XPY - Disable default threats in XP (Free) (60kb)

[DigeratiPrime]

Seems like a nice tool

Seems to only make changes in the registry, in fact it shows you which keys it modifys and how.

It saves it settings in an ini file, you can also undo the changes you made. It supports command line switches as well.

http://sourceforge.net/projects/xpy/

Small tool which disables the default threats of a Windows XP installation. Besides disabling Windows and some of its components to communicate with Microsoft servers, xpy improves privacy settings and your system's security.

Features:

  •  Disable Windows "calling home"

  •  Disable questionable services

  •  Disarm Internet Explorer

  •  Disarm Windows Media Player

  •  Remove Windows Messenger

  •  Improve privacy and security

  •  Improve performance

Though xpy is smaller than 60 kilobytes, it can close serious threats (i.e. DCOM) on long distance, where large service-packs can only protect you until a new security hole has been found.

Make sure you carefully choose the settings you want to apply, to avoid problems. If you experience trouble, refer to the Frequently Asked Questions or report a bug on SourceForge.

Edited August 14, 2005 by DigeratiPrime

[DigeratiPrime]

I know im bumping an old program, just FYI its been updated a bit since.

When i originally posted this it was at version v0.8.14 now its at v0.9.1

some nice new stuff

http://xpy.whyeye.org/

v0.9.1 (2005-1x-xx)
 * added new features
	  -disable thumbnail caching
	  -disable net crawling
 * added version information
 * added preliminary minixpy support to sourcecode
 * added support for non-silent batch files
 * fixed batch-mode

v0.9 (2005-08-15)
 * added new features
	  -disable search assistant (internet explorer)
	  -import music as mp3 (windows media player)
	  -disable drm for imported music (windows media player)
	  -integrate command prompt into shell
	  -enable command prompt completion
	  -integrate notepad into shell
	  -disable autorun
	  -disable search assistant
	  -disable task grouping
	  -use classic start menu
	  -show contents of barricaded folders
	  -show hidden files and folders
	  -show all file extensions
	  -display full path in title bar (explorer)
	  -use windows classic theme
	  -delete files
 * added upx compression
 * added xpyhelper.dll (written by oliver schneider)
 * added warning-message for irrevocable settings
 * added warning-message for the selection of all settings
 * added version-number to xpy.ini and batch files
 * added backward compatibility
 * added website button to help dialog ("xpy.exe /?")
 * moved UsabBalloonTips to usability group
 * moved UsabDiskSpace to usability group
 * modified automatic detection of features
 * modified sourcecode structure
 * modified icon and checkboxes (smaller!)
 * modified gui and colors
 * removed translations (except english, german, japanese and polish)

[Fredledingue]

Yes, that's very good piece of software.

I ran it after installing and running Safe XP. XPY is doing some of the same things as Safe XP but not all, and some of the things that Safe XP doesn't.

After that, with some high security/tweaking level on both Safe Xp and XPY, the PC started to boot up very slowly and shut down slowly too.

I don't know at this stage if it's caused by some sort of bad cohabitation between Safe Xp and XPY or by XPY alone.

Also, if you know womething about booting time, what are the settings that could cause long boot time?

I noticed I had some unconcistnacies between XPY settings and what the OS allowed to do.

For example WHS didn't work while XPY and Safe XP showed it was enabled. Thought in Safe XP it's phrased differently.

The two programs can be run on the same machine, because as whole the PC works without problem, but doing so requires caution.

[DigeratiPrime]

thanks for the information Fredledingue, im also cautious using both programs but they have some really unique tweaks.