Alcatel 'frog' query

Has anybody with an Alcatel Speedtouch USB 'frog' modem had to update their
drivers lately?

I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error with my modem
and to go to the website and download the latest driver.

Anyone know how I can check which driver version I've got and what the
latest version is? The website Microsoft has sent me to isn't very clear.

Netty

> I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error with my modem
> and to go to the website and download the latest driver.

This sounds suspicious to me - what site is it directing you to ?

(i`m wondering if its a new method of fooling customers into installing
spyware)

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Colin Wilson wrote:

[unattributed quote:]
> > I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error
> > with my modem and to go to the website and download the latest
> > driver.
>
> This sounds suspicious to me -

Very likely! I saw alerts just like that, being blocked by my
firewall, when I ran ethereal on my BB network.

If I'm right, then these are using the Windows Messenger Service. Not
to be confused with other MS ways of getting instant distractions,
such as IM and suchlike.

We don't see them on campus - when I enquired, I was told that they
are blocked at the border router for security reasons. Very wise too.

Before reading this related web page, I'd take care to disable cookies
- the site attempts to dump a skip-load of the damned things on you.
But the content seems OK, even though it's talking about adverts,
rather than about these misleading requests to download software from
disreputable sites to "fix" (le mot juste) your Windows software:

http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/ht/msgsvc.htm

Could be a false alarm, but better be safe than sorry.

If you're running a supported version of Windows, you would do better
to install Microsoft Update. Use the custom updates option, and
updates to hardware drivers usually appear as optional "hardware"
updates. (I'm familiar with /2K and /XP - no idea about other versions
nowadays).

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:31:18 +0100, "Netty" <netty@???.com> wrote:

>Has anybody with an Alcatel Speedtouch USB 'frog' modem had to update their
>drivers lately?
>
>I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error with my modem
>and to go to the website and download the latest driver.

Microsoft do not send popups. It's messenger spam.

>Anyone know how I can check which driver version I've got and what the
>latest version is? The website Microsoft has sent me to isn't very clear.

It's not microsoft, it's some scrote trying to persuade you to install
malware on your PC.

Do the world a favour by spending less than 20 quid & replacing the gawd
forsaken frog with a proper ADSL router.

Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.


greg
--
If you want venality, if you want ignorance, if you want drunkenness,
and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you
want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look
Do you go to the top or to the bottom?

"Alan J. Flavell" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed). gla.ac.uk...
> On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Colin Wilson wrote:
>
> [unattributed quote:]
>> > I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error
>> > with my modem and to go to the website and download the latest
>> > driver.
>>
>> This sounds suspicious to me -
>
> Very likely! I saw alerts just like that, being blocked by my
> firewall, when I ran ethereal on my BB network.
>
> If I'm right, then these are using the Windows Messenger Service. Not
> to be confused with other MS ways of getting instant distractions,
> such as IM and suchlike.
>
> We don't see them on campus - when I enquired, I was told that they
> are blocked at the border router for security reasons. Very wise too.
>
> Before reading this related web page, I'd take care to disable cookies
> - the site attempts to dump a skip-load of the damned things on you.
> But the content seems OK, even though it's talking about adverts,
> rather than about these misleading requests to download software from
> disreputable sites to "fix" (le mot juste) your Windows software:
>
> http://antivirus.about.com/cs/tutorials/ht/msgsvc.htm
>
> Could be a false alarm, but better be safe than sorry.
>
> If you're running a supported version of Windows, you would do better
> to install Microsoft Update. Use the custom updates option, and
> updates to hardware drivers usually appear as optional "hardware"
> updates. (I'm familiar with /2K and /XP - no idea about other versions
> nowadays).

It sent me to the Thompson website who own Alcatel. I've been on the site
before when I upgraded from Win98 to XP as I needed to update my driver a
couple of years ago.

I have got my auto updates turned on and checked it manually but it hasn't
shown up.

I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Greg Hennessy
<(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:

>Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.

Greg, that's why firewalls were invented <snigger>.

Loads are available and there is nothing wrong with the frog. I just
have to remember to load a firewall when I use it for testing.
Sometimes I forget, gulp.

--
Cheers,

Guy

** Stress - the condition brought about by having to
** resist the temptation to beat the living daylights
** out of someone who richly deserves it.

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 21:40:08 +0100, Dr Teeth
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I was just thinking how wonderful life was, when Greg Hennessy
><(E-Mail Removed)> opened his gob and said:
>
>>Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.
>
>Greg, that's why firewalls were invented <snigger>.

Host based intrusion detection and prevention are only part of a much
bigger picture.


