Unplug n' Pray

Noob question.

I want to install the "unplug n' pray' developed by Gibson Research
that disables Windows potentially dangerous and exploitable Universal Plug and Play networking capability.
BUT will this disable my ability to read or download data from the DVDRW or detect any new hardware?

I recently had to reinstall my OS after my DVDRW problem (where it did not acknowledge at all that there was any CD in it. Thus, I'm pretty afraid of installing anything right now. However, I do not want my computer to be vulnerable either. Thanks

 

You have to realize that EVERYTHING is "potentially dangerous and exploitable"!
There have been attacks on computers using images. Music. HTML. There's no such thing as 100% security. Even if you're on top of updating your operating system, and your antivirus program, and any antispyware apps you might have, there's always the possibility that you get attacked in a manner that NONE of them can protect you from.

You have to compromise between security and freedom to do anything with your computer!

Personally, I would not want to do without Plug And Play, but would be very interested to read any links you might have on the dangers of using it!

 

Thanks. Being a comp noob, I tried reading the pages for unplug n pray. But I'm still not sure whether it will affect the dvdrw. Still not sure what universal plug and play is. Its just like a young kid learning maths. For the adults (ie IT people) its very easy to see but for the young kid, the more he reads the more confused he becomes. Terms are grey and when he tries to find the meaning, he gets more terms that he doesn't understand. Sigh.

Anyway, the links are here:
http://grc.com/unpnp/unpnp.htm
http://www.sans.org/resources/malwarefaq/win_upnp.php

 

I don't think it has to do with pnp mada, just upnp.

Personally, I think applications that do this for you are a waste. Disable it yourself, in the event that you need to re-enable it in the future. You will know how, and where to look.


Start, run, services.msc.

Locate Universal Plug and Play.

Set the service to disabled.

 

Thanks, Adryn, I didn't realize until I read these links. (miss one word in the original post, and see what happens)

I agree with the sentiment that you don't need a third party app to do this. Windows has the ability built in. As you can see, billp, its fairly easy to do yourself. IIRC, this shouldn't affect hardware detection.

IMHO, these links seem like propaganda to push a cheesy product. I see the same sort of tactics in alot of spam messages.

You may want to address these concerns with the fine folks in the malware forum, as they are the true specialists in computer security. They may have means of securing the UPNP service so that it can still be used, and not pose a threat to your system. (ie, Microsoft may have a hotfix, but hasn't released it as a product update, for example)