MS Fax use of loopback address

  • Thread starter Thread starter Lem
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L

Lem

WinXPpro SP2

I don't use fax that often, but I noticed recently when sending a fax
that Norton A/V 2005 announced that it had blocked what it called
"Netspy Trojan" and identified the fax executable as the culprit. I'm
pretty confident that my system is malware-free, but you never know, so
.... after a little research, I found a Symantec KB article from 2004
relating to Norton Internet Security or Norton Personal Firewall
(neither of which are installed) that suggests that this is a false
alarm caused when a "local program uses the loopback address (127.0.0.1)
for communications with itself or with components of the operating
system." NAV 2005 has a "new feature" that Symantec calls "Internet
Worm Protection," which I assume means that they added a piece of NIS /
NPF to the basic antivirus app., and thus I guess the article applies to
NAV 2005 as well, although Symantec hasn't updated it since last July.
I wish they would stop with the bells and whistles.

I get the warning AFTER the fax has been successfully sent.

Can someone confirm that MS Fax uses the loopback address for some
legitimate purpose (such as delivering a message to the OS that the fax
has been successfully sent)? Actually, I get the message that the fax
has been successfully sent, including the ta-da sound, so if that's what
NAV is attempting to block, it isn't doing a very good job. So perhaps
there is some other function that the fax system is attempting to do as
part of its post-send activity.

FYI, the Symantec article is at http://tinyurl.com/5nxkq
 
I can only confirm that Symantec's antivirus and firewall products have
routinely disabled Windows XP Fax as long as both have been in existence.
Whose code is at fault is anyone's guess. I can only tell you that no one
seems to have any interest in solving these problems and so no solutions are
likely forthcoming.
 
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