to save their active-links, that is, pages they link to?
     
    MikeBCda, Jun 17, 2004
    #3
  4. nadirah

    nadirah Registered Member

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    Hey, i have that zone too. Every setting inside it is disabled.
     
    nadirah, Jun 17, 2004
    #4
  5. gerardwil

    gerardwil Registered Member

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    You can find your zones in the registry here, zone 0(zero) is: your computer
     

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    gerardwil, Jun 17, 2004
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  6. dog

    dog Guest

    Hi All, ;)

    Thanks for all the replies. :D

    @ LWM :)

    Originally, I had only the 4 default zones ... the last time I was in IE options was probably a couple of months ago ... I definitely did not create the new zone, so it must be some software? ... as for "New"software ... I tried several programs over that time span ... so narrowing it down is near impossible. Two "newer" apps/utilities that come to mind are IE-Spyad (june 1 update) and Spybot (1.3) ... would you have any guesses to what app/utility it might be, LWM? I only discovered this because I was having a problem trying to D/L F-Prot for DOS with IE, which was successful with FireFox, (Thanks Snap! ;) ) ... and was looking for possible issues/causes.


    I'm pretty sure it's not an attempted Hijack ... everything is set to disable, nothing listed in site's menu for that zone. Nothing else is unusual, I was just suprised to see this new zone ... I'm not worried about it, just curious about the circumstances ... I always want to learn all I can ...

    Would there be any implications to deleting that reg key? (in regards to the utility that made the reg entry)

    TIA, ;)

    Thanks again for Everybodies Assistance! ;)

    Steve - *puppy*

    Edit - added some links to info

    Microsoft
    Kayodeok
    Winnetmag
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 17, 2004
    dog, Jun 17, 2004
    #6
  7. gerardwil

    gerardwil Registered Member

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    Don't delete it, if you dont want to see it do this:

    The Flags value is a DWORD value. Setting the data value of the Flags value to 47 (in hexadecimal) causes the My Computer security zone to be displayed. Setting the data value of the Flags value to 21 (in hexadecimal) causes the My Computer security zone to be hidden.

    Nothing wrong to leave it as it is. But check if there are any sites in it and with what settings.
     
    gerardwil, Jun 17, 2004
    #7
  8. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    It's good that the new zone is set to all "disable", and that no sites are in it, but it is pretty odd that it got created in the first place. There must be a tool or tweak people are using and this is included in it. IE-SpyAd does not do it, and I've not heard that Spybot started doing that.

    Some people have made tweaks available for this, mainly for the reason I mentioned above, to create a zone that has different security settings than the other network-aware zones (to provide more granularity of control). But creating another copy of the restricted zone really doesn't serve a purpose, especially if no sites are in it. :doubt:
     
    LowWaterMark, Jun 17, 2004
    #8
  9. Clowny

    Clowny Guest

    I could be wrong, but I installed MyIE2 a while back & noticed a couple of days later the My Computer zone. I checked it out & noticed everything was set to disable & left it.

    I use Firefox 99% of the time anyway so I didn't bother trying to find out where it came from.
     
    Clowny, Jun 17, 2004
    #9
  10. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

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    There would not be a problem with deleting that reg key at all....regardless of what software placed it there. Have you clicked on that Zone to see what if any description it has OR taken a look at the below reg key to see if there is anything located in the string value for Description ?

    HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings\Zones\5....Description
     
    Bubba, Jun 17, 2004
    #10
  11. dog

    dog Guest

    Hi All, :)

    Thanks for all your responses. ;)

    @ Bubba

    Hi Bubba, ;)

    (Side Question) The display name for zone (5) = Tracking sites ... (but the display name for the security zone is "Your Computer" ?? ...the icon for (5) matches that of the restricted zone (4) =(icon) INETCPL.CPL#000004481 ... which is correct ... any idea of why the difference?

    The Desciption for Zone (5) = This zone contains web sites that want to track your activities - It's seems a little odd that with this description, that there are no "blocked" sites listed in sites?


    @ LWM & Bubba

    Do you (LWM or Bubba ... or if anyone else can chime in) have any guess at the app/utility that would have created this zone? I would like to figure what it is ... to play around with it a bit. Do you think that because the fact there are no sites listed that it was probably created by an app that has been uninstalled?

    TIA, ;)

    dog - *puppy*
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 18, 2004
    dog, Jun 18, 2004
    #11
  12. Bubba

    Bubba Updates Team

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    As far as the display name....with IE 6 SP1....Zones can be added but as of yet I personally have not run across anyone that has found a way for IE 6 SP1 to show anything other than the display name it wants to show....Your Computer.

    As for how it got there ?....one suggestion I have is to remove that reg entry mentioned above. If after rebooting and opening an instance of IE....the Zone returns....I suggest you post a HighJackThis log to see what if anything can be descerned from the log....possibly a dll loading this ?

    Unless you can recall loading a reg file that made this entry....finding the cause may be worse than looking for 2 needles in a hay stack ;)
     
    Bubba, Jun 18, 2004
    #12
  13. dog

    dog Guest

    Hi Bubba, :)

    I deleted that reg key and all sub-keys ... and all is well ... no return of "your computer" ... Thanks for your assistance. ;) :)

    (off topic) BTW - I know you've been a member at wilders' a long time, and I seen you around a lot of other boards, as an expert or mod ... I'm Glad Paul, Pieter, LWM ... made you a Global Moderator here (a couple of weeks ago) ... Good/Quality decision making as usual ... I just wanted to pass on my congrats to you. ;) :cool:

    (Back on topic)

    @ LWM

    I like this idea, for the same purpose ... could you point me in the direction to a tweak/utility like this, please. I know you mention this could be achieved thru copying a reg key, in your previous post ... and I do a little monkey'ng around in there, and I'm somewhat comfortable with it, :blink: :D ... but a little utility would be best ... :) :blink: ... and a little less trouble :rolleyes: :D LOL

    TIA, ;)

    Much Thanks to ALL, :)

    Steve - *puppy*
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Jun 18, 2004
    dog, Jun 18, 2004
    #13
  14. LowWaterMark

    LowWaterMark Administrator

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    I enabled it manually following some information in threads over at DSLR's security forum. If you start in this thread:

    http://www.dslreports.com/forum/remark,1093625~mode=flat

    You'll see links in there to other threads. Mostly you'll want to follow the information in those various threads provided by "R2". Read through several of the threads and you'll see it's pretty easy to do.

    Basically, in regedit you export the key of the zone that is closest to the settings you want for your new zone. You edit that text file to change the zone number of the key, making it +1 higher than the highest zone you have already, and also edit the zone name and description... Then you merge that REG file back into the registry and the new zone appears when you open IE the next time. You can then customize the security to the specifics you want, add whatever sites you want to that zone's sites list, and away you go.
     
    LowWaterMark, Jun 18, 2004
    #14
  15. dog

    dog Guest

    Thanks much LWM ;)

    I'm off to learn an discover ... :) ;) ... Thanks as usual! :D

    Steve - *puppy*
     
    dog, Jun 18, 2004
    #15
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