>
>Loads are available and there is nothing wrong with the frog.

As long as you plug it into a box running smoothwall or ipcop or
equivalent. :-)


--
If you want venality, if you want ignorance, if you want drunkenness,
and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you
want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look
Do you go to the top or to the bottom?

On Mon, 10 Jul 2006, Greg Hennessy wrote:

> On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:31:18 +0100, "Netty" <netty@???.com> wrote:
>
> >I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error with
> >my modem and to go to the website and download the latest driver.
>
> Microsoft do not send popups.

Quite.

> It's messenger spam.

That was also my interpretation. However, we now see the O.P
stating:

||It sent me to the Thompson website who own Alcatel. I've been on the
||site before when I upgraded from Win98 to XP as I needed to update
||my driver a couple of years ago.

I don't think we can be getting the whole story here. *If* the alert
came from Microsoft, in any shape or form (but I agree with your
diagnosis that "Microsoft do not send popups"), then I find it hard to
believe that MS would send users off to a third-party web site.

O.P also said:

||I have got my auto updates turned on

Yes, but updated hardware drivers aren't normally installed
automatically (I suppose they occasionally might be if they were a
security hazard), they usually show up only as "optional". MS seems to
categorise the updates into "high priority" and "optional", and the
auto procedure only installs the "high priority" ones.

One has to use the "Custom" option to see the "optional" updates.

> Do the world a favour by spending less than 20 quid & replacing the
> gawd forsaken frog with a proper ADSL router.

Yes, I'd certainly recommend using a router (I'd probably pay rather
more for mine, though), for this and other reasons.

> Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.

In general, I agree. However, XP firewall, if used properly, isn't
too bad as regards inbound traffic. Its Achilles Heel is that it
doesn't filter outbound traffic, so, if you're so careless as to
install something trojan-like, it can be happily sending out traffic
all over the Internet without the firewall turning a hair. ZA was
better in that regard, at least.

--

If the crash doesn't occur immediately, the [development] cycle is broken,
and the result is called a release. -- detha, in the monastery.

On Tue, 11 Jul 2006 12:45:03 +0100, "Alan J. Flavell"
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:


>That was also my interpretation. However, we now see the O.P
>stating:
>
>||It sent me to the Thompson website who own Alcatel. I've been on the
>||site before when I upgraded from Win98 to XP as I needed to update
>||my driver a couple of years ago.
>
>I don't think we can be getting the whole story here. *If* the alert
>came from Microsoft, in any shape or form (but I agree with your
>diagnosis that "Microsoft do not send popups"), then I find it hard to
>believe that MS would send users off to a third-party web site.

Quite. Any drivers MS care about are going to be WHQL signed ones and on
windowsupdate only.



>> Do the world a favour by spending less than 20 quid & replacing the
>> gawd forsaken frog with a proper ADSL router.
>
>Yes, I'd certainly recommend using a router (I'd probably pay rather
>more for mine, though), for this and other reasons.

True. Even a 20 quid router is going to be an improvement on leaving it all
hang out with a frog.

>
>> Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.
>
>In general, I agree. However, XP firewall, if used properly, isn't
>too bad as regards inbound traffic.

I wouldnt knock XPs built in filtering. It does have it's uses.


greg
--
If you want venality, if you want ignorance, if you want drunkenness,
and facility for being intimidated; or if, on the other hand, you
want impulsive, unreflecting, and violent people, where do you look
Do you go to the top or to the bottom?

"Greg Hennessy" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Mon, 10 Jul 2006 19:31:18 +0100, "Netty" <netty@???.com> wrote:
>
>>Has anybody with an Alcatel Speedtouch USB 'frog' modem had to update
>>their
>>drivers lately?
>>
>>I've just had a pop-up from Microsoft stating there's an error with my
>>modem
>>and to go to the website and download the latest driver.
>
> Microsoft do not send popups. It's messenger spam.
>
>>Anyone know how I can check which driver version I've got and what the
>>latest version is? The website Microsoft has sent me to isn't very clear.
>
> It's not microsoft, it's some scrote trying to persuade you to install
> malware on your PC.
>
> Do the world a favour by spending less than 20 quid & replacing the gawd
> forsaken frog with a proper ADSL router.
>
> Connecting a PC directly to the internet is *not* a good idea.
>
>
> greg

Until my frog 'croaks', I have no desire to change it thankyou. Why spend
money by replacing something if it's still working?

BTW, it wasn't some scrote trying to place malware on my system, I *did*
need to update my driver.

Why is it not a good idea to directly connect a PC to the internet using a
modem????