Get more from your home PC - How To

[Steve R Jones]

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/homeusers/images/ss_hero_headline.gif

Start anything you like-The choice is yours with Windows (click here) (http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/homeusers/defaultm.mspx)


Get more from your home PC than ever before.

From enjoying the best in home entertainment and playing games to managing your household expenses and running a home business, there's a whole world waiting for you with Windows.

Discover what you can do today.



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[poppy4]

Thanks for the link Steve.
I'm thinking of up grading to WinXp, so I am very interested in this thread. When I tried to get info while at the above linked page...I clicked this :

"Start anything you like. The choice is yours with Windows"

and got this:
"The connection was refused when attempting to contact ad.doubleclick.net."
....being conscientious in keeping my pc clean from all the baddies, of course doubleclick is blocked... :p

Why is M$ in bed with doubleclick???.....maybe I should check out another OS, like Linux????......what's a barely knowledgeable pc home user to do....:eek:
poppy

[Welshjim]

poppy4--Looks like it. If you look at the Status bar when you hover over "Start anything you like. The choice is yours with Windows"
you will see the link is to a doubleclick site. Since I have doublclick in both Restricted Sites and my HOSTS folder, I get the "Page Cannot be Displayed" message. No loss there.
Of course we do not know if this is just an ad or if you would wind up with a tracking cookie (data miner). Sad.

[poppy4]

Hi Jim,
You are right, it shows up on the bottom, when hovering over the link, in both FF and IE.....I just didn't look there when I clicked the link, I guess because I didn't expect doubleclick from M$.....yes, sad for sure....it's almost like 'you can't win for losing"..when the 'leader' (so called)... ..in computing hooks up with 'nasty-ware'......:eek:
poppy

[JPnyc]

Doubleclick, as far as I know, just deposits tracking cookies. Although i may be wrong.

[poppy4]

Doubleclick, as far as I know, just deposits tracking cookies. Although i may be wrong.
No doubt you are right JP, but there is no legitimate reason for tracking cookies, IMHO.
poppy :(

[Jubal]

Tracking cookies are like placing someone in your home to find out when you go to bed and when you get up, when you go to the toilet and when you have dinner. There is no good reason for them.

[JPnyc]

Well no, they can't trace that. They can only trace when you visit other sites that employ the same ad company. Sites that don't employ them, wouldn't know to look for their cookies. I block them all anyway

[poppy4]

I block them all anyway

so you couldn't go to that site either,eh?

[JPnyc]

I didn't try

[JPnyc]

No, the site loaded for me

[poppy4]

No, the site loaded for me
.....and you blocked the tracking cookie?
perhaps we are talking apples and oranges here....I'm using IE 5.01Sp1....and you are probably using IE6....?.....

[BIG JOHN]

I use the Maxthon Browser & when I hover over the link with my mouse it shows this at the bottom of the window, no doubleclick:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/homeusers/defaultm.mspx

[poppy4]

It's the link after you get to the page from that link BJ that' comes up when you hover over:
"• Start anything you like.
The choice is yours with Windows."

[BIG JOHN]

Ok poppy, now I see, pretty strange, I wonder if that is a legit MS site. BJ

[Søul]

I took the chance and clicked on the link you guys are talking about, and it took me to an interactive full page ad of sorts. Here's the direct link to that page if you're curious: http://www.windows.com/Passion/main.html (if you hover over the link there's no doubleclick in the address)

After I was done snooping around I ran SpyBot S&D, Adaware SE, and XoftSpy and the results were clean. No doubleclick tracking cookie had been deposited on my machine. It should be safe for you guys to view that page. I use IE6 with Windows Home btw.

Søul

[Steve R Jones]

It's a genuine Microsoft site.
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/homeusers/defaultm.mspx

Same site like all their recent tv commercials about getting more.

[poppy4]

Thanks Soul and Steve for the direct link.
FWIW.....from a cookie standpoint, windows.com placed 4 current session only cookies, and
207.net tried to place 6 cookies, all with a 2010 expiration date, which my cookie pal refused......... now I can peruse the page.
poppy

[JPnyc]

Yes, I block the tracing cookie. But also be aware that their ad-site affiliations may rotate. That is, not everytime you access the page, will you be accessing the ad.doubleclick code.

[poppy4]

understood....Thanks JPnyc.....poppy