Unusual network traffic caused by Windows Media Playing sharing...

[Nick]

Hi..

Have just reinstalled Vista Ultimate x32 and all is running well except for
some unusual traffic requests which only seem to have when the 'Windows Media
Player Network Sharing Service' is running. When the service is enabled, the
Host Process for Windows Services (svchost.exe) attempts to connect to the
following two addresses:
88.221.26.42
88.221.26.65

A quick whois check tells me that the addresses belong to Akamai
Technologies but i'm unable to find a reason as to why svchost.exe is trying
to contact them. I'm aware of the vulnerabilities the process has with
regards to security so i've performed a full system scan with nod32 and my
system is clean. My hijackthis log is fine too.

If I stop the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' then restart, I
no longer have any prompts to connect to those addresses. However, as I use
the media sharing feature, I would like to keep the service active so I also
want to find out if those addresses are a potential risk or if it's
legitimate traffic so if anyone can help me, that would be great.

In the meantime, I have added both address to my firewall's block list.

Thanks

 

[Mick Murphy]

http://www.google.com.au/search?hl=en&q=Akamai+Technologies&btnG=Google+Search&meta=

Read results at Google.

 

[DanS]

Hi..

Have just reinstalled Vista Ultimate x32 and all is running well
except for some unusual traffic requests which only seem to have when
the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' is running. When
the service is enabled, the Host Process for Windows Services
(svchost.exe) attempts to connect to the following two addresses:
88.221.26.42
88.221.26.65

A quick whois check tells me that the addresses belong to Akamai
Technologies but i'm unable to find a reason as to why svchost.exe is
trying to contact them. I'm aware of the vulnerabilities the process
has with regards to security so i've performed a full system scan with
nod32 and my system is clean. My hijackthis log is fine too.

If I stop the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' then
restart, I no longer have any prompts to connect to those addresses.
However, as I use the media sharing feature, I would like to keep the
service active so I also want to find out if those addresses are a
potential risk or if it's legitimate traffic so if anyone can help me,
that would be great.

In the meantime, I have added both address to my firewall's block
list.

Possibly something to do with DRM ???????

http://www.akamai.com/html/technology/products/license_delivery.html

Oddly enough, after researching this 'Media Player Network Sharing', I'm
wondering what legal implications it has....as far as copyright law is
concerned...

What has the RIAA said about this Windows Service ?

 

[nass]

Hi..

Have just reinstalled Vista Ultimate x32 and all is running well except for
some unusual traffic requests which only seem to have when the 'Windows Media
Player Network Sharing Service' is running. When the service is enabled, the
Host Process for Windows Services (svchost.exe) attempts to connect to the
following two addresses:
88.221.26.42
88.221.26.65

A quick whois check tells me that the addresses belong to Akamai
Technologies but i'm unable to find a reason as to why svchost.exe is trying
to contact them. I'm aware of the vulnerabilities the process has with
regards to security so i've performed a full system scan with nod32 and my
system is clean. My hijackthis log is fine too.

If I stop the 'Windows Media Player Network Sharing Service' then restart, I
no longer have any prompts to connect to those addresses. However, as I use
the media sharing feature, I would like to keep the service active so I also
want to find out if those addresses are a potential risk or if it's
legitimate traffic so if anyone can help me, that would be great.

In the meantime, I have added both address to my firewall's block list.

Thanks

Try to disbale the Windows Media Sharing by doing this:
Open Run command and type in:
services.msc click [Ok]
Locate the service for Windows Media Sharing and Disable it.
Open the windows media player and click on Tools >> Options.
On Options click on Library Tab then click on Configure sharing.
On Media Sharing uncheck this check box:
Sharing Settings:
[ ] Share my media.
Click [OK] then [OK] to exit the media player.

Reboot your machine.
What windows Media player version installed?
HTH,
nass