Re: Do I Need These Microsoft 'Tools'?

From: Vanguard (see_signature)
Date: 01/14/05 

Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 11:39:29 -0600

"Mike" <Mike@notreal.com> wrote in message
news:GNPFd.6493$Lo6.1010@fe12.lga...
> Thanks (please see below)...
>
> "Kelly" <kelly@mvps.org> wrote in message
> news:%239nHQ6h%23EHA.1392@tk2msftngp13.phx.gbl...
> 1.
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Windows+Genuine+Advantage+Validation+Tool&btnG=Google+Search
>
>>> That explains this one - got it now.
>
> 2.
> http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=Microsoft+PID+Sniffer&btnG=Google+Search
>
>>> I looked through the first 10 or so entries and they're all HiJack
>>> This!
>>> logs.
> I'm trying to find out what this actually does.
> (Anytime I see the word 'sniffer', I feel as if M.S. is spying or
> snooping
> on me
> or something semi-paranoid like that)!
>
>
> "Mike" <Mike@notreal.com> wrote in message
> news:BAMFd.6248$qA4.131@fe12.lga...
>> I noticed when I run HiJack This to check for
>> unwanted items, two M.S. 'utilities' always show up:
>>
>> a.) Windows Genuine Advantage Validation Tool
>> and
>> b.) Microsoft PID Sniffer
>>
>> Can someone please tell me (if you know):
>> 1.) What these are used for?
>> 2.) Do I need these for anything (i.e. Windows or
>> Office Update -- or something else)?
>> 3.) How would they have gotten on my system
>> (or does M.S. just automatically install them)?
>> 4.) If I DON'T need them, how would I remove them?
>> (I don't see them in the Add/Remove Panel).

Then modify the search criteria to eliminate "hijackthis" from the
search results, as in:

http://www.google.com/search?&q=%2BMicrosoft+%2B%22PID+sniffer%22+%2Dhijackthis

which results in a mere 3 articles (read the 2nd one). I then Googled
on "MS database daemon" (with quotes so to match that exact string). A
couple articles had links in them (no longer valid) back to a mvps.org
domain (known for experienced Microsoft helpers), so I went to
www.mvps.org, used their search on "database daemon" and found:

http://www.entourage.mvps.org/faq_topic/daemon.html
http://www.entourage.mvps.org/glossary/daemon.html

Persistence pays off. Learn to Google, to tailor the results, and to
expend some effort to dig a bit.

If you are running MS Office 2004/X
(http://www.microsoft.com/mac/products/office2004/office2004.aspx?pid=office2004),
is there a reason you didn't mention you were using a Mac? You are
posting in a *Windows* XP newsgroup, not a Mac newsgroup. If somehow
you have polluted your Windows platform with Mac stuff, it won't be
listed in Add/Remove Programs. Doesn't the HijackThis log tell YOU were
to find the items that it reported? You could post your HijackThis
logfile so we can see what you see. 

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