Shoutbox

Hi,

When I run Live messenger on my computer I noticed that there are two IP adresses that continuelly scans my computer in many different ports and the strange thing is that the IP adresses belongs to Microsoft (207.46.120.99, 207.46.219.62).

I don't have any idea way they scanning my computer??? When I close down the program the scans also stops and when I run it again the scans starts immediately.

I have tryed to uninstall the program and reinstall it again but the scans are still there. So I have no idea what to do, can I really trust this program?

Regards
Claus

How do you suppose Microsoft is meant to inform your contacts that you are offline is you are suddenly disconnected?  I am sure there are many other reasons why it would have to scan your computer rather than wait for you to send information.  This is perfectly safe and there is reasoning behind them doing so.  I'm sure there are other members on this forum that can supply more information to you if you want it, but you will have to wait and hope they see this thread and hope that they reply.

But way do this two addresses scans my computer on specific ports?
for exempel, port 1650, 1651, 1652...and so on. I can understand that microsoft must update and check for my connection, but way using (or scanning) so many ports? I have been sceptical to this program now!

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I use a portlistener program called "TCPview" and there can I see lot of scannings from theys IP adresses, please see my attachment.

Your just paranoid. Microsoft uses those ports to connect you to the Messenger service. They are 100% safe .

If you cannot trust Microsoft with your information then I think you have problems.  If you are really that paranoid then I suggest you don't use the likes of Windows/Microsoft Update because it will scan your computer too, you never know what it might look at while it looks for patches to help keep your computer secure.  That is just rediculous IMO.

If it is a trusted domain that is scanning your computer then you shouldn't worry about it IMHO.  If however it was some random IP address then you might have problems.  Just relax, Microsoft obviously needs to scan the ports for some reason or else it wouldn't do it (well I hope at least).  And even if it was excessive at the moment, they might be planning a use for it in the future that you are unaware of.

If you are really that worried then you can always ask why exactly they use it from the developers themselves.  I'm sorry if I seem patronising but with the way you sound it was over the top (to the point where I wouldn't like to put anything dangerous in your hands while im around).

Well, maybe I'm paranoid, but it's not logical to me when they scans about 300 ports ( not randomly ports) and then it stops for a moment and then it starts all over again, I still not get why they doing this. What are the reason? and why just HTTPS scan?

quote:

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Originally posted by Claus
Well, maybe I'm paranoid, but it's not logical to me when they scans about 300 ports ( not randomly ports) and then it stops for a moment and then it starts all over again, I still not get why they doing this. What are the reason? and why just HTTPS scan?

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Because that's the way it connects to the Messenger service, using HTTP is stupid for a program like Messenger. I hate firewalls that see everything as a threat, it is not scanning the port, it is receiving data from the servers. Plus Messenger checks every couple of seconds if there are changes in your contact list etc, this is why these ports are in constant use.