Vista SP1 explorer calls home when browsing any photos

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Does anyone else have this annoyance?

Whenever I select or open an image that Windows recognizes (such as jpeg or png), it tries to contact Microsoft. The process is either explorer.exe or dllhost.exe, I guess it depends on whether I just browse images in Windows Explorer so that they appear in the preview pane, or open them in Windows Photo Gallery. It also happens in all applications that have the standard file selection window.

Blocking this in firewall results in a ten-second delay every time.

I didn't have this before installing SP1...

 

[tipstir]

I've heard they were trying to flatten out ****** copies of their OS and software. Now I see they're going to far. Which Firewall software are you using? There was once a file called Alexa on the system that used to call back to Microsoft. Anti-XP would remove that threat.

I don't know if you can use this on Vista or is there one available for it..

 

[DelJo63]

Address: 207.46.192.254 -> Name: wwwtk2test1.microsoft.com
Address: 131.107.115.28 -> Name: crl.microsoft.com
​

you're certainly correct as to the destination!

one alternative to firewall block would be to add these to etc\hosts

127.0.0.1 crl.microsoft.com
127.0.0.1 wwwtk2test1.microsoft.com​

be sure to not only /flushdns, but stop and restart the DNS Client!

the difference here is a firewall block will suffer a full tcp timeout, whereas the
bogus hosts file entry will respond immediately (or almost).

 

[SNGX1275]

Can anyone else confirm this in Vista?

My suspicion is that the final version of SP1 doesn't do this, and just the early release does.

 

[tipstir]

Microsoft Gold Partners company I heard from someone that MS was cracking down on illegal copies of Vista. But those the real deal do you really want MS to know what you have on your system?

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

My suspicion is that the final version of SP1 doesn't do this, and just the early release does.

Well, I did have a pre-release version of SP1 when I made this thread, but now I installed the final release, downloaded from Microsoft's site, and it still tries to call home.

 

[SNGX1275]

Enabling logging with Vista's firewall I am unable to duplicate your results...

Maybe microsoft's firewall doesn't log those on purpose

 

[tipstir]

Enabling logging with Vista's firewall I am unable to duplicate your results...

Maybe microsoft's firewall doesn't log those on purpose

Which firewall are you using?

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Comodo Personal Firewall.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

So I guess I'm the only one here who has this "feature" ?

 

[SNGX1275]

Which firewall are you using?

The built in Vista one.

 

[Mictlantecuhtli]

Update: It happens without SP1 as well. I installed Vista Ultimate x64 RTM, without any hotfixes or vLite, installed Comodo Firewall, and tested some images. It still calls home.

 

[SNGX1275]

Does the same 10 second delay happen if you physically disconnect from the internet? If so, then I'm sure several of us could test real quick on our systems (without trying to set up and read the advanced firewall in Vista or some 3rd party solution).