How do I stop Windows Vista from "calling home"

External Since: Jun 19, 2006 Posts: 1214

On Tue, 5 Aug 2008 23:12:04 -0400, "Richard Urban"
<richardurbanREMOVETHIS.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote:

> The "VistaFirewallControl" from Sphinx Software is nothing more than a
> friendly user interface for the Vista Firewall. It allows you to allow/block
> in or out communications with the internet without you having to get into
> the nuts and bolts of advanced Vista Firewall control settings.
>
> It is ***NOT*** a separate firewall. You leave the Vista Firewall running.

Thanks for posting that. I knew nothing about it and assumed it was a
separate firewall. Frenchy should ignore my message then.

> "Steve Turner" <stevezygote.TakeThisOut@hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:B20F3327-CED9-4B7A-8461-BBADDB896BC0@microsoft.com...
> > "Frenchy" <invalid.TakeThisOut@invalid.com> wrote in message
> > news:g7a5mf$td9$1@registered.motzarella.org...
> >> Steve Turner wrote:
> >>> A prompt keeps coming up asking me to join a routine that collects
> >>> information from my machine and sends it to Microsoft. I do not like
> >>> letting Windows call home unnecessarily. They don't need my input; they
> >>> seem to be doing a good enough job without it. How do I turn this
> >>> feature off?
> >>
> >> Get a good firewall and when prompted say no to whatever outbound
> >> application wants to phone home.
> >>
> >> This free one does a great job (i.e. better than the Vista one)
> >>
> >> http://www.sphinx-soft.com/Vista/index.html
> >>
> >> Go to the download page and grab your version (32 or 64 Bit). A
> >> reasonable learning curve with all firewalls, so be prepared to get a
> >> bunch of prompts until it is settled down and has learnt what you want
> >> and don't. You can manually add programs to be blocked.
> >>
> >> Frenchy
> >
> > Merci. So I install that and disable the Windows Firewall? Or do I keep it
> > active?

--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP - Windows Desktop Experience
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External Since: Jul 07, 2008 Posts: 61

Richard Urban wrote:
> The "VistaFirewallControl" from Sphinx Software is nothing more than a
> friendly user interface for the Vista Firewall. It allows you to
> allow/block in or out communications with the internet without you
> having to get into the nuts and bolts of advanced Vista Firewall control
> settings.
>
> It is ***NOT*** a separate firewall. You leave the Vista Firewall running.
>
Well there ya go, it is a good day when you learn something new.

Many thanks, much appreciated.

Frenchy