poker program paranoia?

[J_V]

I just downloaded and paid to get a great poker program. However, some people have told me that it wouldn't be hard for some of evil intent to configure it to read my monitor, which would devastate me without knowing. Even if only one person could see my cards...this would be a total disaster. The program is very widely used and I believe reputable. Do I have something to worry about and what would happen if I deleted it from my computer....could they still have gained access? Thanks gurus!

[ZManODS]

Technically if there was such a program, deleting it probably wouldnt help. If you were going to that much trouble to make it i think you would be smart enough to copy some files elsewhere so it could not be deleted upon unistallation of the original program.

If you purchased this program i doubt there is any validity to this because if it was "spying" on you then there could be a huge lawsuit. However, if you just downloaded this program from Uncle Joes Website in Kentucky then you could have a problem.

[rigoletto]

What program are you talking about? Maybe some of us use it and could share our experience! I think that would probably be the best way to validate it.

[beernutz]

Are you running a firewall that monitors your computer's inbound and outbound connections? If not, why not?
If you are, it will alert you if your mystery program attempts to connect to the Internet.

Zonealarm (www.zonelabs.com) is a very higly regarded (and FREE) firewall that monitors both inbound and outbound traffic. Install that then run the program in question to see if it is making a connection.

Why can't you tell us the name of the program? It is very likely someone else here has already installed it and knows if it attempts to make an outbound connection.

[Terry]

Run netstat.exe to see all the connections your computer is currently making.

How to: You need to get to a C: prompt, either by opening a DOS box in Windows98 or clicking Command Prompt in WindowsXP. Then just type "netstat" (no quotes) and you will see the list of all open connections.

[Inthacup]

Thanks for the info terry. That is very helpful.

[MS Sunshine]

Want does ads.web.aol.com:http mean? I got three of them like that.

MS Sunshine

[yct]

I wouldn't worry too much about things connecting to aol.com, because they dont dare to do anything funny to your pc. It probably just means you are running AOL and it's getting their ads.

[GeorgeF]

Here are sum scrubbers if you need them.
adShield: http://www.adShield.org
ad-aware: http://www.lavasoftusa.com/
SpywareBlaster: http://www.wilderssecurity.com/spywareblaster.html

[rusty JEDI]

How do i find the command prompt in windowsXP.

Thanks for the help.

[Jimbo]

Rusty,

I just did a search with search companion and found it.

[beernutz]

start menu -> run -> type 'cmd'

or

start menu -> programs -> accessories -> command prompt

[rusty JEDI]

ok, thanks done.

I have found it but it disappears after a second everytime i open it. Any ideas on how to keep it on the screen?

Thanks again.

[Hung]

I think you have a problem with your pc rusty.
I should stay open.
I never thought about a program that could control and see someone computer from distance.
There're so many ways to cheat online. I can't believe I started playing online /forums/images/icons/blush.gif)

[J_V]

I don't want to say the program name because someone is trying to run a business and has been very helpful to me and others and I'm not going to hurt his business by attaching negative stigma to his product. I think its a popular program.....


Thanks for the help guys. I appreciate it.

[Glurfle]

Tiny Personal Firewall (www.tinysoftware.com) is also a pretty good one. I find it's less annoying than ZoneAlarm. But yes, you should absolutely be running some kind of firewall.

[beernutz]

Tiny is ok, but more difficult to configure than ZoneAlarm, IMO. Maybe I should say Tiny (I'm speaking of TPF 4.5) is more configurable than ZA and hence potentially more complicated. Try creating rules, assigning them to profiles then applying the profiles to application groups to allow just http and https to a server. Not exactly intuitive and the help documentation for Tiny leaves much to be desired.

This is all probably a moot point though as the vast majority of home users will never have to do anything close to being this complex.

[MS Sunshine]

Anyone have an idea what program they are talking about here?

MS Sunshine

[beernutz]

Are you saying that you are typing "cmd" at the Run dialog and the little black screen dissapears immediately after opening? That will happen if you try to run "netstat" directly from the Run dialog but if you type "cmd", let the command prompt window open, then type "netstat" (or even better "netstat -a", to show only the relevant connections) that should not happen.

[beernutz]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
I just downloaded and paid to get a great poker program. However, some people have told me that it wouldn't be hard for some of evil intent to configure it to read my monitor, which would devastate me without knowing.

[/ QUOTE ]
I'm curious as to what leads you to suspect this program as opposed to any of the other programs you have installed on your pc? When you say a 'poker program' what do you mean? Is this a poker client, like party or paradise? Is it poker tracking software, like pokerstat or pokertracker? Is it poker hand analysis software? Is it poker practice software like wilson turbo? You are being pretty vague and people have tried to help with some good suggestions on this thread but are limited if you can't be more forthcoming with information about your suspicions.

[Inthacup]

J V, I understand your concern in regards to the maker of this software. However, you also have a responsibility to the players. The players here may not only be at risk, but they're also the same players that you can give credit to for improving your game. Personally I think you owe more to the players here than you do to the software creator.

