Telephony & Remote Access Connection Manager (services) -> are theyneeded?

[XP Guy]

Why exactly would an XP system need to be running:

- Telephony service

- Remote Access Connection Manager service

???

 

[Mayayana]

| Why exactly would an XP system need to be running:
|
| - Telephony service
|
| - Remote Access Connection Manager service
|

Maybe for dial-up? I'm not sure whether RACM is
for dial-up or not, but I can tell you that I'm on cable
and have both of those disabled.

 

[SC Tom]

Why exactly would an XP system need to be running:

- Telephony service

- Remote Access Connection Manager service

???

As Mayayana pointed out, unless you are using dial-up (or VOIP), telephony can be disabled. I'm on cable also, and it is
disabled on mine (has been for a while).
Unless you plan on allowing Remote Access to your PC, or remote into someone else's PC, you can also disable RACM. (also
disabled on mine)

 

[Jon Danniken]

As Mayayana pointed out, unless you are using dial-up (or VOIP),
telephony can be disabled. I'm on cable also, and it is disabled on
mine (has been for a while). Unless you plan on allowing Remote Access to
your PC, or remote into
someone else's PC, you can also disable RACM. (also disabled on mine)

On my WinXP sp3 box, Both RACM and Remote Access Auto Connection Manager
depend on the Telephony service.

Jon

 

[SC Tom]

Does Skype (and similar such services) use it?

I have it disabled on my Win7 laptop, and Skype works fine. It being the only one I've use, I can't speak for similar
applications.

Similar question - do TeamViewer and the like use that, or only Microsoft's own remote-access utilities?

I don't know about Team Viewer, but TightVNC doesn't require it (or at least the version I used years back didn't).

 

[XP Guy]

I found this (quoted at the bottom of this post):

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/146153-45-little-problem-stop-remote-access-connection-manag

It apparently was posted in May 2005 to this arcane newsgroup:

microsoft.public.windowsxp.work_remotely

I had thought that RACMan and/or Telephony might have something to do
with Windows Firewall.

Additionally, Blackviper says that RACMAN is used on systems that
perform direct logon (PPPOE?) into a cable or DSL provider's network
(which is negated when such logon is done in the modem or router) and
RACMAN is also necessary for VPN functionality (a significant or
important aspect for some people).

http://www.blackviper.com/windows-services/remote-access-connection-manager/#Default_Description_4

But this has me stumped:

=========
This service is required if you use Windows Firewall/Internet
Connection Sharing (ICS).
========

I'm sure very few people use ICS. But why is ICS combined with Windows
Firewall?

Does Windows Firewall need or depend on RACMAN because the firewall
service is somehow tied to ICS?

Comments?

=================================
Hello, Thanks for your post.

My understanding on this issue is that you found that the VPN connection
will use the "remote access connection manager" service and the
"telephony" service so that you want to stop and disable the "remote
access connection manager" service and the "telephony" service in order
to reduce the security risks in those services.

Based on my research, the "remote access connection manager" service
(Rasman) won't shutdown if "Network Connections" Service (netman) is
running. Stopping Netman and then stopping Rasman allowed Rasman to
remain stopped for the RIPREP process. However, we don't recommend you
to perform the above operation because if you stop Netman service will
also stop "Windows Firewall/Internet Connection Sharing" service and
will bring more security risks. You can open "remote access connection
manager" service to view the dependencies service on Dependencies tab.

You can also choose to disable the "remote access connection manager"
service and restart the computer to stop this service.

According to KB 329441, Telephony, Remote Access Connection Manager, and
Remote Access Auto Connection Manager services are related to the remote
access or dial-up networking connection. They should be running when you
use a VPN connection:

You cannot create a network connection after you restore Windows XP

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;329441

In addition, I have found some articles described the vulnerability in
"remote access connection manager", however, it is for NT system:

Microsoft Security Program: Microsoft Security Bulletin (MS99-041)
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms99-041.mspx

I have also search the Microsoft Security Bulletin Search website at and
have not found the vulnerability for "remote access connection manager".

Microsoft Security Bulletin Search
(some long url not quoted here)

Therefore, it is not necessary to disable "remote access connection
manager" service and the "telephony" service when the VPN connection is
establish. I understand you want to prevent any vulnerabilities, I
strongly recommend you frequently go to Window Update website and
install the latest update packs on your computer to protect it from
danger.

 

[SC Tom]

- Telephony service

- Remote Access Connection Manager service []
Does Skype (and similar such services) use it?

I have it disabled on my Win7 laptop, and Skype works fine. It being
the only one I've use, I can't speak for similar applications.

Unless you plan on allowing Remote Access to your PC, or remote into
someone else's PC, you can also disable RACM. (also disabled on mine)

Similar question - do TeamViewer and the like use that, or only
Microsoft's own remote-access utilities?

I don't know about Team Viewer, but TightVNC doesn't require it (or at
least the version I used years back didn't).

Thanks for those.[/QUOTE]

You're welcome!

 

[XP Guy]

Why exactly would an XP system need to be running:

- Telephony service

- Remote Access Connection Manager service

Even though I have both of those set for manual (not automatic) startup,
they ultimately do start up at some point.

Still don't know why...