Shoutbox

hi, i'm an administrator on a small business network. so i have to take care off the safety of our network.
now i read on the 'new features' site of messenger plus! 3.0 that you don't have to be a administrator to install plus.
i was wondering if anyone can give me more detailed information about how this works, and how i can prefent people from installing this around my back.

The non-admin installation (with a special parameter) will install the program in a local folder, like C:\Documents and Settings\Username\Messenger Plus!, and it will not store information in the registry (as the non-admin user doesn't have those rights).

I don't know how to prevent this, sorry.

You should block the port used by Messenger, if any, to avoid clients using it.
I don't know if this might work, but I hope it helps.

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Originally posted by dsdevries
hi, i'm an administrator on a small business network. so i have to take care off the safety of our network.
now i read on the 'new features' site of messenger plus! 3.0 that you don't have to be a administrator to install plus.
i was wondering if anyone can give me more detailed information about how this works, and how i can prefent people from installing this around my back.

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if you guys are using windows 2000 or above simply edit the hosts file to redirect the plus! page to say something like google

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Originally posted by KeyStorm
You should block the port used by Messenger, if any, to avoid clients using it.
I don't know if this might work, but I hope it helps.

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As far as I know it wont work because you can, if its possible, use a proxy instead of the prot 1863

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Originally posted by Tochjo
The non-admin installation (with a special parameter)

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that special parameter ( /NoAdmin ) is only to force the non-admin installation mode. However, if you install plus in a Windows account that hasn't got write permissions on the HKLM registry key, Plus will be installed in that mode.

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Originally posted by Tochjo
and it will not store information in the registry (as the non-admin user doesn't have those rights).

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It will, but only in the HKCU key, that is personal to each user.

quote:

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Originally posted by dsdevries
and how i can prefent people from installing this around my back.

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maybe you can uninstall messenger. If messenger isn't installed, they wouldn't be able to install plus. however if you want they use messenger but not plus, i think that's a bit more complex and right now i don't know any way to do it. (btw, if they can use messenger, why not plus too?)

i just don't like the idea that people are creating software wich can be installed by some noknows that don't even got adminrights. and i think that microsoft don't like that eighter. and if patchou's not careful microsoft could secure msn completely so no-one will be able to create add-ons for it and sue patchou for the costs.

quote:

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Originally posted by dsdevries
i just don't like the idea that people are creating software wich can be installed by some noknows that don't even got adminrights. and i think that microsoft don't like that eighter. and if patchou's not careful microsoft could secure msn completely so no-one will be able to create add-ons for it and sue patchou for the costs.

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don't worry about who can install a software, care about what that software can do. First: If Windows allows a user without admin rights to install a software, that's because the installation program does nothing but copying files into a folder and, maybe, add some registry settings in a harmless zone of the registry. That can be done by the user him/herself, so there's nothing wrong.

Second: If a program can run in a limited account in Windows, that's because (once again) it doesn't do anything dodgy. And don't worry, because if it tries to do something weird, Windows will deny that acction. It won't get admin rights, and, in case there was a bug in Windows that let a program get admin rights, there would be several program that take profit of it, without the need of install them.

Sumarizing: If you want to have a secure LAN and clean computers, be sure you configure them properly and then don't worry if a user installs Plus, that is known to be a program in what you can trust.

Btw, be sure Patchou is careful enough. Your privacy nor the stability of your computers won't be comprimised by Plus.

As Choli just demonstrated, there is no magic behind the limited-priviledge install mode. Files are simply installed in the user's personal document directory and all the keys are writting in HKCU. There's nothing wrong with that mode and I'm not going against any security thing in Windows .