P.S. I'm not biased. I don't own any poker tracking software.

[Terry]

Start &gt; All Programs &gt; Accessories &gt; Command Prompt

Note that the connection to localhost is your own machine and is not of concern.

[Terry]

It means either:

<ul type="square">
You are using AOL.

You have (or recently had) a webpage open with AOL ads.

You have spyware on your machine.
[/list]

If it is spyware, GeorgeF has listed some ways to remove it. Personally, I use Ad-Aware from LavaSoft but have nothing against the others.

[RiverMel]

I'm curious as to what leads you to suspect this program as opposed to any of the other programs you have installed on your pc?

I'm sure his suspicion comes from the fact that it is a program specifically aimed at poker players. If you wanted to write a poker spy program, would you put it in some random piece of shareware, or would you put it in software that is targeted at people who play online poker?

[crazy canuck]

how do you know that the firewall you download is not a trojan?

[beernutz]

Are you kidding canuck? For one thing, the software I recommend (ZoneAlarm, TPF, Sygate) has all been tested by labs such as the one at PC Magazine and if there were a trojan horse built into it I feel pretty confident they would have found it. Furthermore these are all commercial packages and if they contained trojans the company would probably cease to exist the day after they were discovered.

If you are just pulling my chain, then good one.

[ptrack pat]

Hi all,

The program JV is refering to is Poker Tracker. I know this because he sent me an email asking the same question. I told him exactly the same thing you did beernutz, that he should invest in some firewall software that can tell him when programs on his PC try to access the internet.

I would like to state now that Poker Tracker DOES NOTHING OF THE SORT. I think what might have started this entire thing was an email I sent out to the registered users last week describing some of the feature of v2. In that email I stated I would like to be able to automatically populate the Game Time table (the window players use when playing online to give them a quick idea of the players at their table) the way PokerStat does but to do that I would have to be able to incorporate some kind of character recognition. I guess if somone wanted to take it a step further they could think that it's also possible to see their cards. Again, this is not the intent and I urge everyone to use some sort of firewall software. This should be a given anyway, regardless of what you do online.

Thanks.

Pat
www.pokertracker.com (http://www.pokertracker.com)

[rusty JEDI]

OK, Mike Haven explained how to keep it up there and it is all good now.

Now my question is why do i have like 8 things on there. One i dont think looks good is:

sub-xxx-ip-xx.carats.

i dont like the looks of that one. the x's are just numbers that i took out.

[Bubmack]

Am I the only guy here that does not have a Firewall?

Don't I feel like a dufus. /forums/images/icons/tongue.gif

[MS Sunshine]

Well guys, what do we have here? Does it play for you or advise you, or both?

MS Sunshine

[J_V]

Its takes in your hand histories, compiles then and makes databases. It gives you every stat under the sun. I would think its similar to StatKing....but Im not positive.

[J_V]

Well....someone could rig anything I download, but if you wanted to make money off poker through it....it would make sense if the program was internet poker related.

[J_V]

Hey Pat,

I would like recommend that you guys should check it out, it's pretty darn impressive. I was floored as to how in depth and polished the program was.

[crazy canuck]

[beernutz]

did you run netstat and get this sub...carats output? That is the name of the server you are connected to for some reason. Can you copy and paste the entire output of netstat -a into a PM to me? You can copy the command line screen by using the system menu (upper left corner of window), Edit -&gt;Copy and Edit-&gt;Paste.

[GrannyMae]

hey BN &amp; all..

i use this program, and i hope you guys keep us posted if you make any determinations.

it seems that rusty's post concerns you BN, and i have NOOOO freakin clue what it all means.

an english translation of anything you guys learn about this will be much appreciated when the time comes.

thx boys

http://smilies.sofrayt.com/%5E/f/jump.gif

[Terry]

Do a Google (or whatever) search for

whois

I'm not going to recommend any software downloads in this thread, but whois is a service which will tell you... who the connection is.

[Glurfle]

My understanding is that ZoneAlarm (as of maybe a year ago, at least) couldn't catch certain connections made by standard Windows modules. Given the number of security holes involving Outlook, IIS, and IE, I prefer being able to catch those. You're right that it's way too difficult to configure, though. I still don't know what some of the connections I allow are, but at least I can be sure that there aren't any new ones coming in that I don't want.

I suppose running ZA is probably better than running TPF and accepting all connections since you can't tell one from the other.

[beernutz]

</font><blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr />
My understanding is that ZoneAlarm (as of maybe a year ago, at least) couldn't catch certain connections made by standard Windows modules.

[/ QUOTE ]

This is interesting--I have never heard or read this in any trade pub or web site. Do you have a source for what you heard? I'm really curious (and embarassed if you are correct) as it is part of my business to stay up on these things.

[Glurfle]

Upon further research, I can't find any evidence for that. I remember that being the reason that I chose one over the other in the first place, but both have gotten newer versions since then, and I can't find anything that says Tiny is any better than ZoneAlarm these days, except for speed. My mistake.